“Tough guy Attorney General John Ashcroft will appear Tuesday on funny man David Letterman’s late-night television program to show that the nation’s top lawman can take a joke and carry a tune,” Arizona Central reports.

‘Anybody who knows the attorney general knows he’s not above self-deprecating humor,’ Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo said.

Letterman has been poking fun at Ashcroft for several weeks, joking about the Justice Department’s expenditure of $8,000 on blue drapes to cover naked statues and spoofing a video of Ashcroft singing a patriotic tune he wrote called ‘Let the Eagle Soar.’ Aides said Ashcroft, a longtime member of the ‘Singing Senators,’ may even sing during his ‘Late Show’ visit.

‘I’m not going to telegraph the plans for the show,’ Corallo said. ‘There’s got to be some element of suspense and excitement to it.’

Ashcroft will be the first guest Tuesday on Letterman’s CBS TV program. Justice Department officials said they contacted the show when they realized the attorney general would be in New York that day to visit Ground Zero.

Set the TIVO now, y’all. It’s only so often you get to see a singing Ashcroft standing in front of giant pewter boobies….

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