orld Trade Center and the Pentagon more aggressively than Ashcroft. Long before the nation had begun to adjust to its shock, the attorney general pried open the file marked "unconstitutional" and pulled out every ridiculous, retrograde and reactionary proposal that his overzealous aides had sought without success to advance. He tossed the constitutional castoffs into the Patriot Act, ran up to Congress and got the package passed into law without anything resembling proper debate.

Because Congress failed to run the draconian measures contained in the Patriot Act through a proper set of hearings and floor debates, it took time for most Americans to understand what had hit them. But as citizens have begun to recognize that the Patriot Act allows for "sneak-and-peak" home invasions, roving wiretaps, the seizure of library and bookstore records, and other assaults on the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens, the reaction has been understandably negative. Membership in the American Civil Liberties Union has skyrocketed, city councils and state legislatures have condemned the act as anything but patriotic, and the U.S. House recently voted to strike down a key component of the law.

A wise attorney general would have responded to the clear and consistent outcry by asking whether the Patriot Act might need to be repaired. But John Ashcroft has never been accused of being wise. So, instead of recognizing the complaints about the Patriot Act for what they are - sincere expressions of concern for civil liberties - Ashcroft has set out on a pricey public relations tour to promote the notion that Americans should trade basic freedoms for a dubious measure of security.

Last week, the tour brought Ashcroft to Milwaukee, where he almost came into contact with some of those angry citizens. That would have been a rare development, since Ashcroft's appearances are behind-closed-doors affairs in front of audiences selected for their willingness to applaud on cue - rather than question the attorney general. In Milwaukee, however, a group of Patriot Act critics got close enough to the War Memorial building where Ashcroft was speaking to draw the attention of press photographers traveling with the attorney general. But officials quickly shut the blinds to prevent anything akin to a debate.

"If the intent was to marginalize people who disagree with the attorney general, they certainly did that," said Chris Ahmuty, Wisconsin director of the ACLU. "The way they're going about this indicates they're on the defensive. When the attorney general essentially sneaks into town to address a select group of people, it doesn't raise anybody's confidence."

But it does raise legitimate concerns.

"Though I understand it's a reaction to growing public concerns about Patriot Act I, I regret that the administration has decided to continue what is essentially a PR campaign instead of fixing the very real flaws in the law," says U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., the Senate's leading critic of the law.

Fixing the Patriot Act sounds, on the surface, like a good idea. But a better step would be to simply cancel it - and to cancel Ashcroft. Get rid of a bad law and a bad attorney general and allow a more rational and responsible Justice Department to work with Congress to draft meaningful anti-terrorism legislation, rather than Ashcroft's assault on the Constitution.

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