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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ecommerceman who wrote (1523)	1/31/2001 2:38:55 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 93284

You are absolutely correct! Ashcroft will not be defeated because he has special privileges because he was a former Senator. He is treated differently from someone who does not have past Senate ties. Many people, including Jesse Jackson have mentioned this connection. They call is the" collegiality of the Senate." Also, the Senate is split and for one reason or another Democrats will vote for Ashcroft. Should the the American people should allow the Senate to put their opinions ahead of their constituents? I believe Senator Specter is aware of the potential problem or at least a potential political problem for him because I've heard he may be in trouble with people back home over the Ashcroft nomination.- JMOP, Mephisto Here are some excerpts from from Ashcroft committee members. The scope of the Judiciary Committee's debate about Ashcroft was captured in the differing positions taken by two previously undecided members, Feingold and Herb Kohl, who is also a Wisconsin Democrat. Kohl labeled Ashcroft's opposition to abortion ''extreme,'' and said Ashcroft held a ''radical view'' against gun control and had ''deliberately injured'' gay and minority nominees for federal positions. That left Ashcroft out of the ''public mainstream,'' the senator said. ''I believe that he will not be the people's lawyer. I believe that he will push and prod the law to conform with his own strongly held beliefs,'' Kohl told his colleagues in the Senate committee room. Feingold said he had decided to support the nominee, even after personal visit yesterday afternoon from Senator Edward M. Kennedy, a leading Ashcroft opponent. Feingold said he deferred to the president's right to pick his Cabinet. While saying he was troubled with Ashcroft's positions on school desegration, gay and minority nominees, and other issues that emerged during four days of hearings, Feingold concluded: ''The Senate has nearly uniformly sought to avoid disapproving nominations because of their philosophy alone, and I believe that we should not begin to do so now.'' ***** "Kennedy had championed abortion rights, civil rights, and gun control in joining foes of the nomination. Yesterday, in formally announcing his nay vote, he condemned Ashcroft for ''engaging in a remarkable revisionist remaking of his record'' during his confirmation hearings. ''But actions speak louder than words, and in the case of Senator Ashcroft, his 30-year record of intense opposition on so many critical issues involving civil rights, women's rights, gun control, and nominations speaks volumes and demonstrates clearly and convincingly that he is the wrong person to be attorney general of the United States,'' Kennedy said. The other Massachusetts Democrat, John F. Kerry, issued a statement saying he planned to vote against Ashcroft on the Senate floor. ''John Ashcroft's heart is not in question. His faith is not in question. His professional capacity is not in question. ''John Ashcroft's record, however, is in serious question - and it reveals a series of actions motivated by ideology that have not just placed him firmly outside the mainstream, but which demonstrate a tendency to distort the truth in pursuit of ideological ends,'' Kerry said. While all nine Republicans on Judiciary Committee supported Ashcroft, one moderate, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, hinted he would look closely at judicial nominees who might hold political views as conservative as Ashcroft's." ***** A group of Democratic Vermont state legislators urged their state's lone Republican US senator, James Jeffords, to join Leahy in opposing the nomination. The two dozen lawmakers said a vote in favor of Ashcroft would put Jeffords' party obligations ahead of the state's interest. But Jeffords** said he plans to support Ashcroft out of deference to the president. Excerpts from The Boston Globe This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 1/31/2001. © Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company. boston.com

To: ecommerceman who wrote (1523)	2/3/2001 2:51:04 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 93284

And Lott of Mississippi complained that Ashcroft was not accorded the traditional "Collegiality of the Senate." The Debate on Ashcroft: 2 Versions of a Man By LIZETTE ALVAREZ Excerpt from The New York Times February 1, 2002 And through it all, Republicans fumed that many Democrats were treating Mr. Ashcroft, a colleague who left the Senate just a month ago, like a cult member who had never set foot on their privileged turf. Senator Trent LOTT of Mississippi, the Republican leader, said in the hallway today that he felt"disappointment" about the way Democrats handled the nomination and that Mr. Ashcroft had been denied the senators' traditional cordiality to former colleagues. "I felt that the way they treated it in the Judiciary Committee was shrill and over the top," Senator Lott said. Democrats scoffed at traditional treatment in this case, arguing that the position of attorney general was too critical to the nation for blind deference to a former senator. "The truth is this is not a vote or a decision about those personal relationships," said Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. Had Mr. Ashcroft been nominated for almost any other job, some senators said, he might have sailed out of committee and out of Congress. "Had he been nominated for secretary of agriculture, I would have voted for him," Senator Mikulski said. Instead, Democrats argued, Mr. Ashcroft's views were too far from the mainstream for him to serve as the nation's chief law enforcement officer. They focused on Mr. Ashcroft's treatment of Ronnie White, a black judicial nominee over whom, Democrats said, Mr. Ashcroft ran roughshod. They also skewered Mr. Ashcroft for his handling of the nomination of James C. Hormel, an openly gay man, for ambassador to Luxembourg. Democrats said Mr. Ashcroft opposed Mr. Hormel because of his sexual orientation; Mr. Ashcroft denied it. "He will have to wake up every single morning and curb his natural instincts to do his job," Senator Kerry said. nytimes.com ******* Dear ECM, Isn't it sad that Mr. LOTT thinks only about Senate privileges and doesn't give a damn about the thousands of people who were denied the right to vote or whose vote wasn't counted in the 2000 Election? - Mephisto