Al Gore: Bush 'Broke the Law'

Al Gore charges that President George Bush has "broken the law” and implies that Congress should have initiated impeachment proceedings against Bush for unspecified crimes.

In a fund-raising e-mail sent out under the banner of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee with the subject line "Unprecedented,” Gore declares:

"The evidence now makes it hard to avoid the conclusion that George Bush has repeatedly and insistently broken the law and the corrupt Republican Congress has shirked its constitutional duty to hold him to account."

While Gore omitted using the "i" word, the consititutional remedy for a president who breaks the law is the House's impeachment process followed by a trial before the Senate.

"In my view, a president who breaks the law poses a threat to the very foundation of our democracy," Gore said, noting the seriousness of his allegation. "As Americans with a stake in the future of our country, we must act quickly and decisively. We have less than five months to win the six seats we need to control the Senate – and pull our country back from the brink of a constitutional crisis.”

Gore states that Bush’s "nightmarish regime” has been responsible for an "unprecedented expansion” of executive power and says: "I have never seen leaders that act with the contempt for the truth that I have witnessed in George Bush’s administration.”

The e-mail seeks contributions of $50, $75, or more to aid senatorial candidates and sets a goal of raising $1 million before June 30 to counter the Bush administration’s "truly breathtaking disregard for American values.”

Ironically, Gore notes that he has run for president twice and says: "I know what it takes to win.”