Even more on the Gonzales-Comey-Ashcroft triangle

John Ashcroft - defender of Constitutional Rights. Sounds absurd, right? Something from some alternative history but the news shows that this is our history. From today's Washington Post:

But former officials said Ashcroft also rejected ideas he considered extreme. When one aide made such a suggestion, colleagues said Ashcroft replied, "I know I asked you to think outside the box, but I don't want you to think outside the Constitution." Chuck Rosenberg, who was Comey's chief of staff and is now a U.S. attorney in Virginia, said, "I always thought Ashcroft was an extremely principled guy."

Ashcroft wanted to interrogate Guantanamo detainees, but former officials said he also argued that they had to be given some form of legal process, putting him at odds with Rumsfeld and Cheney. When Rumsfeld backed off and proposed creating military tribunals, Ashcroft again chafed. For instance, former officials said, he objected to the fact that detainees would have no right to appeal verdicts and forced that to be changed.

I suggest reading the whole article. I do not suggest that Ashcroft was a great Attorney General (but considering his successor.....). I do want to say that when John Ashcroft is left to protect our constitution, then it is time to reconsider our preconceptions. Oh, yeah, to be very, very scared about the people running this country.