Ashcroft, Deft at Taking Political Heat, Hits a Rocky Patch

[RedEarth]

Ashcroft, Deft at Taking Political Heat, Hits a Rocky Patch
By DAVID JOHNSTON and RICHARD W. STEVENSON

ASHINGTON, June 29 — As the country's chief legal officer, John Ashcroft works at the crossroads between politics and the law, and he is not the first attorney general to take the political heat for his administration's legal reversals. But even by those standards, Mr. Ashcroft seems to have entered a turbulent phase.

After years in which his conservative views and his definition of the proper balance between civil liberties and security needs made him a target for liberal critics, Mr. Ashcroft has recently experienced a series of defeats and missteps that have put him under even more intense scrutiny, and not just from Democrats.

On Monday, the Supreme Court repudiated the administration's contention that the president alone could determine the fate of enemy combatants, in effect slapping down one of Mr. Ashcroft's most important legal positions. And last week the White House disowned a legal opinion drafted by the Justice Department regarding how far interrogators could go in using coercive techniques to wring information from detainees. Mr. Ashcroft's role in the preparation of that legal paper is unclear.

Among well-connected Republicans in Washington, there is some private grumbling that Mr. Ashcroft too often pursues his own agenda rather than that of President Bush. Some Republicans are wondering whether Mr. Ashcroft would be asked to return for a second Bush term if the president is re-elected in November, or whether he would choose not to serve again, perhaps to pursue his own run for the presidency in 2008.

Some Republicans say Mr. Ashcroft has become so polarizing a figure that he can no longer be an effective advocate for administration initiatives, like the drive to renew the expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act. While Mr. Ashcroft remains immensely popular on the right, especially Christian conservatives, he is seen within the administration as also having picked up at least his share of political baggage in leading the Justice Department through the tumultuous changes that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Republicans with ties to the White House said.

Allies of Mr. Ashcroft acknowledged the difficult atmosphere, but said the attorney general was not wilting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/30/politics/30ASHC.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

[OKNancy]

1. Please run for President in 2008 Mr. Ashcroft

BWHAHAHA
" or whether he would choose not to serve again, perhaps to pursue his own run for the presidency in 2008."

That would be the best thing you could do for President Kerry.

[Ripley]

2. Ashcroft/Moore...

Yeah, that's the ticket!

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Funny.

Now imagine a Fundied-up, Diebolded world in which they actually WIN!

Yeah, that notion is sure worth a few chuckles.

See you guys in the concentration camp.

[Sticky]

3. Hahahaha...LOL....ROFL

....I was just about to post the same thing!

I hope he tries it. :evilgrin:

[DinahMoeHum]

4. Asswipe/Torquemada wannabee. What a f**king joke. . .

The truth is outing, folks - Ashcroft is so inept he has to stand on a brick to kick a duck in the ass - and even then, odds are better than 50/50 he'll miss.

:evilgrin:

[Caution]

5. If Ashcroft runs in 2008

I will personally vote for him in the MA primary. Talk about your all-time landslide victories for Kerry that an Ashcroft candidacy would give us!

And one other thing...immensely popular on the right? Huh? the guy couldn't win an election against a dead man fer crissakes. If he was so popular you would think he could've won that one wouldnt you? (in retrospect i almost wish he had...at least then he wouldn't be the damned Attorney General).

[pinerow]

6. better the devil you know than the devil you don't know...

nt

[Sequoia]

12. I don't agree with that statement...

my Repub buddy said the same thing about Bush vs. Kerry. Bush is a dumb devil and Kerry a smart devil?

[MsUSA]

10. I knew the country was in BIG trouble........

when Ashcroft covered all the exposed breasts on the statues in the Justice building.....yup, what a boob, pun intended. ;-)

[Sequoia]

13. Right you are, and welcome to DU MsUSA!

You're gonna have fun and learn a lot! I'd like to see Ashcough just try to cover up the statue of Venus!

[KoKo]

7. Puffed up by his own incompetence. Thinks he could run in 2008....

Shocking.

[natrat]

8. I think he should

give up politics and tour with the dead. Picture this. Asscrack on rhythm guitar and backup vocals. Truckin->Casey Jones->Where Eagles Soar (asscrack's original)
He could wear one of those hippy dresses and sell special brownies in the parking lot. just an idea

[seemslikeadream]

9. Patriotic or obscene?

Attention Activists!
Please be aware that this information is current as of the posted date. There may be further developments that are not reflected here.


San Francisco, CA (Posted 5/28/04, Updated 6/3/04)

On Saturday, May 29, 2004, at 10 AM, artists, activists, and free speech devotees gathered at the Copobianco Gallery in North Beach in support of owner Lori Haigh's right to display controversial art. The controversy grew out of the display of a new painting by graphic novelist Guy Colwell depicting the Abu Ghraib prison torture, which has led to Haigh receiving threats on the lives of she and her children and enduring vandalism at her gallery. The Copobianco Gallery is located at 1841 Powell St, between Filbert and Greenwich at Washington Square.

The San Jose Mercury News reports, "In the past 10 days, Haigh has endured vandalism at her Capobianco Gallery, dozens of hate calls labeling her anti-American, and even a few death threats. Now disillusioned and frightened for her family, she's closed the Powell Street gallery at least temporarily, and maybe for good. That has spawned another protest, from San Francisco artists and publishers, including veterans of past censorship battles. They vow to persuade her to stay open."

Here are some suggestions from people at the Saturday rally:
1: Write letters to the editor
2: Post-up pictures of the painting & other anti-war art work all over town
3: Send emails of support to Lori Haigh at [e-mail] and Guy Colwell
http://www.ncac.org/action/alerts.html

Further articles on this controversy can be found at the following locations:

Last Straw For Art Gallery
San Francisco Examiner, CA
http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/052604n_gallery
Patriotic Or Obscene?
San Francisco Examiner, CA
http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/052104n_gallery
Window On Iraq Scandal
San Francisco Examiner, CA
http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/052004n_artgallery