2000 Election: Potential Nightmare Scenario vis-a-vis 9/11/2001

While most people probably no longer recall this (like Elizabeth Dole and Lamar Alexander, he dropped out before the Iowa caucus), John Ashcroft was a candidate for the GOP Presidential nomination in 2000. What if he got the nomination, and beat Gore? I know that's kind of unlikey, but I think any credible Republican might have beat Gore in 2000, due to Clinton fatigue, and Fundie fatigue hadn't set in back then like it has after 7.5 years of the Bush/Cheney administration, so if Ashcroft were the nominee, he'd have been at least semi-viable. Suppose a drunken George W. Bush fell down some stairs and fractured his spine in the summer of '99, in order to get Ashcroft nominated - serves the little bastard right, frankly. I'm a right-wing Republican myself, and even I find this scenario terrifying.

What would Ashcroft's reaction to the 9/11 attacks have been? Would he have considered the nuclear option? Would America now be a fascistic police state (you know, a lot more so than IOTL)? I'd say a war with Iran, and a draft, would both be near certainties.
 

burmafrd

Banned
I think actually you are doing John Ashcroft a very big dis service. You have been reading the NY Times and other rags a little too much.
You do recall how reluctant he was on several areas of the Patriot Act?
 

Nikephoros

Banned
I think actually you are doing John Ashcroft a very big dis service. You have been reading the NY Times and other rags a little too much.
You do recall how reluctant he was on several areas of the Patriot Act?

What areas was he reluctant on? I looked at several sites but they all painted him as a hardcore rightwinger. Is that a false image?
 

burmafrd

Banned
He is conservative but he was very much against some of the provisions- you do remember the big deal was made that when he was in the hospital sick they were badgering him to go along.
I know that every conservative is demonized by the media but I would expect the readers of this forum to be some of the people who would best know about how inaccurate the media is.
 

Nikephoros

Banned
He is conservative but he was very much against some of the provisions- you do remember the big deal was made that when he was in the hospital sick they were badgering him to go along.
I know that every conservative is demonized by the media but I would expect the readers of this forum to be some of the people who would best know about how inaccurate the media is.

Trust me, I feel the same way. I only asked because all I could find showed him to support the Patriot Act completely. But, most of the board members would want proof that he was opposed to parts of it.
 

burmafrd

Banned
I guess you have not been hearing all the talk about the wiretaping parts that the NSA wanted to do and Ashcroft was against it; Gonsales badgered him when he was in the hospital sick. Now I am not sure that it was part of the Patriot Act but that shows that Ashcroft recognized limits.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500864.html

Actually here is a link that also sheds light on the media:

http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2003/09/16/ashcroft_rationale.html
 
Top