Phil Brennan
Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001

What's behind this revival of the Salem Witch trials? What's motivating these people to start erecting tent poles on which they hope to hang the scalps of good and decent people?

The answer is simple. For one thing, they ARE good and decent people, and we certainly can't have that sort running things in post-Clinton America.

That's the main thrust of the attack on John Ashcroft – he is a good man, a devout Christian, a dedicated public servant, a patriot and a man committed to the rule of law. And those are all qualities the left abhors. They prefer an attorney general in the image of Janet Reno, a women who possesses none of Ashcroft's virtues and most of the vices the left cherishes.

Listen to the litany of charges against John Ashcroft and you'll hear a recitation that betrays the absolute dedication of the liberal chorus to their agenda of corruption, public depravity, total contempt for the rule of law and the sacredness of human life.

Some of the witless anti-Ashcroft rhetoric has bordered on the absurd. One of his critics, for example, expressed horror at Ashcroft's alleged kind words about Robert E. Lee and T.J. Jackson. Imagine, finding something good to say about Stonewall Jackson, a man so sunken in depravity that his motto was "Duty is mine, Consequences are God's." Obviously one's admiration of anyone who could say things like that disqualifies that person for high office. Words such as "duty" and "God" are not part of the left's vocabulary, and one's use of them sets off all sorts of alarms in what passes for the liberal mind.

Among the serious charges being leveled against John Ashcroft is his dedicated opposition to the slaughter of the unborn – certainly a position that flies in the face of our current pagan morality, which elevates convenience above morality. I heard one senator voice the fear that because Ashcroft opposes abortion he would be unable to enforce laws against violence at abortuaries – an accusation that falls flat on its face when one considers that he is a firm adherent of the rule of law and therefor bound to enforce it even when it is distasteful.

His record of racial tolerance has been writ large, time and again, yet he is being tarred with the racist brush because he opposed the elevation to the federal bench of a soft-on-crime black judge whose apparent motto is "Turn 'em loose."

The campaign of vilification of this fine man is being waged on false grounds. The reasons cited for refusing him confirmation are not the real reasons for the left's opposition. They are against making him attorney general because they are frightened out of their wits by the prospect of a good and honest attorney general being turned loose at the Justice Department and being in a position to turn over the rocks and discover just how corrupt the Clinton administration and its attorney general were over the past eight years.

These people want the sleeping dogs of the Clintonite criminality to be allowed to lie because they fear if awakened they will turn out to be rabid pit bulls capable of tearing hordes of Clintonistas to shreds. Nothing strikes more fear in the hearts of scoundrels than an honest man in a position to assure that justice is done.

The left's motivation for opposing Linda Chavez was similar to that which causes them to oppose Ashcroft. The rest was just nonsense being elevated to wisdom by the simpering sophists of the mainstream press who are currently promulgating every rumor about what they wanted to be a case of nannygate as if it was fact.

Chavez scared the left because she has firm principles and opinions that she does not fear to express. Much mischief has been done at the Labor Department Bush wanted her to head, and the mischief makers knew she'd undo much of the damage they have done. Moreover they knew she'd continue to speak her mind about the absurdity of their brand of opportunistic liberalism. They got her, but they haven't heard the last of her.

Finally, the eagerness for the potential hangings of Bush nominees shown by some of the Democrats in the Senate is simply the result of the fact they have their eyes firmly fixed on the 2002 congressional elections and their lust to regain full control of Capitol Hill. As a result, they will do anything, no matter how slimy, to achieve that goal, even if they have to destroy those they know are good and decent Americans in the process.

And to hell with the United States of America. Power is the name of the game.

Domine Miserere Nobis

Phil Brennan is a veteran journalist who writes for NewsMax.com. He is editor & publisher of Wednesday on the Web (http://www.pvbr.com), was Washington columnist for National Review magazine in the 1960s and also served as a staff aide for the House Republican Policy Committee. He can be reached at pvb@pvbr.com