Gore in MoveOn Mode

Yesterday, Al Gore switched gears again.

He dropped the congenial facade he trotted out to announce his cable TV channel, Current, and morphed into the fire-breathing Al. Addressing the fringe extremists that have hijacked the Democrat party, Gore delivered, offering lots of loony rhetoric to the radicals.

Complete transcript of Gore's remarks

(Excerpts)

As Aristotle once said of virtue, respect for the rule of law is "one thing."

It is indivisible.

And so long as it remains indivisible, so will our country.

But if either major political party is ever so beguiled by a lust for power that it abandons this unifying principle, then the fabric of our democracy will be torn.

The survival of freedom depends upon the rule of law.

Suddenly, Gore is opining about the rule of law. He had no problem standing by his man, Bill Clinton, during his dismissal of the law when he repeatedly lied under oath. Gore seems to have an odd, selective interpretation when it comes to "no controlling legal authority."

So, it is not as a Democrat but as an American, that I appeal today to the leadership of the majority in the Senate to halt their efforts to break the Senate's rules and instead protect a meaningful role in the confirmation of judges and justices for Senators of both parties. Remember that you will not always be in the majority, but much more importantly, remember what is best for our country regardless of which party is temporarily in power. Many of us know what it feels like to be disappointed with decisions made by the courts. But instead of attacking the judges with whose opinions we disagree, we live by the rule of law and maintain respect for the courts.

With all due respect, what a load!

The constitutional option has nothing to do with being in the majority. It has everything to do with fairness.

"For over 200 years, a majority vote is all that has been required to confirm judicial nominations. Now the Democrats are changing the rules and preventing the majority from confirming these nominees. The Senate majority should not be forced to choose between fulfilling their Constitutional obligation and conducting the people's business. "


I am genuinely dismayed and deeply concerned by the recent actions of some Republican leaders to undermine the rule of law by demanding the Senate be stripped of its right to unlimited debate where the confirmation of judges is concerned, and even to engage in outright threats and intimidation against federal judges with whom they philosophically disagree.

1) No one is advocating the use of physical violence or illegal means to threaten judges.

2) The reiteration of these false accusations suits the liberal agenda. However, Gore's perpetuation of this myth only serves to highlight the irresponsible rhetoric of desperate Dems.

This aggressive new strain of right-wing religious zealotry is actually a throwback to the intolerance that led to the creation of America in the first place.

James Madison warned us in Federalist #10 that sometimes, "A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction."

Unfortunately the virulent faction now committed to changing the basic nature of democracy now wields enough political power within the Republican party to have a major influence over who secures the Republican nomination for president in the 2008 election. It appears painfully obvious that some of those who have their eyes on that nomination are falling all over themselves to curry favor with this faction.

...I think it is truly important to expose the fundamental flaw in the arguments of these zealots. The unifying theme now being pushed by this coalition is actually an American heresy -- a highly developed political philosophy that is fundamentally at odds with the founding principles of the United States of America.

Gore bashes Christians, people of faith, calling them dangerous zealots. This sort of mischaracterization only reinforces the resolve of these "zealots" to elect Republicans. Keep it up, Al.

This fight is not about responding to a crisis. It is about the desire of the administration and the Senate leadership to stifle debate in order to get what they want when they want it. What is involved here is a power grab -- pure and simple.

How is upholding the Constitution, by allowing judicial nominees an up or down vote in the Senate, stifling debate?

Power Grab?

Is Gore flashing back to the 2000 election again? The attempt to alter election law when liberal Florida judges legislated from the bench was most definitely a power grab--pure and simple.

And what makes it so dangerous for our country is their willingness to do serious damage to our American democracy in order to satisfy their lust for total one-party domination of all three branches of government. They seek nothing less than absolute power. Their grand design is an all-powerful executive using a weakened legislature to fashion a compliant judiciary in its own image. They envision a total breakdown of the separation of powers. And in its place they want to establish a system in which power is unified in the service of a narrow ideology serving a narrow set of interests.

Their coalition of supporters includes both right-wing religious extremists and exceptionally greedy economic special interests. Both groups are seeking more and more power for their own separate purposes. If they were to achieve their ambition -- and exercise the power they seek -- America would face the twin dangers of an economic blueprint that eliminated most all of the safeguards and protections established for middle class families throughout the 20th century and a complete revision of the historic insulation of the rule of law from sectarian dogma. One of the first casualties would be the civil liberties that Americans have come to take for granted.

Gore really wanders into paranoiac territory here.

One-party domination? The American people CHOSE to give Republicans power in the executive and legislative branches. They voted them into office. They expect judicial nominees to reflect their voices. What lust!

Are American voters part of this diabolical "grand design" of one-party rule?

What's particularly ironic about Gore's ramblings on "right-wing religious extremists and exceptionally greedy economic special interests" seeking absolute power is that he delivered his speech to a room filled with MoveOn's left-wing extremists and special interests.

Regarding his fear-mongering skills, Gore shows he hasn't lost his touch. He claims that opposition to using the filibuster to block judicial nominees would somehow translate into a loss of civil liberties for Americans.

Gore is twisting support for judicial nominess to be granted an up or down vote into an effort to transform the U.S. government into a dictatorship.

Absolutely ridiculous!

Yet today's Republicans seem hell-bent on squelching the ability of the minority in this country to express dissent. This is in keeping with other Republican actions to undercut the legislative process.

And in the filibuster fight they are doing it with utter disregard for the rule of law so central to our democracy.

Explain to me how a vote squelches dissent. I would agrue that preventing a vote squelches the voice of the people.

The minority is seeking to undercut what the American people want. They are showing complete disregard for the fact that voters determined the makeup of the House, Senate, and Presidency.

And now, all of the new public opinion polls show an overwhelming majority of the American people are opposed to this current effort to cripple the United States Senate's position in our constitutional framework by destroying the principle of unlimited debate. But, the congressional Republican leadership and the White House are so beholden to the extremists that they feel like they have to do what they say.

Right. The push polls that phrase questions in a manner which nudges people to answer in accordance with the liberal agenda of the polls' creators are in agreement with the Dems.

When questions are posed to Americans without this bias, the results are not to the Dems' liking.

Moreover, Congressional Republicans and the WH should be beholden to the people that elected them. That's what representative government is about.

In effect, Gore is saying the majority that elected Bush and a Republican House and Senate are extremists. He really doesn't get it. The man and his party are out of touch with the American people and reality.

The proposal from the Senate majority leader to abolish the right of unlimited debate is a poison pill for America's democracy. It is the stalking horse for a dangerous American heresy that would substitute persuasion on the merits with bullying and an effort at partisan domination.

Granting judicial nominees their right to an up or down vote in the Senate is not a "poison pill."

It is upholding the U.S. Constitution.

For Gore and the out of touch Dems, that is a poison pill.