Dinner with John Ashcroft at Columbia

On the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 30, I had the opportunity to dine with John Ashcroft. Yep, that’s right, he sat across the table from me at dinner. We shared a meal. Me, Aschcroft, my colleague Matt (pictured) and about 7 other folks from Columbia University.

The dinner took place shortly before Ashcroft spoke to a crowd of about 1,100 students at Columbia University on the topic, “Law, Liberty, Security.” ISI helped to co-sponsor the event and it was a grand success. And, what do I think of Ashcroft? He was a very nice guy, very humble, and a great sense of humor. I was expecting a “tough guy” (as he was the Attorney General), but he was a “softie” – just a really nice guy who was interested in what everyone had to say.

But, when the crowd got tough with him, he got tough back. While he was in the middle of his speech, one Leftist student in the back yelled out something to the effect of “we’ve lost our civil liberties”. Ashcroft replied back with some hard-hitting humor and said, “Well, I haven’t lost mine… and from the sounds of it, I don’t think you’ve lost yours either.” A little bit more than half the crowd was with Ashcroft, not just on that one, but on most of what he had to say.

Chris Kulawik and the students of the ISI Group, the Columbia College Conservative Club (“C4”) did an amazing job pulling off the event. Who would have thought that we’d ever be sitting down to dinner with John Ashcroft at Columbia University! For these conservatives, it was a rare treat indeed – and perhaps a sign of what’s to come.