John Ashcroft Called on the Carpet

Back a few years ago, I was a fresh faced kid working for the Missouri Department of Mental Health in the Personnel Office (yes still called Personnel) in Jefferson City. We were all a-twitter, the Governor was touring our agency and would visit each of us. Woo Hoo!

We waited patiently for his arrival. Now, my little cube was a little more decorated and neater than most (imagine that). At the entrance, I had a nice blue faux oriental rug that broke up the endless expanse of office grey and orange that gave away the decor's 70s origins. The little rug was the endless topic of discussion, like no one had ever done such a thing before.

Anyway, duly the Governor and his entourage, including my boss who had worked for him while the Gov was Attorney General, arrived and of course commented on my carpet as I was introduced to him. "Now you can say you called the Governor on the carpet!", he laughed. We all laughed, exchanged pleasantries and he moved on.

Damn right, Governor, I am calling you on the carpet, lo these many years later. The Governor was John Ashcroft.

Unfortunately not having been whisked away by my carpet a la Aladdin, Ashcroft went on to be the darling of the right as Senator, bound and determined to destroy Bill Clinton, and then as Bush's Attorney General after losing the senate election to a dead man. He resigned a while back and has laid pretty low. Until his new book "Never Again" (can we hope this is his philosophy on public office) appeared. This piece of hack work has even pissed off Republicans.

In "Never Again" Ashcroft accuses the 9/11 Commission of a partisan effort aimed at "assessing blame and grandstanding" instead of finding the truth and protecting Americans. He alleges that the hearings "disintegrated into show trials" and that the Republican-chaired panel was "dangerously out of control" and "obsessed" with blaming President George W. Bush for not preventing the terrorist attacks while "absolving" President Bill Clinton's administration.

But listen to what even fellow Repubs have to say. They are calling him on the carpet for his words and actions now and then. Ashcroft's behavior is "underhanded" and "outrageous," they say.

Senator Slade Gorton of Washington was quoted: "John was the least cooperative of all the witnesses we had. He was the only one who refused to submit his written testimony in advance, he probably came with the largest entourage of any of the people we talked to, and he engaged in a disingenuous and partisan attack" on the committee.

Former Gov. Jim Thompson, R-Illinois,(another Governor I met, my ex wife even gave his kid a library fine for not returning a book)called Ashcroft's criticism of the panel "outrageous, because it's not true. None of that is true."

Ashcroft's behavior was so bad, Thompson said, that Bush privately apologized to commission members. "Ashcroft tried to put us on trial and it backfired. The president of the United States apologized to us in the Oval Office for his conduct, which is kind of embarrassing," Thompson said.

John Ashcroft, you should be ashamed. This is reprehensible behavior for even a Republican. You are an embarrassment. You even smear the name of Mel Carnahan, the dead man (he was killed in a plane crash while running against Ashcroft for Senate, he won and his wife Jean was appointed in his place) that beat you. Christian values my ass. If you are a Christian, then I want no part of the religion.

Consider yourself called on the carpet, Governor.