Jonah Goldberg: If history can rehabilitate Ashcroft, can it do the same for Bush?

[sabra]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldberg22may22,0,3175747.column?coll=la-home-commentary

The redemption of John Ashcroft
If history can rehabilitate the onetime conservative boogeyman, can it do the same for Bush?

HERE'S MORE reason to love democracy: In the Soviet Union, you had to be thrown into internal exile before you could be rehabilitated. In Red China, you were paraded around town with a dunce cap on your head. But to be redeemed in Washington, all you need to do is obstruct the political villain du jour.

Former Deputy Atty. Gen. James Comey's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee electrified Washington last week. With almost cinematic drama, Comey recounted a story of grasping Bush administration officials trying to badger then-Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft — in his hospital bed — into authorizing sweeping domestic surveillance powers that had already been determined to be unlawful by the Justice Department. Ashcroft strained to lift his head off the pillow and castigate then-White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. for trying an end-run around Comey, the acting attorney general. Ashcroft and his aides reportedly threatened mass resignations if the White House didn't address their concerns. President Bush apparently did that, defusing the crisis.

It now appears that the substance of the disagreement was perhaps a bit less apocalyptic than Comey and Democrats have painted it, but that's beside the point. The new villain in Washington is Gonzales, the current attorney general, and so any principled opponent to Gonzales' alleged abuse of powers must have something going for him. Even the previous villain, Ashcroft.

...

Full disclosure: My wife was formerly a senior aide and speechwriter for both Ashcroft and Gonzales, so I always took a particularly keen interest in both attorneys general. It is nice to see conventional wisdom come around to my long-standing and oft-stated view that Gonzales is a subpar hack and Ashcroft a man of integrity. Don't get me wrong; I don't think I'd much like to have a beer with either of them (certainly not with Ashcroft because I hate to drink alone). But, as my wife, Jessica Gavora, puts it, "The one thing you always knew about John Ashcroft was that he's not for sale."


...

Lastly, history — even freshly minted history — has a remarkable way of erasing conventional wisdom. If in 2002 I had written that by 2007 Democrats would be singing Ashcroft's praises as a man of integrity and sound temperament, I would have been laughed out of the room. Right now, predicting a rehabilitation of George W. Bush elicits similar guffaws from the crowd. But the fact is if Ashcroft can be rehabilitated, anyone can.

:crazy:

[lisa58]

1. No!

[SharonAnn]

16. History Hasn't "Rehabilitated" Ashcroft. Itj ust recognized that he did one thing right.

[BuyingThyme]

2. Nancy just did that.

[Solly Mack]

3. I still think Ashcroft is a piece of shit

[NewYorkerfromMass]

4. First of all, Dima'ya would have to have gone to law school

become an attorney, and prove he was halfways intelligent.
Second of all, there is no undoing all the shit he has wreaked on the world for over 6 years now, so NO Jonah, it's not gonna' happen. But obviously you have the same deluded hopes for yourself and your mom.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. He's rehabilitated by not being as craven as Bush!

These clowns really are the worst sort of sophists.

The reason Ashcroft seems like a man of some modest integrity is simple: he refused, in the last instance, to be bulldozed by the utterly unethical moves of the Bushies. That's it. So, from this fact set, Goldberg first abstracts a little narrative about redemption in general, then applies said narrative to Bush. It's a fantastic reversal to be sure, but little more than the wordplay of a sophomore with two philosophy classes under his belt.

[magellan]

6. Ashcroft wasn't redeemed

He was merely replaced with someone even worse. None of these bastards will ever find redemption with those who understand the enormity of evil they've done against this country.

[marmar]

7. Jonah Goldberg has mierda for brains....

:dunce:

[gratuitous]

8. Ashcroft "a man of integrity and sound temperament"?

Nonsense. Oh, and :rofl: Doughy Pantload.

I once had a bad haircut. It was done by my then-girlfriend. It was awful, no doubt about it. But if I held my head in a certain position and the light was just right, it looked okay. Ashcroft can only look okay if you stand him next to Gonzales.

And where was Mr. Ashcroft when his successor was going through his confirmation hearing? Since Ashcroft knew what sort of a man Gonzales is, why didn't he pick up the phone and call some of his old Senate colleagues to tell them not to confirm this man to the office of the Attorney General? Integrity? Sound temperament? My sweet Aunt Fanny, Doughy Pantload.

And one more time:

:rofl:

[StClone]

9. Jonah's subliminal

Ashcroft is, was and forever a loser.

Jonah's attempt to start massaging history while this mis administrations corpse (The Bush Era) is still warm is part desperation, part long-term rehabilitation of ole W from his deserved eternal damnation. He'll be in Ronnie's caliber in a few decades.

[damntexdem]

10. Ass-croft is the same A-hole he always was.

All Comey did was show how much lower down the scale Gonzo is.

[knight_of_the_star]

11. It's easy to rehabilitate Aschcroft

It's not hard to look like a man when you stand next to a slug.

[High Plains]

12. Bad premise, methinks.

[Bake]

13. Does this mean I can't call him "Asscrack" anymore?

Him being all rehabilitated and all ...

:rofl:

Bake

[johnnydrama]

14. wow

What stupid circular logic. If Ashcroft is "redeemed" for what happened in the hospital and elsewhere about warrantless wiretaps, how can Bush be redeemed when he was on the opposite side.

[StefanX]

15. Jonah Goldberg, aka the Doughy Pantload, is a shitty writer

And that metaphor sounds like he pulled it out of his ass.

Listen, Jonah -- Ashcroft didn't "rehabilate" himself -- he just did ONE good thing. While he was on what he might have his deathbed, by the way (when people often "see the light", the "error of their ways", etc.).

Bush has not done ONE GOOD THING yet. In his whole life, as far as anyone can see.

So Jonah -- go find another. Because this one stinks -- like the rest of your "writing", you overpaid useful idiot.