wow, this almost

ALMOST....makes me feel sorry for ashcroft. not quite, but almost (he STILL was in favor of stepping on our rights and laws even though it was nowhere near what alberto 'bend over king george i want to kiss your ass' gonzales is doing

Ashcroft's Complex Tenure At Justice
On Some Issues, He Battled White House


By Peter Baker and Susan Schmidt Washington Post Staff Writers

As attorney general, John D. Ashcroft was the public face of an administration pushing the boundaries of the Constitution to hunt down terrorists, but behind the scenes, according to former aides and White House officials, he at times resisted what he saw as radical overreaching.
Testimony last week that a hospitalized Ashcroft rebuffed aides to President Bush intent on gaining Ashcroft's approval of a surveillance program he had deemed illegal provided a rare view of the inner workings of the early Bush presidency and the depth of internal disagreement over how far to go in responding to the threat of terrorism after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001............