U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft certainly has proved to be the tough, stand-up prosecutor the liberal left—ACLU, New York Times, Boston Globe and many Democratic Party politicians—knew he would be when they mounted that all-out drive to block his confirmation after President Bush named him to his Cabinet. Their on going assault on him has intensified in recent weeks as the nation’s chief law enforcement official has been touring the country and speaking in defense of the USA Patriot Act.
Dorothy Rabinowitz, the Wall Street Journal’s gifted critic at large, captured the climate yesterday in her extraordinary editorial page piece: A Demon For Our Times. “Frenzy mounts uncontrolled over John Ashcroft, now considered—in those quarters touched by the delerium—enemy number of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and all that Americans hold dear,” was her opener.
The ACLU, Democrats and Clinton Atty. Gen. Janet Reno were among the targets of Ms. Rabinowitz pen.
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