From The Seattle Times
Editorial

Who knew? Maybe the often-controversial John Ashcroft was a better U.S. attorney general than he has been given credit for. At least in one case, he certainly seemed to grasp the unique responsibilities of the office better than the current one, Alberto Gonzales.

Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week highlighted a nuanced but important contrast between the two men’s views of the attorney general’s role. As the nation’s attorney first, Ashcroft stood up to White House overreaching with a domestic-surveillance program. Gonzales acts as henchman, facilitating a shadowy partisan agenda and appearing to consider the public’s interests only as an afterthought.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey told senators about a bizarre March 2004 scene where Gonzales, then White House counsel, and Andrew Card, then President Bush’s chief of staff, accosted Ashcroft in his hospital sickbed.

Comey had been named acting attorney general when Ashcroft became ill. He and Ashcroft had decided they would not endorse the National Security Agency surveillance program because it was overreaching.

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