John Ashcroft to speak about differences between Bush and Obama administrations

John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general during the first four years of the Bush administration, will be at UT tonight to explore contrasting decisions made by the Bush and Obama administrations.

“Enough time has passed since Obama took office that we are starting to see the contrasts between his administration and the Bush administration,” said Clint Chegin, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas.

Ashcroft, who was attorney general during the 9/11 attacks, was a strong supporter of the controversial USA Patriot Act as well as the war on drugs.

His presentation, “Leadership in Challenging Times,” will look at controversial issues such as the war on drugs and national defense. Young Conservatives of Texas and College Republicans at Texas are hosting the event.

“Over the last eight years, people have gotten a view of the Bush administration from the outside in, and very few have been given a view from the inside out, which is a very different perspective — especially when you understand why,” said Mikael Garcia, president of the College Republicans at Texas. 

Garcia and Chegin said some people have already indicated their intent to protest the event.

“If people allow him to speak, it will be a great opportunity to see the other side,” Garcia said.

After his initial presentation, Ashcroft will hold a question-and-answer session, during which people may voice any opposition.

“Whether you agree or not, it’s a great opportunity to flesh out topics he will be there to talk about,” Chegin said.

Before becoming attorney general, Ashcroft served as governor of Missouri and was a U.S. senator for the state until he was confirmed for his post in the Bush administration in 2001.

3 comments

Geoffrey Geiger

Wed Mar 25 2009 14:55

@ Sam Sheppard

Too funny!

Sam Sheppard

Wed Mar 25 2009 12:57

I think I saw Gonzales working the drive-thru window in a Dairy Queen around Ennis. I asked him how much longer it would be on my Finger Basket and he said he had no recollection of my ever placing an order. I ended up across the interstate at a McDonalds where a high school girl competently took my order and (how about that?) actually handed me the food I had ordered.

Blue Curtain to cover a statue's breasts

Wed Mar 25 2009 10:59

Ashcroft had one bright, shining moment:

On the night of March 10, 2004, as Attorney General John D. Ashcroft lay ill in an intensive-care unit, his deputy, James B. Comey, received an urgent call.

White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and President Bush's chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., were on their way to the hospital to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize Bush's domestic surveillance program, which the Justice Department had just determined was illegal.

In vivid testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Comey said he alerted FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and raced, sirens blaring, to join Ashcroft in his hospital room, arriving minutes before Gonzales and Card. Ashcroft, summoning the strength to lift his head and speak, refused to sign the papers they had brought. Gonzales and Card, who had never acknowledged Comey's presence in the room, turned and left.

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