Ashcroft is resolute in his defense of the Patriot Act

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- Mounting opposition to the anti-terrorism legislation passed in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has put Attorney General John Ashcroft on the defensive.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation last week that would gut major provisions of the Patriot Act, including one that allows federal investigators to delay notifying terror suspects about search warrants.

The House effectively voted to do the same thing to the "sneak and peek" provision, in an amendment attached to an appropriations bill in July.

Critics applauded the cuts, saying Ashcroft has used the act to push a conservative agenda, politicize the office and curtail civil liberties. They see Ashcroft as the very embodiment of the Patriot Act.

"The role of the attorney general has changed dramatically," said Laura Murphy, director of the Washington, D.C., office of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The attorney general is supposed to be the chief enforcer of the Bill of Rights in the executive branch. (Ashcroft) does not play that role as much as he plays the role of trying to test the limits of the constitutional guarantees."

But supporters say the attorney general's robust enforcement of the act and other actions have kept America safe. They say Ashcroft follows his personal convictions, not the political winds. To them, John Ashcroft is the most misunderstood man in the United States.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/144622_ashcroft20.html

He's got US attorney's and law enforcement lobbying congress to retain his power.

[thebigidea]

1. snicker

"But supporters say the attorney general's robust enforcement of the act and other actions have kept America safe. They say Ashcroft follows his personal convictions, not the political winds. To them, John Ashcroft is the most misunderstood man in the United States."

who are these mythical, magical supporters?

He doesn't follow convictions, he follows the freakin' voices in his luna-fucking-tic head.



The Most Misunderstood Man in the United States?
Or merely a crackpot with terminal brain rot?

[Beetwasher]

2. Isn't Sick?

Ashcroft is there to find ways to circumvent the constitution and to harrass Dems and liberals and protect the neocons. Never has an AG been more corrupt.

[noonwitch]

5. No, he's just crazy. Ed Meese was about as corrupt as it gets.

Mitchell(Nixon) was pretty bad, too. Ashcroft isn't really corrupt by comparison, just a loon in a job he never should have been appointed to.

[saigon68]

7. Chalk it up to Zoloft and Prozac

This asscrap guy is hearing voices and the voices tell him strange things.

[Don_G]

3. Maybe He's Not Corrupt

More likely is that he's as crazy as a f***in' loon.

[alexwcovington]

4. It's contagious in his church

www.ag.org

I remember the URL from a while back but I'm too disgusted to revisit it just now.

[Fuzz]

10. No need for me to go there, my father is an ordained AG minister

Who went to the Bible school in Missouri that Ashcroft's father ran. Ashcroft attended my father's church in New Haven when he attended Yale and he has pictures of him in his apartment when he would come over for dinner after church, some of them he was playing the piano. There are even some picture christmas cards in the photo albums.

Yup, I know all about it. Church at least 3 times a week for YEARS. Yup. ::sigh::

[progressiverealist]

6. my vote: Ashcroft isn't misunderstood,

he's friggin' NUTS.

[Ratty]

8. Can't we call it something else?

It sickens me everytime I hear it. "The Patriot Act." If you don't support it, you're not a patriot. Are we forced to call it that. Is it, like, the Official Name that we must use? we never call Planned Parenthood centers "abortuaries," as much as the right would like us to. We don't use the term "unborn baby." Why do we have to call it the Patriot Act?

[WindRavenX]

12. it's called PROPAGANDA

Patriotism=good
Democrats=evil
Essentially, using the term "PATRIOT ACT" causes your brain to put down that tiny, little voice in the back of one's head that screams "wait! patriots wouldn't support this!". Brilliant, sickening.
We must fight it.

[Ratty]

13. Hmm, maybe "The Police State Act"

"Patriot Act" does have a nice ring to it. If we want to invent something to replace it with, it's got to be something that'll stick in people's minds.

[rocktivity]

9. GET THEE BEYOND ME, ASHCROFT!

UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!

[MGKrebs]

11. Well then he will understand when we throw him into Gitmo...

for wasting his time on Martha Stewart and Tommy Chong while screwing up any kind of terrorism investigations and failing to figure out that it was CHENEY who ordered the Plame leak.