The Onslaught Has Begun

"It appears the smooth sailing is over for the President-elect."

Ann Curry, Today Show, 1/8

"I think that anyone who runs for President in 2004 on the Democratic side will do that [vote against John Ashcroft]."

Tim Russert, same program

"Ashcroft's opposition to judicial activism undergirds many of his stands on abortion over the years and forms the bedrock of his legal argument against Roe."

Washington Post 1/9

[In a 1998 speech] "Ashcroft capped a stirring condemnation of abortion by holding up two pictures of his grandchild, including one showing a sonogram image before birth, according to media accounts. 'If the Supreme Court had seen these pictures, would they say it was okay to destroy this grandson of mine? ' "

Same article, quoting an account from Human Events

No one who observed the 2000 presidential campaign, especially the astonishingly vicious behavior of various core consistencies within the Democratic Party, is surprised by the take-no- prisoners onslaught launched against various of President-elect Bush's cabinet nominees. It is as if various groups within the Democratic Party are auditioning for the role of most hysterical/demagogic interest group. The competition is brutal.

As pro-lifers our interest is with those who are those unjustly - - and mercilessly - - assaulted because they oppose the taking of unborn life. As I write these comments, pro-abortionists, aided and abetted by other constituencies, are aiming their fiercest fire at Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, the outgoing senator from Missouri.

It is essential to remember two things, otherwise the ugliness and red-hot rhetoric is hard to fathom. First, as we were reminded in this last election cycle, opponents rarely are content to admit they oppose a pro-lifer only because he or she opposes abortion. They want an ace in the hole, or, better put, to dig a hole in which to bury honorable men and women under a pile of dirt.

In the hands of today's political alchemists, the target must be transmuted into an out-of-control ideologue, who, for good measure, is a racist to boot. Not everyone is aware of how various organizations ran advertisements to suggest that somehow Mr. Bush - - a man of impeccable character - - was the equivalent of or sympathetic to or somehow in league with those who dragged a Black man to his death.

The behavior of the major media in not calling these organizations to task for this grotesque distortion was craven, to put it politely, and sent the message that is now permissible to say anything. These same media outlets are the ones who spent much of the last eight years harrumphing about the "politics of personal destruction."

The other component to keep in mind is that pro-abortionists simply refuse to allow a good-faith discussion of the abortion issue - - or, more specifically, to acknowledge that someone can oppose abortion in good-faith. Pro-lifers are - - well, you know the litany at least as well as I do.

The common denominator in all the vitriolic attacks is that those who launch them illustrate in their behavior the very qualities they impute to their victims. But they are self- exempted, on the grounds that people like themselves are either (a) incapable of what they are, in fact, doing, or (b) justified by the nobility of their cause.

Thus the John Ashcrofts of this world, by definition, do not merit fair treatment. Indeed, as people like NARAL's Kate Michelman warm to the task, nothing short of banishment to the outer darkness will slake their thirst for vengeance.

Except, of course, they are never appeased. They are, rather, emboldened.

They want to defeat Sen. Ashcroft, or at a minimum humiliate a man of integrity, honor, and vast accomplishment. They theorize that Mr. Bush, who would be supposedly cowering in terror, would nominate judicial appointments that will warm the cockles of the pro-abortion hearts of the Ted Kennedys and Kate Michelmans, and Hillary Clintons of this world. My guess is that this is as complete a misreading of Mr. Bush as you could imagine. Mr. Bush is a compassionate conservative, not a cowardly conservative.

President-elect Bush opposes abortion for the same reasons tens of millions of other Ameri-cans do: it is rank discrimination to withdraw the protection of the law from those too small to speak for themselves.

But, like Sen. Ashcroft, Mr. Bush also understands that Roe is the pre-eminent symbol of judicial activism run amuck, of policy preferences thinly disguised as "interpreting" a "living Constitu- tion." For that matter, there are countless people who are not on our side who find Roe to be a legal absurdity, as bereft of mooring in the Constitution as the baseless charges against Mr. Ashcroft have in his personal conduct.

The onslaught has begun - - but that was expected. The say- anything, do-anything juggernaut is moving into high gear - - hardly a surprise.

Just be sure you respond immediately to the Action Alert on page one of this edition of National Right to Life News. No straggling allowed.

Sen. Ashcroft and President-elect Bush need, and deserve, our help.

dave andrusko  dha1245@juno.com