[Marxism] Ashcroft Resigns

[Michael Feldman <mr.feldman@xxxxxxxxx>]

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit

[Late today the Bush regime announced that Attorney General John Ashcroft and
Commerce Secretary Don Evans have resigned.  Rudy Guiliani has been
touted as a possible replacement for Ashcroft, although he's regarded as
much too "liberal" on social and cultural issues. (He isn't in favor of
covering up naked statues.) ]

Knight Ridder via Arbieter Online - Nov 8, 2004
Boise State's Independent Student Newspaper

http://www.arbiteronline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/11/08/4190b0201c629

Ashcroft may be first of Cabinet chiefs to leave

By Shannon McCaffrey
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON â Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose use of tough tactics
to fight terrorism has made him a lightning rod for critics of the Bush
administration, is expected to step down soon, aides said Thursday.

Ashcroft could depart before Bush is inaugurated Jan. 20 for a second
term, making him among the first Cabinet officials to depart.

Aides, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, cautioned that Ashcroft
hasn't submitted his formal resignation and said that if Bush asked him
to he might remain for a while.

Ashcroft was described as worn down by the intense demands of the job
since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. His health has shown the strain.
He was sidelined for about a month earlier this year to have his
gallbladder removed after a severe bout of pancreatitis.

But Ashcroft, a favorite of religious conservatives, was "energized" by
the results of Tuesday's election, in which polls indicated that moral
values were a dominant issue for Republican voters, one aide said.

The former U.S. senator and Missouri governor is a deeply polarizing
figure at the Justice Department. He's drawn sharp criticism from civil
liberties advocates for his support of the USA Patriot Act, which gave
the FBI sweeping new police and surveillance powers. Ashcroft also came
under fire for rounding up and detaining thousands of mostly Muslim
immigrants after Sept. 11.

On the campaign trail, promises by Democratic presidential hopeful John
Kerry to oust Ashcroft drew rousing applause from his party's faithful.

Speculation now begins as to who his likely successor will be.

A leading contender is thought to be his former deputy, Larry Thompson,
who would become the nation's first black attorney general. Thompson ran
the Justice Department's corporate-fraud task force.

Other names in the mix are former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, the
chairman of Bush's re-election campaign, and White House counsel Alberto
Gonzalez, although he's mentioned more frequently to fill a possible
vacancy at the Supreme Court.

A tantalizing choice might be former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a
former prosecutor who's rumored to be harboring his own presidential
ambitions for 2008. But Giuliani is viewed as a maverick who rarely
sticks to a script and whose persona might overshadow Bush.

A spokeswoman for Giuliani dismissed the speculation Thursday but
stopped short of ruling it out.

"The job has not been offered," Sunny Mindel said. "He's not asking for
anything and he's very happy in the private sector."

Ashcroft might not be the only top Bush anti-terrorism official to hit
the road. Speculation is also rampant that Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge will leave. The former Pennsylvania governor is expected to
return to the private sector.

Officials close to Ridge said he hadn't yet made a decision about his
future.

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