CONSERVATIVES TURN ON ASHCROFT

Drudge Report ^ | 07/23/2002 | Matt Drudge

[Pokey78]

CONSERVATIVES TURN ON ASHCROFT
Tue Jul 23 2002 20:58:38 ET

Many religious conservatives who were instrumental in pressing President Bush to appoint John Ashcroft as attorney general -- now say they have become deeply troubled by his actions, the NEW YORK TIMES is planning to report in a blistering Page One spread on Wednesday.

"His religious base is now quite troubled by what he's done," Grover Norquist tells the TIMES's Neil Lewis.

MORE

Several Bush advisers have begun complaining that Ashcroft has projected himself too often and too forcefully. More significantly, they say privately that he seems to be overstating the evidence of terrorist threats, the paper claims.

Conservtives cite Ashcroft's anti-terrorist positions as enhancing the kind of government power that they instinctively oppose.

Norquist: "If there hadn't been this big government problem, Ashcroft would have been talked about as the Bush successor. Instead, the talk is that 'too bad we pushed for him."'

Ashcroft was also criticized by some in the administration for declaring early on that the case of John Walker Lindh was a major terrorist case, the paper reports. Some officials in the Justice Department believed that the attorney general made needlessly harsh public comments about Lindh. The case came to an abrupt end last week, when Lindh pleaded guilty to two felonies and the department dropped the most severe terrorism-related charges against him, treating him as a far less important figure than depicted by the attorney general.

Developing...

[justshe]

Even Senator Biden (yes, the dem) stated--in public AND in print--that the document he signed authorizing military force was the equivalent of a declaration of war. You need to jump off this horse you're riding because he is done tuckered out.

[Torie]

Does anyone in your peer group still use punctuation and capital letters these days in their written work? Just curious.

[Deb]

That's me. I'm jumpin' on the bandwagon and lickin' dem boots.

I believe in the man and trust his people.

You may continue to ram your feet against the pricks all you want. You and the rest of "So Right They're Left" club will just get bloody stumps.

[justshe]

Either dump the bong or lose the bottle opener.

[Consort]

If TIPS gets implemented, then that's the way it is and we'll have to live with it. Dumping Bush is not an option; it won't remove TIPS or any other bill he signed or program he implemented. Bush will likely be the nominee in '04 and if he loses, the alternative will be far less desirable, unless you're a masochist. The GOP voters back in the 70's reelected Tricky Dick (no staunch Conservative) just because they knew what the alternative would be.

[justshe]

You couldn't be an optimist if somebody paid you.

What was he like when Clinton was in office? If he's like this now.........it must have been HORRID!

[self_evident]

Since Sept. 11, no administration figure has depicted the threat or argued for the need to accept sweeping changes with as much zeal as John Ashcroft.

And God bless him for that. But other than that, what the heck does this topic have to do with religion? Absolutely clear that the Times is Sliming and not reporting. The issues of personal liberty are true for all conservatives not just religious conservatives (and in fact, religious conservatives are usally critisized for opposing some liberties).

My wish is that we would pursue the enemy a lot more forcefully overseas so that Ashcroft could be less forceful at home. As long as Powell coddles Saddam and Arafat, Ashcroft's approach is necessary IMO.

[Deb]

I just do not understand where the abject doom & gloom comes from. The exact same machine that geared up to destroy Reagan is attempting to do the same to this president. That alone should give you comfort about him.

The loonies are screaming. Why are you believing them and not the voices telling you we'll be okay?

[Fred Mertz]

I calls 'em as I sees 'em sweetcakes.

[Fred Mertz]

Why are you believing them and not the voices telling you we'll be okay?

I want to believe we'll be okay, but I really don't see that in the cards. I'm the eternal pessimist even if I want the best for this country.

I'm getting ready to leave it while I can. I'll come back when the cleansing is complete. I really want to come and go as I please and be left alone, that's not asking too much is it? I'm not able to do so here anymore.

[justshe]

So........Reagan was your ideal?

[Fred Mertz]

Reagan was the last of the best.

[justshe]

And where in the world, will you find a country that meets your needs? I ask this seriously because I think it would give us some insight into your thoughts.

[Torie]

I'm getting ready to leave it while I can.

You and that actor guy that promised to leave. He welshed, and I am quite sure you will as well. It must be marvelous to type anything your heart's desire without consequence. It is almost a sociopath's nirvana in a sort of metaphorical way.

[self_evident]

I'd guess 1/3 to 1/2 of the world can't stand America. I think twice before flying to foreign lands now.

I don't go overseas so I am interested in your view. My question is, as the only remaining world power, isn't it inevitable? People worldwide feel more secure, so they no longer see the US as a source of security. They also see our wealth and power, and naturally feel threatened (and maybe a bit envious). I don't see any policy change that can avoid this.

[Ben Hecks]

I live a lot closer to Ashcroft's "religious base" than does the NY Times and have seen no evidence of discontent.....but then again, why would I question a newspaper that, together with the Washington Post, tried to convince the world that Whittaker Chambers was spreading lies about Alger Hiss.

[Fred Mertz]

He welshed, and I am quite sure you will as well.

Have you always been a racist?

[justshe]

Than I am sure you are familiar with this:
(Luis Gonzales posted this on another thread last night)

"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it. "Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything. "I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'
"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.

~~ Ronald Reagan, in his autobiography, An American Life

It would seem that your 'ideal' understood the 'art' of politics. He understood that 'those radical conservatives' had an impossible 'perfect world' built up in their minds, that NO ONE could ever achieve. I would put you in that category. Either that.........or you are just hooked on 'bitching'........no matter WHO is in office.

[Fred Mertz]

I like Bush, but I don't fawn over him. He's 100% better than the alternative.

So I suppose we're on the road to socialism at only 50 mph instead of 100 mph.

[justshe]

Have you always been a racist?

Tsk, tsk. A liberal gambit. Don't like something? Claim racism. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Pardon my replying to a question asked of you, Torie.