But what about John Ashcroft? While he wasn’t the only adminstration member to truly stand up to the 9/11 commission (Condi Rice did a nice job), but he was the only one who tried to reign in what was an out of control commission with the facts. He put the emphasis back on the Clinton administration and he was villified for it, even hung out to dry by Bush himself, as Byron reported..

When he pointed out that A) the Clinton justice department created this wall and B) that a Commission member was largely responsible for that policy and therefore had a monumental conflict-of-interest, the Commission closed ranks and defended Gorelick. They even went on the attack claiming it was wrong for Ashcroft to disclose the truth! The press played along, of course: Bad rightwing AG! Bad!