ABSURD ASSAULT ON ASHCROFT

New York Post ^ | 11/30/01 | JOHN PODHORETZ

[kattracks]

November 30, 2001 -- SOME Democrats, liberals and civil libertarians are going to pieces. You can sense a kind of deranged relief in their factually challenged, emotionally overwrought and politically suicidal assault on the administration's prosecution of the war on terrorism.

[Zeroisanumber]

Another two freedoms that FDR talked about (remarkable how popular FDR has become on FR in the last couple of months) is freedom of worship and freedom of speech.

[xm177e2]

"It's one thing to say, 'I'm willing to give up my liberty for security.' But most of the changes are targeted at a vulnerable group, at immigrants . . . And so the political calculus is easy: Let's give up their rights for our security."

"It's one thing to say, 'I'm willing to give up my convenience and liberty for security at the airport.' But most of the threat comes from an immigrant group, the Muslim Arab foreigners . . . And so the political calculus is easy: Let's give up their rights for our security."--xm (why should EVERYONE lose their rights, when we can take rights from just a few with the same benefit?)

[Zeroisanumber]

What happens to the minority eventualy happens to the majority. Hold fast to your rights.

[be-baw]

Do Democrats really want history to record that what they did in the war effort is attack the president and his administration as they attempted to save the United States from al Qaeda?

Of course not! They're counting on the liberal "historians" to give them another pass. Where does Doris Kearns Goodwin stand on this issue anyway?

[mxbluto]

why should EVERYONE lose their rights, when we can take rights from just a few with the same benefit

Right. Why? If they can arbitrarily take away your rights, I've got news for you, you never really had them in the first place.

[goldstategop]

No one has been deprived of their civil rights. Do the hysterical "Bush is being a tyrant" left and right wing hand wringers have any proof its happened? We should have heard about it by now. People believe everything they read in the liberal media and the thing is this is the media that has not been able to get one fact about this war right from the start. We're in a state of war and what the President is doing seems entirely reasonable to me. The critics should be concerned not that we're in danger of making our freedoms less secure but rather that we're not doing enough to make the homeland secure from future acts of terrorism. We all don't have to be reminded that one Sept. 11th is all the lesson this country needs that its the last time we'll be caught with our collective pants down. Now we keep our guard up and if it causes a little inconvenience to people so be it. We've got a country to defend.

[yikes]

Now we keep our guard up and if it causes a little inconvenience to people so be it. We've got a country to defend.

Good points. Too many people equate their rights with convenience. Too few read anymore,so they haven't a clue about what life was like for the Brits in WWII, for example.

It's all part of the tremendous self-aborption we see in this country.

[listenhillary]

If government decides what rights you keep and for how long, we've already lost the battle. The government that grants rights can take them away. My rights are not granted by the government.

Now non-citizens are another matter, get them the hell out.

[GretchenEE]

This reads almost word-for-word in places as Ann Coulter's column, The Hun Is at the Gate. Glad to see the word is getting out. I've had a huge burden to pray that God will set fire to the leeches that try to suck Ashcroft's lifeblood and that He will sweep away the swarms of antagonists who have picked Ashcroft as their whipping boy. I can tell from my prayers that Ashcroft is feeling the attacks very strongly, that they are demoralizing, and that he needs ROOM to do his job, which the attacks are currently crimping.

[goldstategop]

John Ashcroft isn't being put on the defensive and he's not fazed by his critics. He's doing the job he was appointed to do and is doing it superbly. Which is more than you can say for the entire 8 years Janet Reno headed the Justice Department. What angers Ashcroft's enemies is he carving out a place for himself in history and they can't stand him doing it. Ashcroft has the complete support and confidence of the President and that counts for more than all the carping from Sen. Patrick "Depends Leaky" Leahy, the ACLU, PFAW, and the rest of the "Get John Ashcroft" crowd. We Freepers Friends and Americans can be proud of what he's doing to keep America safe AND protect our civil liberties.

[Stopspin]

The congress critters ,[particularly those who attack Ashcroft], should be aware that we ,[the voter critters],will un-elect those who hamper the efforts of the Bush administration to smoke out the evil doers .

The supporters of the taliban supporters should desist .

[GretchenEE]

John Ashcroft isn't being put on the defensive and he's not fazed by his critics. He's doing the job he was appointed to do and is doing it superbly. Which is more than you can say for the entire 8 years Janet Reno headed the Justice Department. What angers Ashcroft's enemies is he carving out a place for himself in history and they can't stand him doing it. Ashcroft has the complete support and confidence of the President and that counts for more than all the carping from Sen. Patrick "Depends Leaky" Leahy, the ACLU, PFAW, and the rest of the "Get John Ashcroft" crowd. We Freepers Friends and Americans can be proud of what he's doing to keep America safe AND protect our civil liberties.

I was referring to spiritual warfare that is affecting Ashcroft, as well as the sniping, carping, whining, work-deterring tactics of those who hate the law being enforced as it was intended to be. It's difficult to do what you are charged with doing when you have to divert valuable time, energy, and resources to fighting what, in effect, is like frivolous lawsuits.

I have been in positions where I have had to deal with this type of attack on the job (spiritual attack). It wears a person down. This is why Christians are admonished in Scripture to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. By praying for him, others will make Ashcroft's job a lot easier.

We should never underestimate the effects of the opposition on our leaders. History tells a lot more than current occupants of the highest offices will tell us on the subject.

[jackbill]

Where does Doris Kearns Goodwin stand on this issue anyway?

I heard this JFK/Roosevelt/Johnson lover the other day, talking about Roosevelt and his internment of the Japanese Americans and the "military tribunal" of the Nazi spies. She said that she was sure that Roosevelt would do things differently today. Some people just never get off of their knees.

[be-baw]

Doris Kearns Goodwin: she put the 'BJ' in LBJ.