January 17th, 2001 -- John Ashcroft the Transformer
Ya know. From the sound of it, John Ashcroft is going to be such a staunch defender and enforcer of gun-control laws, abortion rights, and civil rights, that you sorta wonder why right-wingers want him so bad.
Is Ashcroft a lib now? Or is there some disconnect here? Or is Ashcroft just completely full of crap -- and Senate Dems are doing a lousy job catching him on it?
But did you notice how Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (one of the most underrated senators, in my book) caught Ashcroft in a lie, and called him on it?
Sure, he didn't put it quite so baldly. But . . . well, let me just get to the story. The latest Republican angle is to frame the confirmation debate as though John Ashcroft's critics were saying that he either has the wrong religion (he's Pentecostal) or that he is too religious. So John Ashcroft becomes just one more potential victim in the on-going persecution of white Christian conservatives.
Here Orrin Hatch implies that some senators may be doing just that and Ashcroft responds with a self-serving, lame response.
HATCH: Doesn't matter to me whether you're Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, whatever, or an atheist or agnostic. I'm sure that goes for -- I hope that I'm sure that that goes to the rest of our fellow senators.
In fact, the Constitution of the United States specifically forbids religious qualifications for office.
Now, having gone through that type of, I think, offensive criticism, which is continuing right up to today, is there anything in your religious beliefs that would impair you from faithfully and fully fulfilling your responsibilities as attorney general of the United States?
ASHCROFT: Well, I don't believe it's appropriate to have a test based on one's religion for a job. I think Article V of the Constitution makes that clear.
Please!
A short time later Senator Leahy tried to clear up the libel Hatch had slipped into his remarks.
LEAHY: I just would not want to leave one of the questions from my friend from Utah to give the wrong impression to the people here and just, sort of, make it very clear. Have you heard any senator, Republican or Democrat, suggest that there should be a religious test on your confirmation?
ASHCROFT: No senator has said, "I will test you," but a number of senators have said, "Will your religion keep you from being able to perform your duties in office?"
LEAHY: I'm amazed at that.
ASHCROFT: Pardon?
LEAHY: Well, I'm amazed at that . . .
Yeah, me too.
January 15th, 2001 -- President Quayle?
I have been worried for some time about over-playing George W. Bush's militant provincialism and penchant for verbal gaffes. (Really. No kidding, I have.)
Can't this just be a dressed-up form of cultural or regional pretension? Liberals wasted no end of time harping on Ronald Reagan's lack of intellectual curiosity and culture.
And what good did it do them? Not much. At best it further alienated them from their one time base of support among middling working families in the Midwest and the Northeast. And to some extent with good reason.
Still, it's hard to ignore the signs that our new president is an imbecile. On NBC's Dateline, Tom Brokaw asked Bush if any White House invitation to Scalia could be construed as some sort of payback for handing him the presidency. Here's how Reuters reported the conversation:
"I don't know," he replied. "I do like him. (But) I guess we're going to have to scratch him off the invitation list now," he replied to interviewer Tom Brokaw.
When his wife Laura Bush protested that it was perfectly normal for the president and first lady to host the Supreme Court, Bush interrupted, saying, "He just teasing . . ."
"He was just trying to make sure Anthony didn't get a good meal," Bush said, correcting himself quickly, "Antonio."
But neither name was quite right.
The first name of the man appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986 by former President Ronald Reagan is "Antonin."
Is this some sort of cultural jujitsu? Is he suckering us into looking like East Coast, elitist snobs?
January 12th, 2001 -- Earth to Liberal Interest Groups
No one wants to see the Ashcroft nomination go down more than I do. But the interest groups opposing Ashcroft need to wise up a bit. This battle may require more of the shiv than the sledgehammer. If the Bushies can spin this as a gaggle of "liberal special interest groups" beating up on John Ashcroft, then he almost certainly pulls through. On the other hand, if senators are carrying the water, then maybe he doesn't.
Unfortunately, what I am hearing is that the interest groups spearheading the fight have not opened up good lines of communication with the middle-of-the-road and moderate Democratic senators they're going to need to pull this thing off.
Am I saying they should back off? Of course not. Just that they need to handle it with a bit more finesse.
P.S. I had assumed that the Democrats would not be willing to win this with a filibuster, i.e., with 40 votes instead of 50. But now I'm hearing that that option may not be off the table after all.
P.P.S. Let's keep an eye on where freshman Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island comes down on Ashcroft -- more on this later.
P.P.P.S. Which Democratic senator (not widely identified with the interest groups opposing the Ashcroft nomination) is going to step forward and take point on the nomination?
P.P.P.P.S. One well-known moderate Dem may be getting ready to get out in front on the Gale Norton nomination.
Phew! All Done.
This Washington Memo adapted from Joshua Micah Marshall's Talking Points
