Angry Al strikes again

Never one to miss an opportunity to remind us all of why he couldn't even beat the so-called Crawford village idiot, Al Gore has returned to tell us all why spying on terrorists is a bad thing. I disagree - see here and here - but what's more important is that Gore is justifying his opposition to wiretaps by saying that the Administration is running roughshod over Congress.

Lest we forget, Gore was part of an administration that not only went into Kosovo without congressional authorization but also engaged in the practice of warrantless wiretaps itself, and not always with the goal of protecting the lives of innocent civilians at that (see here).

Does Gore think the American people have so much affection for him that he can get away with conveniently omitting such facts in making his overheated, invalid and excessively partisan arguments?

An excerpt from his speech:

"The President and I agree on one thing. The threat from terrorism is all too real ... Where we disagree is that we have to break the law or sacrifice our system of government to protect Americans from terrorism. In fact, doing so makes us weaker and more vulnerable."

"If the President has the inherent authority to eavesdrop, imprison citizens on his own declaration, kidnap and torture, then what can't he do?"

"The common denominator seems to be based on an instinct to intimidate and control."

"In the words of George Orwell: 'We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right.'"

"the most serious damage has been done to the legislative branch. The sharp decline of congressional power and autonomy in recent years has been almost as shocking as the efforts by the Executive Branch to attain a massive expansion of its power ... the legislative branch of government under its current leadership now operates as if it is entirely subservient to the Executive Branch. "

"Democrats as well as Republicans in the Congress must share the blame for not taking action to protest and seek to prevent what they consider a grossly unconstitutional program."

"Moreover, in the Congress as a whole--both House and Senate--the enhanced role of money in the re-election process, coupled with the sharply diminished role for reasoned deliberation and debate, has produced an atmosphere conducive to pervasive institutionalized corruption. The Abramoff scandal is but the tip of a giant iceberg that threatens the integrity of the entire legislative branch of government."

(I'm assuming this is what Hillary was referring to when she compared the House to a plantation on Martin Luther King Day.)