John Ashcroft is generally considered a darling of the far right. Especially when it comes to indecency issues, the fact that Ashcroft went so far as to cover up bare-breasted statues highlights the fact that priggish conservatives who fear the scourge of pornography knew they had a reliable ally at the Justice Department, right?
Wrong. Despite Ashcroft’s aggressively right-wing approach to nearly everything, his DoJ had a weak reputation on porn.
[A]s Mr. Ashcroft prepares to vacate the highest law enforcement office in the land, anti-porn advocates are deeply disappointed with the Bush administration’s record — under Mr. Ashcroft’s guidance — for pursuing peddlers of smut.
President Bush “has a worse record in his first term than Clinton had,” says Patrick A. Trueman, who served as chief of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Never fear, Alberto Gonzales is poised to do what his predecessor wouldn’t — get FBI agents to watch more porn.
The FBI is joining the Bush administration’s War on Porn. And it’s looking for a few good agents.
Early last month, the bureau’s Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. Attached to the job posting was a July 29 Electronic Communication from FBI headquarters to all 56 field offices, describing the initiative as “one of the top priorities” of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and, by extension, of “the Director.” That would be FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.
Mischievous commentary began propagating around the water coolers at 601 Fourth St. NW and its satellites, where the FBI’s second-largest field office concentrates on national security, high-technology crimes and public corruption.
The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against “manufacturers and purveyors” of pornography — not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.
“I guess this means we’ve won the war on terror,” said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. “We must not need any more resources for espionage.”
Who would defend such bizarre priorities? The GOP base, of course.
The Family Research Council, which has been running around DC insisting that Gonzales is a liberal in disguise, responded to the move by noting its “growing sense of confidence in our new attorney general.”
James Dobson’s Focus on the Family issued an alert to its membership praising Gonzales for being “serious about his promise to prioritize such prosecution.” Concerned Women for America also weighed in with encouragement.
For the reality-based community, the idea of using FBI agents to watch porn is probably not comforting, and the fact that Gonzales has made this such a priority for the Justice Department is hardly reassuring.
But therein lies a question about the politics of a move like this: is it possible that this is part of a broader effort to generate conservative support for Gonzales, whom Bush may still want to nominate for the Supreme Court?