November 09, 2004

Here's the incomparable Roger L. Simon on the departure of John Ashcroft:
The Patriot Act, John Ashcroft and Me

By now practically everyone knows that John Ashcroft is resigning as Attorney General. Whether he was in any way pushed out or whether this is entirely his own decision, in part in response to his own equally well known health problems, I do not have a clue. What I do know is that when he was first appointed, I groaned. It was proof, if I needed any, that the new "Chimp" in the White House was a reactionary Christer. He had chosen one of his own to be the country's number one law enforcer.

Then 9-11 came and Ashcroft's job became quite serious. The Patriot Act was enacted and the attorney general charged with seeing to its enforcement. In short order, Ashcroft was the butt of almost every anti-Bush assault.
[Don't forget Rummy, Cheney & Halliburton and the eeeeevil cabal of neocons around the President like Wolfowitz, though!--Jen]
"Ah, Ashcroft... Ah, the Patriot Act..." many of my friends and acquaintances said, rolling their eyes in disdain. Ashcroft was the scourge of democracy, the number one threat to our civil rights.

Yet, here's the interesting thing. Not one... I will repeat in bold face... not one of the people I knew who excoriated Ashcroft and the Patriot Act ever read the legislation, which is short and easily available on line. (I know because I asked them. The subject was quickly changed. Kerry, as we know, like virtually everyone in Congress, voted for it and then made his, as usual amorphous, assertions that some parts should be amended.) Furthermore, despite all the bad-mouthing of Ashcroft as if he were the second coming of A. Mitchell Palmer, only one... I will put that in bold again... only one person, as far as I know, in a nation of some three hundred million may have been illegally incarcerated - Jose Padilla. And even that is inconclusive.
[And I think it's clear that Padilla probably wasn't "wrongly" incarcerated, as he's a jihadist who allegedly had real plans to hit a large American population with a dirty bomb.--J.T.]

Yet I would still agree, as Theo Van Gogh would, I am sure, were he still alive, that religious fundamentalism is a highly dangerous phenomenon in this world.
[See post below this one for more about Van Gogh's slaughter and the Dutch need for their own Patriot Act.--Jen]
But I am now absolutely certain that those who thought or are still thinking that John Aschroft is or was a dangerous fundamentalist are lying to themselves or to us. Ashcroft, whatever his indiosyncracies, his prudish desire not to be photographed with nude statues,
[Perhaps Ashcroft isn't an art mullah, but found that the nude statues of Justice behind him were distracting, which they were!]
etc., was fully aware of one of Jesus' greatest teachings - render unto Casear what is Caesar's - and behaved accordingly. Nothing remotely happened during his tenure to dispute this. We owe Ashcroft a debt of gratitude for his service during exceptionally difficult times. And personally, I think I have learned something from him in a strange way. I used to be rather intolerant of people of faith. I am now less so.

I love Roger Simon's blog!
As a former Liberal Democrat, his opinions bring that much more power to the current conversation.
(And his commenters are among the best on the web, too--Don't miss them, either!)
I can only hope that others on the Left (or formerly on the Left) agree with Simon's final impression of AG Ashcroft and the Patriot Act.
Ashcroft has been one of the most reviled and vilified members of the Bush Administration for no reason whatsoever while he valiantly served this country while it was under attack and at war right here at home.
I'm going to miss him, as I while other departing members of the Administration.
Either because I'm a Bush-backer and a proud GOP member or because I feel emotionally attached to almost every member of President Bush's 1st term Cabinet due to the 9/11 attacks and being under threat, I have a "bond" with these public servants that I can't profess to have had with any other presidential team.
Thanks and God Bless you, Mr.s Ashcroft and Evans!

Update:Look at how tacky and hateful the Dims and the Left continue to be, even as a tired and not-very-well-looking John Ashcroft announces his resignation:

Ashcroft's critics cheered his departure. "We wish John Ashcroft good health and a good retirement. And we hope the president will choose a less polarizing attorney general as his successor," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "Mr. Ashcroft's legacy has been an open hostility to protecting civil liberties and an outright disdain for those who dare to question his policies."

Unreal, huh?
Guess my optimism for the truly deluded seeing the light was misplaced.
We may never (or then again, we might, someday) know how many terror attacks have been stopped by the diligence of the FBI under Ashcroft and with the very necessary, yet non-intrusive Patriot Act which helps us round up the evildoers before they strike here.
Needless to say, Schumer's remarks show only too well why the Dims did so badly last Tuesday;
They never hesitate to take cheap shots for no reason other than partisan power plays and sheer vitriol, even when, as in this case, it means that so many of their electorate have been protected from harm (and in the case of the state of NY, which Schumer represents, just the arrest of the members of the Lackwanna 6 terror cell alone should have demanded his commendation for a job well done!).
Can you imagine the praise from Schumer if Ashcroft had been a Clinton appointee and if Clinton had implemented something like the Patriot Act after the first WTC bombing?