Ramesh – I agree that the Nagourney piece was almost a caricature of Times-myopia. But I would also add two more points. First, as you’ve written yourself regarding the Patriot Act, virtually everything the Democrats say about Ashcroft’s policies is partly, largely or entirely untrue. There is very little substance to the “lost liberties” rhetoric, but the press has simply swallowed the meme whole. In fact, I’m amazed the Democrats have the chutzpah to denounce Bush for not doing enough to make America safer — John Kerry has started asking “Are you more secure than you were 3 years ago?” — when at the same time they denounce the one cabinet official who’s done more than anyone, with the possible exclusion of Rumsfeld, to thwart terrorist attacks on the United States. Relatedly, Ashcroft has been by far the most effective cabinet official in terms of working with foreign law enforcement and intelligence agencies, but we never read about that.

Second, Ashcroft’s SOB status may not hurt Bush with as many Democrats as Democratic strategists and the Times think. Many swing voters may in fact like the idea that Bush has a pitbull running law enforcement. Better to be too aggressive than not aggressive enough on such issues. So long as Bush can carve out the image as the compassionate conservative (I still hate that label) who has to keep his top cop on a tight leash, it’s not at all clear to me that Ashcroft isn’t a an asset with lots of Americans, not just the conservative base.