John Asscroft Is Still Drinking the Kool-Aid

He has to be, when he unleashes this corker:

"The president of the United States has been among the most respectful of all leaders ever engaged in the responsibility of fighting for freedom,'' Ashcroft said, and has been "most respectful in terms of respecting the civil liberties and rights of individuals while engaged in the important task of fighting for freedom."

Which president is that? You mean the same one who claimed the right to designate anyone he wants as an "enemy combatant" and hold them forever, without judicial review? The same one who claims the right to disregard any law that he dam well feels like disregarding? That president?

Former Reichfuhrer Ashcroft goes on to defend the Chimperor by claiming that Woodrow Wilson monitored "all calls into and outside the United States" in World War I.

Riight. How many overseas telephone lines were there in 1917, anyway?

The answer: There weren't any. The first transatlantic telephone line didn't go in to service until 1927 and the calls cost $75 ($870 in today's money) for the first three minutes, and those calls were made by radio link; anybody with a radio receiver could listen in (it didn't exactly take the NSA to monitor calls). Only one call could be made at a time. The first telephone cable across the Atlantic went into service in 1956.

Fact are stubborn things, Reichfuhrer.

(H/T to HuffPo)