paul krugman at his best. one thing krugman fails to mention is exactly how ashcroft got to be the worst attorney general in united states history: by losing a senate race to a dead man. luckily, it appears that the bush administration takes that sort of abject failure as proof of up-by-the-bootstraps folksiness. the kind that deserves to be rewarded with gifts of major unearned success from friends in high places.

so the ashcroft justice department is just like arbusto oil -- except for the part where arbusto oil was never responsible for my security and civil rights.