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| Analysis: Ashcroft Avoids Media Rough and Tumble |
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Posted by FoM on September 10, 2001 at 13:58:20 PT Michael Kirkland, UPI Legal Affairs Correspondent Source: United Press International 
With more than half a year in office under his belt, Attorney General John Ashcroft remains a remote figure to most of the media covering the Justice Department. Ashcroft appears to have a positive aversion to the kind of no-holds-barred news conference that was meat and potatoes to his predecessor, Janet Reno.Reporters often complained that Reno ducked some of the tough questions put directly to her at those news conferences -- adroitly giving back opaque answers that really didn't address the questions. But week after week, Reno made herself available to the media, taking on all comers at her regular Thursday morning "news availability," even if her responses to the tough questions were sometimes slippery. Even the style of department news conferences has changed for good or ill. Reno liked to meet weekly with reporters around the long table in her conference room adjacent to her fifth-floor inner office. Occasionally, she held extra news conferences in a larger media room on the first floor of the Justice Department, standing behind a podium in front of the department seal, but only when a bank of television cameras had to be set up for an unusual event. In contrast, Ashcroft has used a podium for each of his news conferences, of which he's held only a handful held in seven months. Except for his initial meeting with the media when he took over the department in early February, Ashcroft's news conferences have been tightly controlled. Since February, the attorney general has met with the media only to make specific announcements of initiatives, crime-fighting operations or to announce the latest public relations disaster for the FBI. Typically, Ashcroft takes four or five questions on-topic, and quickly vanishes, with none of the give-and-take or follow-ups of the Reno era. On the plus side, however, Ashcroft is a veteran politician and news-maker unafraid of taking a controversial stand. He publicly sided with the National Rifle Association, telling the organization in a letter that he believes there is an individual right to possess a firearm contained in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, a position at odds with many previous attorneys general and the apparent majority of constitutional scholars. In July, Ashcroft defended the FBI as an agency in need of reform but "essential to the survival and success of America as a nation." The attorney general's support came at a crucial time, when the bureau's critics were beginning to circle amid public relations disasters that seemed to follow one after the other -- withheld documents in the Oklahoma City bombing case, the Robert Hanssen spy scandal and the apparent theft of hundreds of FBI weapons and laptop computers over the last decade, among others. Ashcroft has also shown an occasional streak of independence from the White House -- something Reno was famous for. When FBI Director Louis Freeh read the writing on the wall and stepped down earlier this summer, Ashcroft pushed Robert Mueller as Freeh's successor, despite misgivings from those surrounding President Bush. White House insiders signaled several times that Mueller was out of the running, but, in the end, the attorney general prevailed and Mueller was nominated and easily confirmed by the Senate. Ashcroft has also easily weathered a relatively minor controversy -- morning prayer meetings in his office. The voluntary meetings caused some negative comment earlier this year, but interest in them has died down. Most recently, Ashcroft approved an antitrust division decision not to seek the breakup of Microsoft in the department's ongoing lawsuit against the software giant. That decision and the department's lagging federal liability lawsuit against the tobacco companies have drawn some muted criticism. But mostly, Ashcroft escapes the type of vitriol that was thrown at Reno by her many critics during her eight years in office. Unlike Reno, Ashcroft has not faced a genuine crisis at the beginning of his tenure. Reno, of course, presided over the disastrous end of the FBI siege at Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993, and took immediate responsibility for how it was handled. Her public "buck stops here" attitude did a lot to ensure her subsequent popularity with the public, if not inside the Beltway. Like Reno, Ashcroft spends a good deal of his time traveling. In fact, Ashcroft seems to spend a greater amount of his schedule outside of Washington than his predecessor. Reno traveled and spoke before audiences extensively, but usually made time to return to Washington and meet with reporters on Thursday mornings. Ashcroft more often is simply out of town, and out of contact with reporters when he is back in the Justice Department. A rundown of his recent schedule tells the story, though some leeway must be given because of vacation time. On Aug. 10, Ashcroft was in his native Missouri. He left that state for an event in Phoenix a few days later. That speech to the Fraternal Order of Police was open to reporters. Then the attorney general left for an event in Albuquerque, N.M., then Birmingham, Ala., then Mobile. After Alabama, he attended and spoke at events in Tennessee and Ohio. The next week he was back in the Washington area for the formal swearing in of Asa Hutchinson to head the Drug Enforcement Administration. Like Ashcroft, Hutchinson is a former member of Congress and conservative Christian. The swearing in was closed to the media. Later that week, Ashcroft was meeting behind closed doors with the Colombian ambassador. Last week, the attorney general was the keynote speaker at the National Weed and Seed Conference in Philadelphia. Weed and Seed is a Justice Department program that promotes community initiatives to fight crime and drug use. His speech was open to the press. After a quick trip back to Missouri, Ashcroft attended the National Book Festival Gala at the Library of Congress last weekend. Later this week, he's off again to events in Wisconsin and Michigan. Quite a busy month. In fact, it was too busy for Ashcroft to meet with the Justice Department press corps at all during that period. Source: United Press International Related Articles & Web Site: Weed and Seed Attorney General Janet Ashcroft? Justice Department To Investigate Shootings Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #4 posted by theropinfool on September 10, 2001 at 20:34:34 PT |
| that a man doesn't really have to answer any question iff'n he doesn't have an educated, well informed answer. There is just nothing wrong with that, kind of admirable, see'ns he's now the attorney general, any answer to any question just won't be an answer. Any dern fool knows that, especially .....the ropinfool P.S. He's so goll darn busy, he needs a vacation. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by Sam adams on September 10, 2001 at 17:50:26 PT |
| Each year the Machine becomes more and more remote and intangible, as accountability for ANYTHING evaporates from all levels of our culture. The media focusses increasingly on the banal and trivial, the ruling fascists fade into obscurity. This article didn't even MENTION Vandalia. Think about it: right now the federal government is at it's all-time biggest and most powerful. Yet instead of a strong-handed Hitler/Stalin type head of state, the White House is totally devoid of leadership, we've got some nitwit stashed off at some ranch, a guy that couldn't lead his way out of a shoebox. Shadowy forces run the show from behind the scenes, abetted by a dumbed-down or simply incompetent media. I hope kids in high school still read "Brave New World" and "1984" - you could have a field day comparing and contrasting those books with today's society. We're becoming more and more like BNW every day. Remember how there was always some faceless war going on in 1984? Welcome to the WOD........Or look at globalization...the alphas in the EU and USA are now enslaving the Betas and Deltas in the poor countries via globalization........we may even have REAL Omega's soon via genetic engineering..... [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by anonymous on September 10, 2001 at 17:27:59 PT |
| Bush comes from the family of his Father which includes the relationship with the CIA. Their agenda is all only possible with in the veil of secrecy. The CIA has a lot more power of many sorts, when there is less evidence... Talking is incriminating. Is that the way the Bush administration is going to conduct business? [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by wades on September 10, 2001 at 14:58:00 PT:
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Reno, of course, presided over the disastrous end of the FBI siege at Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993, and took immediate responsibility for how it was handled. Reno's taking of "immediate responsibility" consisted only of her saying "I take responsibility." She never actually took responsibility, in the sense of suffering any consequences for the fiasco. I remember listening to her natter about how responsible she was, and wondering when one of the newscreatures would ask her "Well, then if you're so responsible for all of this, when are you going to resign in disgrace? Or maybe you were contemplating seppuku?" I wonder how it would go over with the vice-principal at my kid's school if, when the kid was hauled up for clowning around on the bus again, he said "I take full responsibility for this. Can I go now?" [ Post Comment ] |
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