Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, come on down.

The Senate and House Intelligence Committees are asking former attorney general John Ashcroft to testify about a March 2004 hospital-room confrontation during which he refused to sign off on a continuation of President Bush’s warrantless eavesdropping program, according to congressional and administration sources.

The sources, who asked not to identified talking about sensitive matters, said the Senate Intelligence Committee has tentatively scheduled a closed-door hearing for later this month. The panel plans to question Ashcroft, his former chief of staff David Ayres and former deputy attorney general James Comey about a heated dispute with the White House that roiled the Justice Department three years ago. The House committee is also planning a separate closed-door hearing with Ashcroft, according to a spokeswoman for Ashcroft.

The requests for Ashcroft’s testimony reflect the mounting frustration on the part of committee leaders in both chambers who feel they have been denied vital information about the wiretapping issue by the Bush administration. Despite having received numerous private briefings from senior administration officials over the last year, members were stunned to learn just how deeply troubled the Justice Department was about aspects of the program — a glimpse they got only when Comey publicly testified about the program at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month.

Might Ashcroft be willing to accept this invitation? His spokesperson said he is out of town and is unavailable to discuss the matter until next week.

Newsweek added that there will be a meeting on Monday between Senate Intelligence Committee aides and Justice Department officials to discuss the “contours” of the testimony. If Ashcroft declined to cooperate, “the committees could ultimately issue subpoenas.”

What we have in Milwaukee is a failure to communicate.

Apparently, Michael McGee, a Milwaukee alderman, was arrested this week after the FBI recorded him chatting with some acquaintances about an alleged plan to murder someone. McGee’s lawyer said this is a big misunderstanding due to federal officials lacking street cred — McGee’s plan to have someone “bust up and beat down” isn’t as bad as it sounded.

Will Thomas fleshes out the disturbing details in today’s edition of “All Muck is Local.”

Will bamboozler extraordinaire Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) exit stage right next year? According to Bob Novak, he will.

Republican sources on Capitol Hill and in California say Rep. Jerry Lewis, ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee who has been criticized on ethical grounds, will not seek a 16th term next year.

Lewis came under fire last year for pouring millions of dollars worth of earmarks into his heavily Republican southern California district. He has not apologized and vigorously defended himself behind closed doors in the House Republican Conference.

Given the evidence, Lewis’ lack of apologies is the least of his problems.

Dems in disarray? A new study finds that House Democrats are actually showing a record level of voting unity. That and other political news of the day in today’s Election Central Saturday Roundup.

Much of the political world snickered this week when most of the Democratic presidential candidates announced that they will not participate in the Congressional Black Caucus Institute’s scheduled debate, because the event will be co-sponsored and aired by the Republicans’ Fox News Channel. When the dust settled, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel — arguably the three candidates with the longest odds at winning the nomination — were the only hopefuls who had agreed to attend.

This isn’t necessarily a surprise. Obviously, candidates who are struggling to break through want as much exposure and publicity as they can get.

But Biden ought to know better than to start going down this road.

“The single most important constituency in the Democratic Party — African Americans, led by the Black Caucus, which are the leadership of the black community, asked us to show for a debate and we’re not going to show up?” he said.

“Let me put it this way — if the African American community stayed home or voted Republican, we’re not going to elect another president.”

Kucinich issued a statement this week with similar rhetoric, arguing that Clinton, Edwards, and Obama decided to “snub” the CBC. “This is particularly troublesome because the concerns of African Americans should take precedent over what network is broadcasting the debate,” he said.

Obviously, in the midst of a presidential primary fight, candidates are going to throw the occasional elbow, and score cheap points when they can. And in this case, neither Biden nor Kucinich explicitly accused their rivals of not caring about black people — but they came rather close.

The heart of this flap is whether Democratic candidates, vying for the Democratic nomination, should legitimize the Republicans’ news network. Two-thirds of the field has shown the good sense to effectively tell the CBC Institute, “You picked the wrong co-sponsor.”

If Biden and/or Kucinich want to make the case that Fox News is a perfectly legitimate, credible news outlet, and that Democrats should have no qualms about appearing at a FNC event, fine. Let them make the case.

But instead, they’ve chosen to play the race card. Indeed, Biden’s response to questions about this focused on the role African-American voters play in national elections, as if this were somehow relevant. It was hardly a subtle message — to bypass this debate is necessarily to give the African-American community the cold-shoulder. As Biden and Kucinich see it, they care about black people; their rivals care about Fox News’ partisanship.

This is cheap and they know it.

I vaguely recall a time when Surgeon General was a big deal. C. Everett Koop became a prominent national figure in the 1980s, and seemed to take the position from honorary title to leading public health official.

Other than Joycelyn Elders, who gained unwelcome notoriety, the position hasn’t garnered much attention since. Quick: name the last Surgeon General. If you said, “Richard Carmona,” give yourself a prize. If you know that Kenneth Moritsugu has been the acting Surgeon General for the last year, you’re probably either a relative or an employee of Dr. Moritsugu.

However, with Bush’s new nominee for the job, James Holsinger, we’re probably going to hear quite a bit more about the position.

[Holsinger and his wife] founded Hope Springs Community Church in a warehouse at 1109 Versailles Road. Calhoun called it a socially diverse congregation with a “very vital recovery ministry.” It serves the homeless and those with addictions to drugs, alcohol and sex; and it has a Spanish-language Hispanic congregation with its own pastor. […]

Hope Springs also ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian, Calhoun said.

“We see that as an issue not of orientation but of lifestyle,” he said. “We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle.”

Holsinger, in his capacity as a high-ranking official in the United Methodist Church, also opposed allowing a lesbian to be an associate pastor, and backed another pastor who refused to let a gay man join his church.

The Surgeon General needs Senate confirmation. Expect interesting hearings.

About a week ago, Steve Clemons raised eyebrows throughout the political world with a report on the “race currently underway between different flanks of the administration to determine the future course of US-Iran policy.” As Clemons described it, Cheney’s team is actively circumventing the president’s team in order to instigate a U.S. conflict with Iran.

Clemons’ report was bolstered by comments from the IAEA’s Mohamed ElBaradei, who told BBC Radio this week that a war with Iran is a serious possibility because of “new crazies who say ‘let’s go and bomb Iran.'” He didn’t identify the “crazies,” but warned of those who “have extreme views and say the only solution is to impose your will by force.”

Like people in, say, the Vice President’s office?

In interviews, people who have spoken with Mr. Cheney’s staff have confirmed the broad outlines of the reports, and said that some of the hawkish statements to outsiders had been made by David Wurmser, a former Pentagon official who is now the principal deputy assistant to Mr. Cheney for national security affairs. The accounts were provided by people who expressed alarm about the statements, but refused to be quoted by name.

Yesterday, Condi Rice insisted that the entire Bush gang is on the same page…

“The president of the United States has made it clear that we are on a course that is a diplomatic course,” Ms. Rice said here. “That policy is supported by all of the members of the cabinet, and by the vice president of the United States.”

…but Rice’s deputies apparently aren’t convinced.

Ms. Rice’s assurance came as senior officials at the State Department were expressing fury over reports that members of Vice President Dick Cheney’s staff have told others that Mr. Cheney believes the diplomatic track with Iran is pointless, and is looking for ways to persuade Mr. Bush to confront Iran militarily.

And what might Cheney’s office have to say about one of his top national security aides (and one of the administration’s most notorious neocons) advocating war with Iran?

[A senior Bush administration official] said, “The vice president is not necessarily responsible for every single thing that comes out of the mouth of every single member of his staff.”

First, that’s not much on a denial.

Second, as Kevin noted, “I’m sure Wurmser will be fired any day now.”

The plot was, as the saying goes, “more aspirational than operational,” but the arrests of these suspected terrorists are obviously good news.

A suspected terrorist cell planned a “chilling” attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods, authorities said Saturday.

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would “cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks,” destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of Queens, where the line runs underground.

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put “the whole country in mourning.”

With the news just breaking this afternoon, some of the details are still a little sketchy, but there was no plan for an imminent attack — the plot, the AP noted, “never got past the planning stages.” With that in mind, we don’t yet know whether this plot was along the lines of the bizarre “Seas of David” cult in Miami, which posed no meaningful threat to anyone, or something more serious.

We also don’t know if this is similar to the plot to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge (which was less serious than advertised), the British hijacking plot (which didn’t stand up well to scrutiny), or the plot to attack Los Angeles’ Library Tower (which turned out to be far less serious than we’d been led to believe).

That said, given what we know this afternoon, it appears to be a successful law-enforcement/counter-terrorism operation. The officials who were involved with uncovering the plot and arresting the suspects deserve the nation’s gratitude.

It’s good to know that intelligence gathering and law-enforcement efforts — the very techniques Bush and his allies have ridiculed as ineffective — can make a difference.

Given the circumstances, “a little common sense” sounds like it’s desperately needed, but in short supply.

The nation’s largest combat veterans group on Friday urged the military to “exercise a little common sense” and call off its investigation of a group of Iraq war veterans who wore their uniforms during anti-war protests.

“Trying to hush up and punish fellow Americans for exercising the same democratic right we’re trying to instill in Iraq is not what we’re all about,” said Gary Kurpius, national commander of the 2.4 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“Someone in the Marine Corps needs to exercise a little common sense and put an end to this matter before it turns into a circus,” Kurpius said.

The main controversy surrounds Marine Cpl. Adam Kokesh, who attended a recent Iraq war protest with other veterans. He wore fatigues — with military insignia removed. Kokesh is no longer on active duty, and he received his honorable discharge after one combat tour in Iraq, though he remains part of the Individual Ready Reserve.

Apparently, his attendance at the protest event was enough to spark a controversy. Kokesh was photographed at the event, and is now under administrative review. If punished, Kokesh could lose out on educational and other benefits he is eligible to receive, and may no longer qualify for job opportunities that require a security clearance.

It’s a curious way to support our veterans, isn’t it?

Reading over the reports of this alleged JFK terror plot, I again feel the odd sense of dissonance and contradiction one always gets reading the initial reports of these alleged terror plots. A knowledgeable reader tells me the whole concept of this attack basically doesn’t make sense — in the sense that you could get the sort of chain reaction some folks on tv are talking about. And, indeed, this key fact is tepidly noted in the coverage itself, where DHS officials concede that the plot “was not technically feasible.”

The relevant information from this report at CNN suggests that the key plotter, Russell Defreitas, is not a bright man.

Here’s part of the transcript of one of his conversations with the FBI …

“Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow … they love JFK — he’s like the man. If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. It’s like you can kill the man twice.”

Defreitas also appeared to think that blowing up a gas line at JFK would bring the US economy to its knees: “Even the Twin Towers can’t touch it. This can destroy the economy of America for some time.”