John Ashcroft, Christian martyr

Aaron Flicker

So George W. Bush is president. Has the tone in Washington changed yet?

Consider this excerpt from a Washington Post editorial, surprisingly not written about Attorney General-designate John Ashcroft's nomination hearings: "It's not just that there has been an intellectual vulgarization and personal savagery to elements of the attack, profoundly distorting the record and the nature of the man. It is also, more important, that the dismal political and programmatic content of some of the argument against him, as heard day after day in the committee hearings, could only confirm a suspicion that the time is ripe for a rigorous challenge to the lazy and dangerous cliches that often pass for policy wisdom and juridical profundity among liberals these days. There was also something disquieting in the idea that intellectual audacity and a challenge to prevailing legal orthodoxy were automatically to be punished or at least put down."

Those words, which could have been rerun in yesterday's paper, were written in 1987 about Robert Bork, President Reagan's nominee for the Supreme Court. He was rejected after a nomination fight memorable because it added to political lexicography a new verb, to bork.

It means, roughly, to defeat a presidential nominee by means of lying, exaggeration, frivolous or irrelevant charges and/or personal attacks. Republicans practiced something like it after Clinton's nominations of, among others, Henry Foster as surgeon general and James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg. Ashcroft himself borrowed some of the tactics in bringing down the nomination of Ronnie White to the federal bench.

It is fine to oppose Ashcroft on ideological grounds. Fifty Democrats were elected to the Senate, presumably with a mandate to stand in the way of the Republican president's agenda, or at least the more extreme parts of it. Indeed, there are many, many other Republicans I would rather see as attorney general.

So why, after listening to the cacophony of interest groups that have made it their mission to smear Ashcroft, do I feel like I need a shower?

Because Ashcroft's Pentecostal faith has been the target of such scorn that Republicans can plausibly claim he is the victim of "religious profiling." Because there seems to be no argument too illogical, no exaggeration too implausible to employ in pursuit of derailing this nomination.

Since Ashcroft's nomination, one could have observed Kate Michelman of the

National Abortion Rights Action League argue that Ashcroft is "far out of step with the views of Americans" on the right to abortion, but argue at the same time that that right "hangs by a thread" that "could be cut by just one Supreme Court justice."

Historical memories are short in Washington these days. Elaine Jones of the NAACP: "When you look at John Ashcroft and his views overall, what you get is a sense of a throwback to the '50s in terms of our civil rights laws," Ralph Neas of People for the American Way said. "This is the worst cabinet nomination I've ever seen."

Ah, but as The Washington Post has pointed out, Ashcroft is not so bad for the bottom line. Political fundraisers love nothing more than an enemy. Just as Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., is sure to be prominently featured in Republican fund-raising pitches over the next six years, liberal interest groups have happily cast Ashcroft and Interior Secretary-designate Gale Norton in the role of targets.

They are not at all subtle about this. A logo at the top of the National Abortion Rights Action League's Web site invites visitors to "Contribute to NARAL's Stop Ashcroft Campaign." Melanie Griffin of the Sierra Club said if their opponents "don't want to raise money for us, they should stop doing things like nominating Gale Norton for their interior secretary."

This is the first lesson in Lobbying 101: The more you can demonize your opponent, the faster the checks will roll in. That is the culture George W. Bush's "new civility" is up against.

The interest groups wail because victimhood is lucrative. But Republicans know that too, and they will make sure Ashcroft and Norton become one of two things: cabinet members or martyrs. The interest groups should consider that before the borking continues.

Flicker padded his column with a lot of quotes because he is doped up on painkillers. He can be reached at af350597.