Ashcroft is the worst AG ever (Krugman)

[struggle4progress]

<snip>
Before 9/11 he was aggressively uninterested in the terrorist threat. He didn't even mention counterterrorism in a May 2001 memo outlining strategic priorities for the Justice Department. When the 9/11 commission asked him why, he responded by blaming the Clinton administration, with a personal attack on one of the commission members thrown in for good measure.
<snip>

First, there's the absence of any major successful prosecutions. The one set of convictions that seemed fairly significant -- that of the "Detroit 3" -- appears to be collapsing over accusations of prosecutorial misconduct. (The lead prosecutor has filed a whistle-blower suit against Ashcroft, accusing him of botching the case. The Justice Department, in turn, has opened investigations against the prosecutor. Payback? I report, you decide.)

Then there is the lack of any major captures. Somewhere, the anthrax terrorist is laughing. But the Justice Department, you'll be happy to know, is trying to determine whether it can file bioterrorism charges against a Buffalo art professor whose work includes harmless bacteria in petri dishes.

Perhaps most telling is the way Ashcroft responds to criticism of his performance. His first move is always to withhold the evidence. Then he tries to change the subject by making a dramatic announcement of a terrorist threat.
<snip>

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/177940_krugman16.html

[flewellyn]

1. Krugman is one of their best columnists.

His analyses of the economic chicanery of this administration are nothing short of brilliant.

I suppose that, being an economist himself, Krugman would have the expertise necessary to see through the lies. What's neat is that he can now inform the general public of what he's seen.

[struggle4progress]

2. I usually like what he writes.

And welcome to DU! :toast:

[AndyTiedye]

3. Asscroft Did not COMPLETELY Ignore the Terrorist Threat...

...at least not to the extent that it threatened his ass.

> Before 9/11 he was aggressively uninterested in the terrorist threat.

except that he stopped flying on commercial airlines right around the
time that the government did not receive all of those warnings that
everyone claims to have been delivering to them. Even since then,
Ashcroft has demanded and gotten the use of government jets (at over
100x the cost to taxpayers) whenever he wanted to travel, even for
vacation.

Ashcroft also reassigned most of the fighter planes that were guarding
our airways from rogue aircraft to chase after pot smugglers.