Matt Ortega

Former Vice President Al Gore gave an incredibly scathing speech this afternoon, accusing President Bush of criminal activity by authorizing the NSA domestic spying program. He called for a bipartisan-supported investigation into the matter, praising the work of federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

Highlights of the speech from John Aravosis:

[...] The President and I agree on one thing. The threat from terrorism is all too real. There is simply no question that we continue to face new challenges in the wake of the attack on September 11th and that we must be ever-vigilant in protecting our citizens from harm.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.

Once violated, the rule of law is in danger. Unless stopped, lawlessness grows. The greater the power of the executive grows, the more difficult it becomes for the other branches to perform their constitutional roles. As the executive acts outside its constitutionally prescribed role and is able to control access to information that would expose its actions, it becomes increasingly difficult for the other branches to police it. Once that ability is lost, democracy itself is threatened and we become a government of men and not laws…

AMERICAblog has links to video (excerpts and the full speech) while Crooks & Liars has video highlights.

In the speech, the former vice president spoke about the similarities between today’s domestic eavesdropping program and the wiretapping of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s. Think Progress saw the historical connection to the contemporary period, citing a November 1967 speech.

From Judd Legum at Think Progress:

Now what are some of the domestic consequences of the war in Vietnam? It has made the Great Society a myth and replaced it with a troubled and confused society…It has given the extreme right, the anti-labor, anti-Negro, and anti-humanistic forces a weapon of spurious patriotism to galvanize its supporters into reaching for power, right up to the White House. It hopes to use national frustration to take control and restore the America of social insecurity and power for the privileged. […]

It is disgraceful that a Congress that can vote upwards of $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam cannot vote a weak $2 billion dollars to carry on our all too feeble efforts to bind up the wound of our nations 35 million poor. This is nothing short of a Congress engaging in political guerilla warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation. [...]

When I first decided to take a firm stand against the war in Vietnam, I was subjected to the most bitter criticism, by the press, by individuals, and even by some fellow civil rights leaders. There were those who said that I should stay in my place, that these two issues did not mix and I should stick with civil rights. Well I had only one answer for that and it was simply the fact that I have struggled too long and too hard now to get rid of segregation in public accommodations to end up at this point in my life segregating my moral concerns. [emphasis from Think Progress]

(Hat tip: AMERICAblog, Think Progress and Raw Story)