Along with insisting that Bush is bringing us ever-closer to Orwell’s ‘1984,’ Al Gore thinks the USA Patriot Act was a partisan power grab.
“They have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, ‘big brother’-style government — toward the dangers prophesied by George Orwell in his book 1984 — than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America,” Gore charged in a speech.
Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 presidential election to Bush, said terrorism-fighting tools granted after Sept. 11 amount to a partisan power grab that have led to the erosion of the civil liberties of all Americans.
What? A partisan power grab? Whatever your opinion of the Patriot Act, calling it a power grab couldn’t be more misleading. After all, only one person–Democratic Senator Russell Feingold of Wisconsin–voted against the bill. That means every other Democrat voted for it, and, according to Gore, means Bush pulled wool over the eyes of almost all Democrats in the Senate.
It must have been mind control. Either that or the Republicans finally got that Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy machine working.
But I don’t mind Gore’s talking points. He sounds just as ridiculous as always.