Running Against Ashcroft

As Democratic candidates struggle to find issues that will resonate with the public, a consensus has emerged with respect to one:  John Ashcroft.  As reported in The New York Times, the Attorney General gets the respect of none of them. Gephardt says he would fire him within five seconds of taking the oath, Edwards says Ashcroft must be stopped from stealing our rights and liberties, and Kerry promises that there will be no trampling of the Bill of Rights on his watch.

Ashcroft is drawing fire from conservative Republicans as well, who oppose his loathing of states' rights and individual freedoms.

But, save for Howard Dean (who was not a member of Congress), all of the candidates--Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards, Lieberman, and Graham, were complicit with Ashcroft in the Constitutional revisions that took became law under the USA Patriot Act.

Some have likened him to Hillary Clinton and James Watt, characters who had a polarizing effect on the electorate. Many Republicans fear that Ashcroft's extremism will hurt the Republicans. Except for the Patriot Act, which, until now, has undergone little scrutiny (let alone condemnation), Ashcroft's views on abortion (life begins at conception), the death penalty (every case eligible for the death penalty should be prosecuted as such), and assisted suicide and medical marijuana (which saw him interfering with state law in an unprecedented manner), Ashcroft's views are extreme, even for Republicans.

But history indicates that an unpopular cabinet secretary has little, if any impact, on a president's reelection. And civil liberties cannot be high on the Democrats' list of campaign promises. After all, their support for the Patriot Act, the wars on "terror," Afghanistan, and Iraq, and their adulation this week of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's warmongering speech filled with warnings like "things are different now" for we are in a "war without borders," leave them little room to criticize Ashcroft.

Could it also be that they realize if they regain control of either the Congress or the White House they, too, can enjoy the fruits of Ashcroft's labors?