Credit Where It's Due

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft is one of the many people in the Bush administration that I can not stomach. But in recent testimony, his deputy related an incident that must give props to Ashcroft. John Ashcroft, when confronted with pressure from his ulitmate successor Alberto Gonzales, stood up for the rule of law.

TNR requires registration so let me give you a brief. While in a hospital bed suffering from pancreitis, Gonzales and Andrew Card tried to pressure Ashcroft to reauthorize the warrantless wire taps being performed by the NSA.

In the hospital room, Card and Gonzales sought to persuade a barely conscious Ashcroft to sign the authorization, though the powers of the attorney general resided with Comey, not him. Ashcroft, Comey testified, "lifted his head off the pillow and in very strong terms expressed his view of the matter," standing by the department's position, and then said, "But that doesn't matter, because I'm not the attorney general. There is the attorney general." And he pointed at Comey.