History has a funny way of tapping someone on the shoulder

In a passionate - yes, passionate - speech, the former vice president indicted George W. Bush for arrogating to himself powers that the Constitution does not confer on him or any other president. Gore accused the president of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants in violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act, of torturing prisoners in violation of the Geneva Conventions, of imprisoning Americans as enemy combatants without a charge. Gore called for the attorney general to appoint a special counsel to investigate the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping, and he called on Congress to find the backbone to fulfill its constitutional duty to oversee the executive branch of government and check its power. We believe that Gore is right, both in his analysis and in his proposed remedies. We second his call for a special counsel to investigate his claim - an absurd claim, in our view - that Congress' authorization of the use of military force in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 gave the president the inherent power to violate the Bill of Rights and the FISA statute.