confRontAtion And consensus 349
Limbaugh and other conservative firebrands. They all demanded Gore-
lick’s resignation. There were death threats against her and members of
her family. The other commissioners, Republicans and Democrats alike,
were outraged and unified. “Jamie Gorelick ended up with nine big
brothers,” Gorton says. “John Ashcroft did us a huge favor in trying to
break us up.”^17
Gorton, in demand as a pithy guest, denounced Ashcroft on several
nightly news shows. He had been telling Andy Card, Bush’s chief of staff,
that the White House was its own worst enemy. “When push came to
shove we’d go to the big newspapers and they would excoriate the presi-
dent for not cooperating with us. Then he’d give us what we wanted. But
Bush got a reputation for stonewalling. The problem was all Alberto Gon-
zales.” Bush’s ham-handed counsel had seriously compromised the presi-
dent’s reputation. “We kept asking to talk with the president about 9/11.
First it was ‘No.’ Finally, ‘OK, yes. The chairman and the vice-chairman
can come and talk to him for 15 minutes.’ We applied more pressure and
the White House finally grudgingly agreed that we could all come.”
The 9/11 Commission: Back row, from left, Richard Ben-Veniste, John F. Leh man,
Timothy J. Roemer, James R. Thompson, Bob Kerrey, Gorton; front row, from
left: Fred Fielding, Lee Hamilton, Tom Kean, Jamie Gorelick. 9/11 Commission,
AE/WPPi.com