Al Gore gave a fantastic foreign policy address last night–just 4 years too late. But it was fantastic anyway, holding the Bush Administration to account largely on the issue of Abu Ghraib.
One thing that I notice seems to have not been reported was a remarkable line about the 2000 election:
In December of 2000, even though I strongly disagreed with the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to order a halt to the counting of legally cast ballots, I saw it as my duty to reaffirm my own strong belief that we are a nation of laws and not only accept the decision, but do what I could to prevent efforts to delegitimize George Bush as he took the oath of office as president.
I did not at that moment imagine that Bush would, in the presidency that ensued, demonstrate utter contempt for the rule of law and work at every turn to frustrate accountability.
The RNC, by the way, responded that Gore’s speech demonstrates he “does not understand the threat of global terror.” That sounds an awful lot like an endorsement, rather than a condemnation, of the torture chambers. Outrage over the outrage, indeed.