# Bye-bye Ashcroft! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 4, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991 "2004-11-04T16:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/21 "2004-11-04T16:59:20Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#): > > The assumption I’ve seen is that Giuliani’s running for Governor of NY in 2006. Whether a 2006 NY gubenatorial campaign or a 2008 presidential campaign, I will speak out now **against** former Mayor Guiliani. Mayor Guiliani showed remarkable strength and presence during and after the events of September 11, 2001. This did not make up for his combatitive, “I’m right, you’re wrong…NANANANANA, I can’t hear you” style of leadership prior. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/22 "2004-11-04T17:01:49Z")
I am the very model of a Pubby Attorney General; I’ll sell off all your resources, animal, vegetable, or mineral; I rewrite the Constitution, to remove the rights historical From speedy trials to no free speech, in order categorical I run the halls of Justice, and cover up the news, Not only is she blindfolded, but I’ve covered up her boobs! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/23 "2004-11-04T17:37:28Z")
**Polycarp** , you owe me a monitor! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/24 "2004-11-04T17:40:04Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > [Or maybe not](http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/04/election.main/index.html): > > Gonzales would have to explain what went on when he wrote the memo suggesting that Bush and Rumsfeld could blow off the Geneva Conventions on the grounds of “quaintness”. Fuhgeddaboutit. Yep. Bush & Co aren’t going to want to revive that story now that it’s been safely forgotten by the Teeming Millions. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/25 "2004-11-04T17:42:59Z")
Oh my God, **Polycarp** …that’s absolutely priceless… ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/26 "2004-11-04T17:48:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Gonzales would have to explain what went on when he wrote the memo suggesting that Bush and Rumsfeld could blow off the Geneva Conventions on the grounds of “quaintness”. Fuhgeddaboutit. Oh, you poor naive fool. On those rare occassions that the “administration” of this “president” has deigned to explain _anything_ to the American people, it has lied, lied, lied and the majority of the American people, dumbasses that we collectively are, lapped it up with a fucking spoon and asked for seconds. Still, I’ll be happy to see Ashcroft go, and I live in renewed hope that my very own senator, Russ Feingold, won’t rubber stamp his replacement (not like the “administration” can’t pass anything it wants with 55 seats and the dogged determination of certain Democrats to betray their party and their country in the name of “bi-partisanship.” Suckers). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/27 "2004-11-04T18:12:30Z")
> [@Juniper200](#): > > It’s a sad commentary that my first reaction was not elation but rather, “Oh god, they’re only going to appoint someone worse.” Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. I know they haven’t picked his replacement yet (have they?), I just wanted to be the first to say it. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/28 "2004-11-04T18:19:00Z")
[_Channel Emperor Palpatine_] **Yes…I have foreseen this!** [_/Channel Emperor Palpatine_] My crystal ball tells me that Rudy Joo-lee-ahn-kneee will be the next AG, which sets him up for something in '08. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/29 "2004-11-04T18:23:01Z")
Ashcroft is just resigning to take that new “Grand Inquisitor” position they’ll be creating for him in a few weeks… ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/30 "2004-11-04T18:32:53Z")
It occurs to me that if this was announced before the election, Bush might have picked up another percentage or two. Am I wrong, or maybe did Ashcroft decide to wait and see if he was going to lose the position anyway? ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/31 "2004-11-04T18:48:37Z")
What incentive does Bush have to appoint someone not so, you know, right-wing, batshit crazy? ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/32 "2004-11-04T18:48:53Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > > [@This Year's Model](#): > > > > I only have time for a drive-by post right now - I’ll look for cites in an hour or two if not beaten to it. Gonzalez authored the opinions that detainees did not need to be treated as POWs, and that torture was OK. > > :eek: > > 'nuff said. From an August 1, 2002 “[Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President](http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/doj/bybee80102mem.pdf)” > [@](#): > > We conclude below that Section 2340A proscribes acts inflicting, and that are specifically intended to inflict, severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical. Those acts must be of an extreme nature to rise to the level of torture within the meaning of Section 2340A and the Convention. We further conclude that certain acts may be cruel, inhuman, or degrading, but still not produce pain and suffering of the requisit intensity to fall within Section 2340A’s proscription against torture. > > … > > We conclude that for an act to constitute torture as defined in Section 2340, it must inflict pain that is difficult to endure. Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture under Section 2340, it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years. You can read the memo outlining why Gonzales’s office determined that Geneva Conventions do not apply to al Qaeda or Taliban prisoners, [here](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/012202bybee.pdf) (.pdf file). May John Ashcroft live the life he deserves. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/33 "2004-11-04T19:02:25Z")
Thank you, **Shayna**. Does anyone know if the AG nomination goes through the Judiciary Committee? Senator Specter is making it clear that he will be no man’s rubber stamp. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991/34 "2004-11-04T19:19:58Z")
I hear Montgomery Burns is up for the spot . . . (Oh, wait, he’s already Vice President) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bye-bye-ashcroft/272991.md?page=1)