Gore: It Is ‘Obscene’ That Bush Has Dismissed ‘George Washington’s 200-Plus Year Prohibition On Torture’
Gore: It Is ‘Obscene’ That Bush Has Dismissed ‘George Washington’s 200-Plus Year Prohibition On Torture’
On April 9, ABC News reported that in 2002, President Bush’s most senior advisers approved the use of harsh interrogation tactics. Days later, Bush confirmed to ABC he “approved” of the tactics. Since the ABC report, the media have largely ignored the story. Morever, it took 14 days for a reporter to raise the issue in a White House press briefing.
During an interview this morning on NPR, former Vice President Al Gore criticized Bush for approving the techniques, calling it “obscene,” adding that his use of signing statements is “a raw assertion of authority outside the boundaries of the law”:
GORE: Ultimately the guarantor of our freedoms are the people. And these kinds of outrages, a president saying that he has the right turn George Washington’s 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants with his assistants gathering in the basement of the White House — according to recent revelations — personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner, its obscene.
Listen here:
Highlighting Bush’s “arrogation of authority,” Gore also noted that the Bush administration has “refused to comply with the Supreme Court decision” requiring it to regulate “global warming pollution” under the Clean Air Act.
While Gore called Bush’s abuses of power “outrages,” the media does not seem to be as concerned. However, the House Judiciary Committee provided a bright spot today, voting to subpoena David Addington, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, to compel him to testify about the administration’s interrogation programs.
Transcript:
TERRY GROSS: So say John McCain was elected president. What would his options be in terms of dealing with President Bush’s signing statement?
GORE: the reason you’re having trouble with it is that it’s contrary to the American system. In my view, not only would that signing statement not bind the next president, it is not legal as a statement of law where the current president is concerned. It is a raw assertion of authority outside the boundaries of the law.
GROSS: But who would decide if it’s officially legal or illegal? Nobody’s officially thrown it out saying “this is illegal.”
GORE: Well that’s correct, and in our system the ultimate arbiter of what is constitutional, since Marbury versus Madison in the first decades of our republic, has been the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court does not take all cases, and has been often timid where this president’s arrogation of authority to himself is concerned.
But even where they have not been timid, where for example they ruled that the Clean Air Act requires President Bush and his EPA administrator to regulate global warming pollution as pollution under the Clean Air Act. And the executive branch has nonetheless refused to comply with the Supreme Court decision. And ultimately the guarantor of our freedoms are the people.
And these kinds of outrages — a president saying that he has the right to overturn George Washington’s 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants, with his assistants gathered in the basement of the White House, according to recent revelations, personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner — it’s obscene!
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How different our country and our world would be today if not for the hijacking of the white house and the constitution in 2000. Sigh.
May 6th, 2008 at 7:58 pmJohn Ashcroft said that history would judge the Bush administration harshly for this discussion of torture. Look at Bush’s position on turture: just how close can we get to torture and still get away with it???
May 6th, 2008 at 8:00 pmhttp://newsprism.wordpress.com
Trolls frothing at the mouth in 3….2…1…
May 6th, 2008 at 8:07 pmThese outrages are also illegal. Cage the chimp and dick too!
May 6th, 2008 at 8:09 pmI believe it is critical that the elder statesmen of the Democratic Party speak out forcefully, and more frequently, against what they (currently only once in a while) agree is either illegal, or as here, obscene. Gore and Carter are two that need to speak out strongly between now and November.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:10 pmPlease, Al, I’m still in mourning over the 2000 presidential selection, and just replaced my “Re-elect Gore 2008″ bumper sticker with “Obama 08″ in February…
PEACE
May 6th, 2008 at 8:17 pmI hope whoever is elected in November isn’t afraid to follow through and prosecute these @ssh*les!
May 6th, 2008 at 8:27 pmWhy didnt Americans elect that guy president?
oh right they did
May 6th, 2008 at 8:27 pmFirst and last presidents of the US.
RIP America
May 6th, 2008 at 8:28 pm#3: I hate it when you do that Zooey.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:30 pmIf Zooey were half as smart as she was b**chy, she’d be married to Obama…
May 6th, 2008 at 8:31 pmHey rhf –
Shut the f uck up. You’ve overstayed your welcome, now get the hell out.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:34 pmWhat McWars said.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:37 pmI third that.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:38 pmWhat exit stage left said
May 6th, 2008 at 8:40 pmHere’s another reason why I find it hard to believe that FOX N(ot)ews has as many viewers as they do. They even go out of their way to demean their own viewing audience then try to laugh it off in the end.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:40 pmrepublicans hate facts Says:
If Zooey were half as smart as she was b**chy, she’d be married to Obama…
May 6th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
You have been flagged
May 6th, 2008 at 8:41 pmHELLO?
May 6th, 2008 at 8:42 pmWell hello right back atcha freeman.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:43 pmGosh Al, too bad you caved in December 2000 telling us how fighting for the presidency would be divisive and harm the country. Whadda metaphor for the current Democratic Party that was.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:44 pmKisses, RHF.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:47 pmGo away goon_golly.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:52 pmStill food on the shelves at the supermarket but…… one wonders what’s next . …..
May 6th, 2008 at 9:02 pmthe dollar crashing , major rises in basic food prices worldwide and the doubling of the price of crude oil in a few months !
the richest among us , making obscene profits at the expense of the existence of the American middle class .A undisquised attack on our democracy at home .
Soon we’ll all be living in the 3rd world , buy a goat and plant potatoes , atleast you’ll still be eating .
Chech your phone for bugs ,
May 6th, 2008 at 9:14 pmdemand a fair trial !
buy a copy of the constitution while it’s legal !!!
but don’t use a credit card.
Prepare an alias.Stock up on canned goods.Get a goat.
Write your congress person yesterday.
DO SOMETHING !!!
May 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pmAnother cry for attention from the world’s leading global warming profiteer.
~anylouse19
So, shooting down the messenger, eh? Perhaps you think it will somehow make torture ok if you do that. Because that is what the topic of the thread actually is: Pres Bush’s endorsement of torture. Do try to keep up.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:42 pmPresident Gore would have moved the country in a very positive direction. But thanks to the war machine who stole the last two presidential elections we are still living a nightmare. We are now hated around the world.
Could the Democratic party please put a couple brain cells on the election fraud raging in this country? At least teach people how to register in each state. Teach people the law. Tell them where to register, what they need, where they vote. Is that too much to ask?
May 6th, 2008 at 9:49 pmYes, Al, it’s obscene, it’s grotesque, it’s high crimes and we can impeach them. We have a sloution, Al. Are you fighting for it every day? I don’t believe I’ve heard you mention impeachment and I think even the state owned media might put that on TV. Join the patriots, Al. Fight for the impeachment of bushcheney. All else is obscene complicity.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:56 pmfreeman maybe you should put your tin foil hat back on…
Now I generally agree with probably most of you on the torture issue: we concede the moral high ground when we lower ourselves to tactics on which our enemies pride themselves, but…
anylouse has a point. Gregor, I wouldn’t call it shooting down the messenger, I would call it checking up on the integrity of the messenger to see if he/she has the credentials to criticize. Al Gore is as much as a liar as George Bush with his global warming alarmist agenda. He refuses to debate or address the dissent of real scientists who have data that speaks otherwise about his argument. His “documentary” contains at least 35 factual errors. The debate on climate change (funny how recently the name has changed from global warming since you cant really argue against the climate changing…) is far from over, both sides have loads of ammunition in the form of scientific data…one side just seems to prefer computer models instead of primary evidence, but we, as taxpayers and residents of Planet Earth, deserve a real public debate over whether 1) humans are making the world warmer 2) that warming is good or bad 3) if its bad, should we abandon/significantly alter our way of life to (probably not) do something about it and 4) why are the same folks who were screaming about a new ice age 30 years ago all of a sudden crying about global warming?
May 6th, 2008 at 9:57 pmHowever, the House Judiciary Committee provided a bright spot today, voting to subpoena David Addington, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, to compel him to testify about the administration’s interrogation programs.
So . . they’re trying to light a candle in the middle of a black hole.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:03 pmGood luck with that, and wake me if anything actually happens beyond the refusal to comply.
Exit Stage Left Says:
How different our country and our world would be today if not for the hijacking of the white house and the constitution in 2000. Sigh.
No truer words have been written. What a disaster, possibly one that can’t be recovered from, these criminals have created. Hitler was more heinous, but when all the fallout has settled from this administration, I believe the end effect will be more disastrous than WWII.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:12 pmGore’s integrity seems to be overlooked by Teri Gross. He said he wouldn’t run for president, the pundits all made fun of his weight. But no one is mentioning how he stood by his word.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:47 pmSeems the mass media has a hard time honoring the gentleman from Tennessee. And they seem incapable of reporting the truth about the disenfranchisement of thousands of Floridian voters in 2000. The story line will always and forever remain hanging chads.
anylouse has a point. Gregor,
~the_svedberg
No, he doesn’t.
I wouldn’t call it shooting down the messenger,
Of course you wouldn’t call it that, since that is exactly what you are doing too.
I would call it checking up on the integrity of the messenger to see if he/she has the credentials to criticize.
Call it whatever you want. Torture is still wrong.
Not to mention the not-so-clever change of subject.
Al Gore is as much as a liar as George Bush with his global warming alarmist agenda. He refuses to debate or address the dissent of real scientists who have data that speaks otherwise about his argument.
This is claptrap. Global climate change is not Gore’s theory. He is also the messenger for that one.
One more time: There is consensus in the scientific community that global climate change is real, and that human activity is contributing to the rising temperatures of our planet.
I suppose you are still “on the fence” about the actual shape of our planet too.
And lest you forget, since I suspect you have a short attention span problem: This is a thread about Pres Bush legalising and embracing torture as a matter of policy. Gore is just the messenger. Nice try at changing the subject and shooting down the messenger, though.
May 6th, 2008 at 11:37 pmGreg, go back and read my post. I agree that torture is wrong, it is the practice of our enemies and not something we should play around with.
I was merely suggesting that Al Gore may not have a platform to criticize anyone because he has been made famous by using smokescreens and false dilemas like the rest of them.
I mistrust all demagogues, don’t really care which “side” of the spectrum they come from. The political spectrum has at least 2 dimensions, probably more.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:09 amWhoops you’re right Gregor I am guilty of a personal attack fallacy. I apologize. I think I may be suffering from Gore Derangement Syndrome.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:12 amI was merely suggesting that Al Gore may not have a platform to criticize anyone because he has been made famous by using smokescreens and false dilemas like the rest of them.
~the_svedberg
And you might have a point if Al Gore were berating others for the very same things he is guilty of.
Like pontificating about marital fidelity, while having a girl on the side. Or engaging in gay-bashing while carrying a gay affair himself.
That is not the case. He is talking about Bush’s embrace of torture. Did Gore ever legalise torture, or openly defended its use “to protect America”? Right, I didn’t think so.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:32 am“And these kinds of outrages, a president saying that he has the right turn George Washington’s 200-plus year prohibition against torture and torture anyone he wants with his assistants gathering in the basement of the White House — according to recent revelations — personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner, its obscene.”
No, it is called CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MULTIPLE FELONIES. AND CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT TREASON.
May 7th, 2008 at 12:59 amNamtillaku Says:
Exit Stage Left Says:
How different our country and our world would be today if not for the hijacking of the white house and the constitution in 2000. Sigh.
No truer words have been written. What a disaster, possibly one that can’t be recovered from, these criminals have created. Hitler was more heinous, but when all the fallout has settled from this administration, I believe the end effect will be more disastrous than WWII.
I think they just were.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:02 amFu(khead svedberg goes on in the mouth with:
“…but we, as taxpayers and residents of Planet Earth, deserve a real public debate over whether 1) humans are making the world warmer 2) that warming is good or bad 3) if its bad, should we abandon/significantly alter our way of life to (probably not) do something about it and 4) why are the same folks who were screaming about a new ice age 30 years ago all of a sudden crying about global warming?”
Hey fu(k wit, we as taxpayers deserve a fu(king president who respects the Constitution, a Supreme Court that UNDERSTANDS the Constitution, the ability to RELY ON SCIENTISTS TO PROVIDE AND PROVE OUR SCIENTIFIC THEORIES, KEEP RELIGION JUST WHERE IT BELONGS. IN A LOCKED ROOM IN A HOUSE OF WORSHIP, WITH NO TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES, REPRESENTATIVES WHO ACTUALLY CARE FOR THEIR CONSTITUENTS.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:09 amYou FU(KWIT.
IF YOU ARE THE MESSENGER, THEN YES, I AM ALL FOR SHOOTING DOWN THE MESSENGER, AND WHILE HE IS DOWN, STEP ON HIS FU(KING HEAD UNTIL IT IS MUSH, THEN SCOOP HIS SORRY ASS UP AND BLAST HIM OFF TO THE SUN ALONG WITH THE REST OF HIS CRETIN FAMILY SO THAT HUMANITY CAN BE RID OF THIS STRAIN OF DNA.
.
Gore is only half correct…
What is obscene is a body of Congress that sits on their collective asses supporting war crimes through their silence, granting the President and his Vice President, George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney, tacit permission to continue being the big bad-ass war criminals they’ve grown to become.
AMERICA…
Your President and Vice President ARE war criminals…
America…
Doing nothing equates to a permissiveness that has ALWAYS been anathema to what America was carved out to be…
America…
The world awaits…
Do nothing and be known for becoming a rogue Nation to the world. Do nothing and you become what you’ve had a history of loathing.
It’s not torture when America does it… ? BULLSHIT!
It’s not terrorism when America does it…? BULLSHIT!
It’s not war crimes when perpetrated by Americans…? BULLSHIT!
NOT IN MY NAME, AMERICA!
.
Q U E S T I O N:
When will T.P. get a heading for WAR CRIMES/CRIMINALS, IMPEACHMENT? How can TP effectively change what it chooses to not recognize?
.
May 7th, 2008 at 1:16 am.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:05 am.
.
The remedy is “IMPEACHMENT”. Something, astonishingly, Gore has not called for. I am a huge Gore supporter and I am very disappointed the former VP is not pushing for this requirement.
.
.
.
the_svedberg Says:
4) why are the same folks who were screaming about a new ice age 30 years ago all of a sudden crying about global warming?
Every once in a while you should turn off Jerry Springer and tune into the Discovery Channel. Some scientists believe that when global warming melts the polar ice caps in sufficient amounts, the massive fresh water infusion into the North Atlantic will interfere with the flow of salt water in the Gulf Stream. This would cause a cooling of the planet at some point, and some believe this was one of the root causes of the last ice age.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:04 amanymouse19
Hey look at me I’m a flat earther! Anymouse, let’s just say for fun that Gore was in it for the money, even though he’s already incredibly wealthy, let’s say he wasn’t doing what he does out of concern and caring for the planet. Tell me what is so hard for you and your ilk to understand about cleaning up the planet, becoming less dependent on others’ energy and transferring to a society that is sustainable? The shift in the economy to green everything can only be a positive, but all you blowhards want to do is continue to demagogue the issue?
May 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pmWith better background checks I would hope fewer terrorists would be sifting into our society unnoticed.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:41 pmYou people make me sick. President Bush has done nothing wrong. A lot has changed since George Washington was in office.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:36 pmJust imagine what things would be like if Al was President, the problems we face today would pale in comparison. I shutter to think of how things would be with Barack or Billary in office. republicans hate facts and Democrats have no back bone.
Bluegrassen Says
“You people make me sick. President Bush has done nothing wrong.”
May 8th, 2008 at 6:46 pmWell the relatives and friends of perhaps more than a million dead ,Iraqi’s included , may disagreee with you there Blue.
The parents and children of several times that who have been mained and wounded as well as on upwards of 4 million refugeed as a result of our attack on a country TOTALLY uninvolved in the Sept, 11 attack on the world trade towers may have a bearing ?
Look at a few actual photo’s of the carnage in Iraq , a father or mother cradling the lifeless body of their child perhaps and than get back to me with an opinion of what makes you sick , Blue.
Get some perspective .