Ashcroft Faces GOP Criticism

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 22:29:25 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <jhall () SIMS Berkeley EDU>
> Subject: Ashcroft Faces GOP Criticism
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>
>
> ---
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61836-2003Aug28.html
>
> Ashcroft Taking Fire From GOP Stalwarts; More Wish to Curb
> Anti-Terrorism Powers
>
> By Dan Eggen and Jim VandeHei
> Washington Post Staff Writers
> Friday, August 29, 2003; Page A01
>
> BOISE, Idaho -- Even here, in a bedrock Republican state in the heart
> of the conservative Mountain West, a lot of people think Attorney
> General John D. Ashcroft has gone too far.
>
> One of this state's most prominent politicians, Rep. C.L. "Butch"
> Otter (R), is leading an effort in Congress to curtail the centerpiece
> of Ashcroft's anti-terrorism strategy, the USA Patriot Act. Sen. Larry
> E. Craig (R-Idaho), who used to croon alongside Ashcroft in a
> senatorial quartet, said this month that Congress may have to consider
> scaling back parts of the law. And in a state with an all-GOP
> congressional delegation, several city councils and the legislature
> are considering resolutions condemning Ashcroft's tactics in the war
> on terrorism.
>
> "Ashcroft wants more power," said state Rep. Charles Eberle (R-Post
> Falls), who has drafted a resolution critical of the Patriot Act.
> "What a lot of us in Idaho are saying is, 'Let's not get rid of the
> checks and balances.' . . . People out here in the West are used to
> taking care of themselves. We don't like the government intruding on
> our constitutional rights."
>
> Ashcroft has always been one of the Bush administration's most
> controversial figures, particularly among liberals and Democrats who
> fiercely opposed his nomination. But now the attorney general finds
> himself at odds with some fellow Republicans from Idaho to Capitol
> Hill who are troubled by the extent of his anti-terrorism tactics and
> angered by his unwillingness to compromise.
>
> The rise of opposition within his own party could threaten Ashcroft's
> bid to secure even greater powers for the Justice Department's war on
> terrorism.
>
> New Harris Poll numbers released this week also show Ashcroft's
> overall popularity slipping below 50 percent for the first time this
> year, while the percentage of those who disapprove of his performance
> has climbed to nearly 40 percent.
>
> The tumult has made Ashcroft a central issue in the Democratic
> presidential campaign, where candidates are turning to him and his
> terrorism policies as a sure-fire way to rally the party faithful.
> Democrats also hope that focusing on Ashcroft will raise doubts among
> undecided voters about the Bush administration's tactics in the
> national security arena.
>
> During a campaign stop in New Hampshire last week, former Vermont
> governor Howard Dean went so far as to summon the ghosts of Watergate,
> calling Ashcroft perhaps the worst attorney general in history --
> worse, he said, than President Richard M. Nixon's attorney general,
> John N. Mitchell.
>
> "And he was a criminal," Dean told supporters.
>
> Amid the growing controversy, Ashcroft traveled this week to Boise and
> two other GOP-friendly cities, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, as part
> of a month-long tour to drum up support for the Patriot Act. "Make no
> mistake: Our strategies and tactics are working," he said. "Our tools
> are effective. We are winning the war on terror."
>
> The former Missouri senator and governor, who once flirted with a
> presidential bid as a candidate of the religious right, says he is
> untroubled by the increased focus on his anti-terrorism policies, and
> has shown no sign of tempering his rhetoric. In his address Monday to
> police and prosecutors here, Ashcroft called the war on terrorism "the
> cause of our times" and, in a thinly veiled jab at Otter, warned that
> those who want to restrict the law "would tip off the terrorists that
> we're on to them."
>
> In an interview after the Boise speech, Ashcroft said he pays little
> attention to criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union and
> other groups. He said he believes that the Otter amendment approved
> 309 to 118 by the House in July, which would cut off funding for
> "sneak-and-peek" warrants, "was a mistake," and that many members did
> not know what they were voting for.
>
> "I don't take things personally," Ashcroft said. "Debate about civil
> liberties is a good thing. In no way do I want to silence debate. I
> want to participate in the debate, to help people understand the truth
> of what we're doing and how we are defending Americans against
> terrorists."
>
> But Otter, who was one of only three Republicans to vote against the
> original Patriot legislation, said Ashcroft and the Bush
> administration are making a mistake by continuing to ignore objections
> to the Patriot Act and by implying that those with concerns are aiding
> terrorists. The measure, approved just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001,
> attacks, dramatically expanded the ability of the government to
> monitor and search the belongings of people targeted in terrorism
> investigations. It includes provisions that allow FBI agents to
> conduct secret searches and to seize records from banks, libraries and
> other businesses without disclosing that they have done so.
>
> "It's pretty reckless to say that 309 members of Congress want to tip
> off terrorists," said Otter, who noted that more than a third of the
> votes cast for his amendment came from Republicans. "Instead of
> hitting the campaign trail, the attorney general should be listening
> to the concerns that many Americans have about some portions of the
> act."
>
> Ashcroft has often commented on the bumpiness of his life in politics,
> which included the embarrassment of losing his Senate seat in 2000 to
> a Democrat, Mel Carnahan, who remained on the Missouri ballot after he
> died in a plane crash. Less than three months later, Ashcroft won
> confirmation as President Bush's attorney general by a 58-42 margin,
> the narrowest in recent times. As Ashcroft wrote in an autobiography
> about his political career, "for every crucifixion, a resurrection is
> waiting to follow."
>
> Since taking office, Ashcroft has drawn the left's ire for the reach
> of the government's war on terrorism; for overruling local prosecutors
> in death penalty cases; for altering the government's decades-old
> interpretation of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms; and for
> overseeing continued raids on facilities that provide marijuana for
> medical purposes. Now some conservatives, concerned that the war on
> terrorism has eroded civil liberties, are joining the criticism of
> Ashcroft's policies for the first time.
>
> David Israelite, a longtime aide who serves as Ashcroft's deputy chief
> of staff, said that "being criticized is nothing new for someone who's
> been a senator or governor. He's more concerned about the judgment of
> history than the judgment of how he's portrayed in the press or by
> opportunists on either side."
>
> But many civil liberties advocates and some lawmakers still bristle at
> Ashcroft's sharply worded testimony before the Senate Judiciary
> Committee in December 2001, in which he suggested that critics were
> aiding terrorists and endangering the safety of U.S. citizens.
>
> ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero, whose group has helped
> organize many of the anti-Patriot Act resolutions approved in recent
> months by more than 150 municipalities and states, said Ashcroft is
> now "clearly on the defensive. He and the Justice Department have
> finally understood that there are large portions of the public raising
> questions about their policies on terrorism and the Patriot Act. The
> opposition is springing up all across the country."
>
> Yet it is still unclear whether bashing Ashcroft will be a political
> winner in 2004. As Ashcroft and his aides point out, most Americans
> and lawmakers supported the Patriot Act when it was approved in
> October 2001, and few voters mention it as a top concern when
> questioned by pollsters. Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) and Sens. John
> F. Kerry (Mass.), John Edwards (N.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.)
> -- all of whom are Democrats running for president and criticizing
> Ashcroft -- were among those who voted for the act.
>
> Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said
> Democrats have little to gain politically from targeting the attorney
> general because his tactics are favored by most of the electorate.
>
> "The Democrats who are attacking John Ashcroft and his policies to
> appeal to the hard-core component of the Democratic primary electorate
> are likely to find themselves on the opposite side of a vast majority
> of Americans, who are concerned about the threat of terrorist attacks
> in the aftermath of September 11," he said.
>
> Ashcroft and the White House point to a July 31 Fox News/Opinion
> Dynamics poll showing that 91 percent of registered voters said the
> act had not affected their civil liberties, while 56 percent said the
> law is good for the country. Moreover, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
> appear to have changed U.S. attitudes over how much latitude the
> federal government needs and should be given to fight terrorism,
> pollsters from both parties said.
>
> At the very least, Democrats believe their attacks on Ashcroft and the
> Patriot Act will help rally the party's base. They also aim to win
> over what they see as a big pool of potential voters who have deep
> concerns about government intrusion into their lives.
>
> Even some Republicans are troubled by Ashcroft's visits to 18 cities
> in 16 states, questioning whether the tour will do more harm than good
> by focusing attention on the civil liberties issue. Larry D. Thompson,
> the departing deputy attorney general, and key White House officials
> reached out to several conservatives in recent weeks to enlist their
> help, only to hear of deep concerns about the act from some allies,
> sources familiar with the effort said.
>
> One Republican who has discussed the matter with White House officials
> said that, at the very least, Ashcroft is taking the heat instead of
> Bush. "This gives Bush some distance, because this is an issue with
> liabilities," he said. The White House may be "sending [Ashcroft] out
> to see if it works, to test the waters, to see how mad people are," he
> added.
>
> Researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report. VandeHei
> reported from Washington and New Hampshire.
>
> (c) 2003 The Washington Post Company
>
>
> (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
> distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
> interest in receiving the included information for research and
> educational purposes.)
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Joseph Lorenzo Hall
> Graduate Student                        http://pobox.com/~joehall
>
> "[Bill Gates has] made his billions selling elaborately sugar-coated
> crap that runs like a pig on Quaaludes, crashes at the drop of an
> electron, and has set the computing world back by at least a decade."
> --Eric S. Raymond; "The Halloween Documents: An Appreciation"
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/not-the-osi/halloween-rant.html

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