Playing Politics With National Security

John Ashcroft thinks civilian courts have "use and utility" for trying terrorists, depending on circumstances. I'm not a member of the John Ashcroft fan club, but the Bush Department of Justice did brag about their criminal convictions of terrorists.

Ashcroft also flatly stated today that "when you have a person in the criminal justice system, you Mirandize them."  Such information has eluded the Ranking Member of the the Senate Intelligence Committee, Kit Bond. 

Standing by for Bond's hyperbolic response asking Ashcroft why he doesn't care about protecting Americans in 3...2...1...

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro responds to Kit Bond's recent grandstanding on the prosecution of accused terrorists:

Through his pathetic attack on a counter-terrorism professional like John Brennan who has spent his lifetime protecting this country under multiple Administrations, Senator Bond sinks to new depths in his efforts to put politics over our national security.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post's Plum Line blog agrees:

The conventions of political journalism for some reason discourage doing this, but it’s worth pointing out that the White House is right.

Does Kit Bond's grandstanding about prosecuting terrorists have anything to do with politics? "Give me a break!" he says.

I'm not sure why Chuck Todd even asked that question. We all remember when Bond hyperventilated like this when the Bush Administration was prosecuting terrorists in criminal courts.

Yesterday on Meet the Press, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said that Kit Bond and three other GOP leaders were personally briefed on Christmas night about the arrest of accused underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and that none of them raised objections. CQ Politics' Political Wire summarizes:

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan revealed on Meet the Press that he briefed four Republican congressional leaders [Bond, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and Peter Hoekstra] on Christmas night about the arrest of the "underwear bomber" and the handling of the case.