Elmer's Brother

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change."

"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared."

"We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur."

--Al Gore, VP

As National Review's Byron York notes, Gore tried to have it both ways:

"The threat of additional terror strikes is all too real and their concerted efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction does create a real imperative to exercise the powers of the executive branch with swiftness and agility," Gore told the audience at the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall. "Moreover, there is in fact an inherent power that is conferred by the Constitution to the president to take unilateral action to protect the nation from a sudden and immediate threat, but it is simply not possible to precisely define in legalistic terms exactly when that power is appropriate and when it is not."

Nonetheless, Gore asserted that he had found a controlling legal authority:

The president has been "breaking the law repeatedly and persistently," Gore said, and his war on terror has "brought our republic to the brink of a dangerous breach in the fabric of the Constitution." Gore stopped short of calling for Bush's impeachment, but he seemed to be suggesting it--and the crowd certainly seemed to be thinking about it--when he said that Congress should hold hearings into "serious allegations of criminal behavior on the part of the president, and they should follow the evidence wherever it leads."

All this despite Gore's acknowledgment that "we still have much to learn" about the program.

We've heard a lot about the problems of congressional Republicans, in terms of both corruption and ideological drift away from the small-government philosophy that brought the party to power in 1994. There is much validity to these criticisms. Power corrupts.

Gore, however, exemplifies how powerlessness also corrupts: by producing paranoia, persecution fantasies and a generally irresponsible politics. Republicans ought to pay a price for their shortcomings, but given the choice between Democratic paranoia and Republican profligacy, voters very well may decide that the latter is the lesser evil.

One more thing. "A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government," Gore said. Today's New York Sun reports that "President Clinton will be eligible this week to reclaim the law license he gave up as a consequence of the inaccurate responses he gave under oath."