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...

[jwalsh07]

That's just it, I don't know one when I see one, so, that leaves the question, how does a person report one ?? Also, about the hair standing up etc when you see a terrorist, why didn't that happen to all the passengers traveling with that shoe bomber, the flight school owners and the list goes on.

Are you joking or what? Reed is in jail and the passengers aren't dead. Look, if you're not smart enough to recognise a criminal act, you're damn sure not smart enough to recognise suspicious characters in turbans whispering in Arabic as they take photos of your local water supply or friendly nuke plant.

I agree with you totally.

[southern rock]

I have better conversations with my dog.

I'm sure. Your dog probably only outwits you 50% of the time.

[jwalsh07]

Well that puts him about 50% ahead of you rock.

[southern rock]

Well that puts him about 50% ahead of you rock.

Witty, witty, witty. :P
What's your next comeback going to be? "I know you are, but what am I"?

[jwalsh07]

Try this on for size rock, its the law, whether you like it or not and its constitutional.

[Jhoffa_]

And who knows what the demoncrats will do when they get back into office? And they will, and they will misuse everything

That's my concern.. Absolutely.

Tough sell here though. Funny, I thought 8 years of abuse of power would be enough to convince anyone of this. They even got Bob Barr's FBI Records for goodness sake.

But no, that was yesterday and since Dubya proposed it then everything is keen and tomorrow will never come.

Fedgov drops the ball and the best proposal they have to offer is to give them a database on the contents of our living room's and then help them fill it.

[southern rock]

If it ain't in the constitution, it ain't constitutional. But that's O.K. Not much other legislation passed by congress is constitutional either.

[Ted]

Yes, absoulutely a REALLY good guy/Christian, walks in shoe leather, the whole nine yards.

Good point re:conspiracy theories. However, Janet Reno...

[ninenot]

the new TIPS program,

I'm with you....a very bad idea

I will third that emotion. An EXTREMELY bad idea.

[ninenot]

Outstanding to hear that you are not terrorists.

Neither are we.

But perhaps your neighbor doesn't like you and decides to mention that you behave 'suspiciously.' Then there COULD be a no-warrant search. You could be apprehended and jailed until some bureaucrat finally buys your protestations of innocence.

But if you think that's a short and simple process, try dealing with the OTHER big bureaucracy--the IRS.

Based on IRS' track record at expeditious work, you may have great-grandchildren LONG before you exit custody.

[ninenot]

NO poll, NO interviews. The reporter asked around in the newsroom, found a few 'conservatives' (at the Times) who don't like Ashcroft.

Of COURSE 'conservatives' at the Times don't like him. To mainstream Americans, 'conservative Times people' are identical with 'moderate Communists.'

[Marysecretary]

I don't like having big brother watching me. I just believe this is another invasion of our privacy, or will be later on down the line. Once these things are in place, they can be misused. I have no problem of having a central location where you can call and leave your message of concern should you spot something, but that could be on a local level as well. We're heading into rough waters here.

[maxwellp]

You do have a good point. In the wrong hands this could turn into a nightmare.