Ted Rall -- Nominee for Attorney General Even Worse Than Ashcroft

In "Survival at Auschwitz," Primo Levi recalled that, after their most sadistic guard had been transferred away, he and his fellow death camp inmates were terrified. True, the man was a murderer. But the prisoners had studied his habits, learned how to avoid his wrath. What if his replacement turned out to be even meaner? No matter how bad they are, things can always get worse. Little did the citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq, abused by horrific regimes, realize that their "liberation" would usher in a grim "Mad Max" era of chaos and looting by AK47-toting teenagers. Now political entropy, a staple characteristic of overseas Bushism, is manifesting itself as second-term political appointments here at home. Faithful readers will note that I never joined the four-year-long chorus of catcalls against outgoing attorney general John Ashcroft. It's true that he used the sweeping prosecutorial powers granted him under the USA Patriot Act to arrest more than 5,000 people, none of whom have ever been convicted of anything, and that he held them without letting them see a lawyer. Ashcroft was also a central figure in what wags are beginning to call the Bushiban--loopy Christianists in Bush's inner circle. In November 2001, while Brooklynites were still dusting the pulverized corpses of their fellow citizens off their window ledges, Ashcroft spent over 8,000 tax dollars on a curtain to cover the bare-breasted Spirit of Justice statue at the Justice Department. The statue, marble boob exposed, hadn't attracted attention since its installation in 1936. Still, Ashcroft wasn't unusually evil. [more]