Collins wrong about Ashcroft

In a statement in the Bangor Daily News on Jan. 5, Sen. Susan Collins endorsed the nomination of John Ashcroft for Attorney General of the United States.

Having apparently accepted the role as self-appointed poster girl for Republicans claiming to hold moderate socio-political positions, and after a 20-minute conversation with Ashcroft, Collins states that “a lot of misinformation” has been spread concerning Ashcroft’s likelihood to enforce laws banning violence against abortion clinics; and she goes on to choose a cliche to confirm her confidence in his fair-minded racial positions by saying, “There is not a racist bone in Sen. Ashcroft’s body.”

Some of Sen. Collins’ constituents may gain confidence in the knowledge that the senator has examined Ashcroft’s body with such meticulous care, but I suggest that two other cliches give a far more accurate view of Ashcroft’s despicable record on social and civil rights issues.

The first cliche is “actions speak louder than words,” and as Missouri’s attorney general, Ashcroft opposed even a voluntary plan to desegregate schools in metropolitan St. Louis.

Further, he led a campaign of lies and vilification the culminated in the defeat of Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White, an African-American, for appointment to a federal district judgeship; Ashcroft claimed that White has shown “a tremendous bent toward criminal activity,” and that White was “pro-criminal,” when there was nothing in Judge White’s judicial decisions to suggest such outrageous claims. And just last year Ashcroft accepted an honorary degree from Bob Jones University, a school of dubious academic standing founded on principles of religious bigotry and racial discrimination.

As for upholding laws protecting the rights of those seeking abortions, Ashcroft supported attempts to criminalize abortion in Missouri and has further supported a constitutional amendment to ban all abortions. Could any reasonable person expect that as Attorney General Ashcroft would enforce laws has actively sought to abolish?

The second cliche that applies to Sen. Collins’ spin that Ashcroft is other than he appears is “if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, it’s a duck.” John Ashcroft is unfit to be the U.S. attorney General and his nomination is an affront to fair-minded citizens of all races and religious faiths.

Paul Newlin lives in Deer Isle.