Madman Gore validates wisdom of NSA taps

UPDATE: Byron York dissects Gore's tirade and finds some hilarious contradictions.

Gore calls for special counsel on eavesdropping

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Vice President Al Gore called on Monday for an independent counsel to investigate whether President George W. Bush broke the law in authorizing domestic eavesdropping without court approval.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales plans to testify in Senate hearings, expected next month, to give the administration's legal justification for the secret domestic eavesdropping operation.

"A special counsel should be immediately appointed by the attorney general to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the president," Gore said in a speech to The American Constitution Society and The Liberty Coalition.

Gore, the Democrat defeated by Bush in the 2000 presidential election, said the eavesdropping operation threatened the foundation of U.S. democracy, and he recalled the FBI's secret surveillance of Martin Luther King, on the U.S. holiday commemorating the civil rights leader. [The Ponderosa: Apples and oranges. The King wiretaps, which were likely authorized by liberal icon Robert F. Kennedy, had nothing to do with defending America against terrorist attacks. ]

Gore's comments also come at the start of a congressional election year in which Democrats are seeking to seize majority control from Republicans.

He accused Bush of breaking the law for not getting court approval for the National Security Agency eavesdropping operation on communications such as phone calls and e-mail coming into and going out of the United States of people suspected of terrorism ties.

"We still have much to learn about the NSA's domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the president of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and insistently," Gore said.

"A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," he said.
[The Ponderosa: A president who allows rocket technology to be sold to the Chicoms in return for campaign cash and his Veep, who negotiates a secret and illegal treaty that enables the Russkies to sell rockets to Iran are certainly less of a threat than one who provides for the Common Defence. ]
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On the one hand, it's nice to see the opposition party, rapt with Bush Derangement Syndrome, taking the electoral gas pipe by siding with the 500 or so among us whose digits were found in al Qaeda Rolodexes.

On the other -- war is deadly serious business. When a major political party values its success over the survival of the Republic, something is askew.