Editorial: Al Gore talks turkey, gets a gobble in reply
On wiretapping, "they did it too" won't cut it.
Last update: January 21, 2006 – 6:38 PM
Former Vice President Al Gore gave a rip-roaring speech last week attacking the Bush administration for "repeatedly and insistently" breaking federal law and "disrespecting" the U.S. Constitution. One of his major examples was the Bush administration's massive, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens that has recently come to light. One may agree with his analysis or not, but Gore did not deserve the trashing he got from the White House, which spun a fluffy cloud of half-truths.
In televised remarks, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that "during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding the physical searches without warrants" and that Clinton's "deputy attorney general testified before Congress that the president does have the inherent authority under the Constitution to engage in physical searches without a warrant." These, Gonzales said, were "inconsistent with what the former vice president was saying today." Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan, speaking to reporters, made the same two points and concluded that Gore's "hypocrisy knows no bounds."
http://www.startribune.com/561/story/196015.html