I don't care what side they are on ........didactic "true believers" who pose are nothing but wolves in sheeps' clothing. I repeat, Ashcroft could be a "good guy" but he is not SUITABLE to work as the Attorney General for ***ALL** THE PEOPLE. PERIOD. He should apply for a job as an Assistant to Colin Powell.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/491164.asp

  WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 —  A Missouri Supreme Court judge testified Thursday that then-Sen. John Ashcroft essentially lied to his peers in a successful effort to block his appointment to a federal bench. The testimony by Ronnie White was expected to further galvanize Ashcroft’s opponents, but not thwart his confirmation as the nation’s attorney general.  WHITE TOLD the Senate Judiciary Committee he agreed to testify in order to “reclaim my reputation,” saying that Ashcroft had “seriously distorted” his record as a judge.
       Ashcroft has not budged from his opposition to White, insisting over the previous two days of Senate hearings that he considers White “pro-criminal.”
       White said that as a judge, he had voted to uphold the death penalty in 41 of 59 death penalty cases he heard. He said that in 53 of those 59 cases, he voted with the majority of his colleagues on the court, and was the lone dissenter only three times.
       He further claimed that Ashcroft misled his peers when he used a specific death penalty case to derail his 1999 nomination and never even asked him to defend his ruling in that case.
       “Senator Ashcroft’s rhetoric left the impression that I was calling” for the the release of the defendant, White said. “This is just not true,” he added, saying he had urged a new trial, not a complete release.

-- Anonymous, January 18, 2001

Answers

VS: Dallas News Headline spin that White "resented".........:

Missouri judge says he resents Ashcroft's accusations

01/18/2001

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Testifying at Attorney General-designee John Ashcroft's confirmation hearing, Ronnie White expressed anger today that Ashcroft had blocked him from becoming a federal judge by persuading the Senate that he had a history of overturning death sentences.

"I deeply resent those baseless accusations," White, a black Missouri Supreme Court judge, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On the third day of hearings that seem likely to lead to Ashcroft's approval, White described his upbringing in a segregated St. Louis neighborhood, the child of poor, teen-age parents. He said he encountered white children who "would throw milk and food at us and tell us to go back to where we came from."

"This racism only strengthened my determination. I was not going to let the color of my skin or ignorance or the hatefulness of others hold me back," he said.

White said that as a judge, he had voted to uphold the death penalty in 41 of 59 death penalty cases he heard. He said that in 53 of those 59 cases, he voted with the majority of his colleagues on the court – most of whom were appointed by then-Gov. Ashcroft – and was the lone dissenter only three times.

"My record as a judge shows the personal attacks made on me were not true," White said.

-- Anonymous, January 18, 2001