From an unlikely source:
If any one thing will defeat Ashcroft, it is his treatment of
Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White. White, the
first African-American on the court, was appointed by
Clinton as a federal district court judge in St. Louis. White
was approved by the Republican controlled judiciary
committee and by the senior Republican Senator from
Missouri, Christopher 'Kit" Bond.
But then Ashcroft libeled White as "soft on crime" because
he dissented on one death penalty case. In fact, White
voted to uphold the death penalty in 70 percent of the
cases before him. The Ashcroft appointee he replaced on
the bench had only voted to affirm the death penalty in 58
percent of the cases. Ashcroft orchestrated a campaign of
state law enforcement groups to oppose White's
confirmation. Several of the groups have now said that
they never heard of Ronnie White until Ashcroft's office
contacted them. On a straight party line vote, White was
defeated.
Ashcroft's defenders now trumpet the line that he
appointed black judges while governor. True enough, but
they were clones of Clarence Thomas, with whom Ashcroft
once shared an office decorated with a Confederate flag
when they were assistant attornies general. One of
Ashcroft's appointees likes to amuse the lawyers appearing
before him with an Amos and Andy type dialect that is
perhaps one of the most humiliating spectacles in an
American courtroom. Is Ashcroft a racist? Probably not, but
as he takes credit for signing the Martin Luther King, Jr.
holiday into law, he should be held responsible for declaring
in an interview with the right-wing magazine Southern
Partisan that the Confederate army, defenders of slavery,
were "patriots." If Ashcroft simply hated blacks, his conduct
couldn't be worse than using Ronnie White for a convenient
political football. . . .
Mainstream Republicans have opposed Ashcroft in the past
without paying a political price. They could force Ashcroft
to withdraw and tell Bush to make a more moderate
appointment. Or they could allow Attorney General Ashcroft
to be the catalyst for losing control of the House and
Senate in two years and the White House in four. What
would be bad for the country could be a blessing in disguise
for the Democratic Party. But that price would be too high
for any but the most cynical to pay.
http://www.speakout.com/Content/ICArticle/5519/
Cheers, Dan. |
