-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! The Dorian Gray Legacy Diane Alden Jan. 18, 2001 What is wrong with this picture? Whatever "gravitas" Senators and Representatives Kennedy, Boxer, Durbin, Franks, et al. ever had, they have blown. They have been Clintonized, which is something like Martinizing, I suppose, in that it protects them from anything approaching common sense and decency. Their attacks on their former colleague are not only unprofessional, they are also ludicrous. Democratic Ashcroft-bashers know their Senate colleague to be a good and decent man, certainly not a racist, a fair man, discerning and thoughtful, a person who holds beliefs which (God forbid) are Christian. The hearings, however, serve another purpose – they do show us a picture of America that is frightening. According to the left, John Ashcroft's sins include the fact that he is not pro-abortion, he believes in the Second Amendment to the Constitution, he actually upholds the spirit as well as the letter of the law in the various offices to which he has been elected. His actions as governor and senator have shown that he has integrity. Many of his former associates have said so. However, members of the left – and it goes without saying that includes the media, as well as the above-named politicians – have created a devil straw man in John Ashcroft and call it reality. Ashcroft once made a judgment call on a judicial appointment who happened to be black. So what? Everyone has made judgment calls, and unless the person is a blithering idiot or a fool, such calls are usually based on reasons that have nothing to do with being racist but have everything to do with common sense and prudence. For instance, you don't drive through a riot in urban areas with black populations if you are white. You don't walk in the projects in Atlanta at 2 a.m. on a Saturday night unless you have a death wish. You don't go to a white fundamentalist church that expects you to handle poisonous snakes because they take a passage from the bible literally. None of this is racist; it is simply making personal judgment calls based on what can and has happened to those who choose to do foolish and thoughtless things. The judicial appointee that John Ashcroft judged as not cut out to serve on a federal court made a judicial decision that Senator Ashcroft thought defied common sense. Ashcroft's reasons for not voting for the appointment were similar to what other responsible individuals, both black and white, had given for not wanting to appoint that same man to the bench. For the left to extrapolate Ashcroft's call as a sign of racism indicates just how crazy and foolish and pathetic they have become. However, what was personally sad for me was to watch the hearings as Senator Kennedy stumbled and mumbled and made himself look like a total fool. His attack on Ashcroft was indecipherable, like listening to an old drunk at a bar babble about some event that makes no sense whatsoever. Kennedy had no reasoned defense of his attacks on Ashcroft. It was a pleasure to see Senator Kyl of Arizona stand up to him. It was also personally sad for me to remember Kennedy's dignified and eloquent words, looks and demeanor at the funerals of his two brothers. There is none of that about him now. Supposedly a Roman Catholic, Kennedy bashing John Ashcroft for his beliefs as a Christian is almost impossible to comprehend. Since the senators, Democrats especially, are making judgments on John Ashcroft's philosophy and beliefs as a Christian, perhaps it would be wise to make a few about Democrats and what they believe as well. After watching some of them attack him, it was apparent that many of those attacks have nothing to do with ferreting out the truth about what Ashcroft believes or how he would uphold the law. It does indicate, however, that Democrats believe Christians who hold orthodox beliefs cannot hold public office. That means that nearly 50 percent of the people of the United States are disenfranchised. That means that only those who believe that the transference of wealth from producers to takers are acceptable for elective office. That means that only those who consider the Bill of Rights as a negotiable set of principles are allowed in the big club. That means that you can lie, cheat, steal, rape, think unrestricted abortion is the new sacrament of the P.C. religion, use various government agencies to punish opponents, confiscate millions of acres of various states, burn churches and small children, as in Waco, send an innocent 6-year-old back to a ruthless communist dictatorship, sell national security secrets to the highest bidder, allow millions of acres of public forests to burn, take over 50 percent of people's incomes in taxes, fees and hidden charges, create division by demanding multiculturalism, keep educational policies that produce illiterates, not say a word when one of your more visible followers says on national TV that the family of a United States Congressman should be stoned to death, sign executive orders that rewrite the Constitution, and turn the presidency into an unconstitutional imperial office with its own praetorian guard, bread and circuses and expensive perks of office, while turning a blind eye to blatant corruption and creating a society more divided than at any time since the Civil War. All of that is okay, but by all means do not allow decency to creep back into the various offices of the land, especially in the person of a Christian like John Ashcroft. Having said all that, the Senate confirmation hearings were sad for other reasons as well. The worst was watching Senator Ted Kennedy. It reminded me of the Oscar Wilde story, "The Picture of Dorian Gray." As the story goes, over the years a man favored by God with looks, money and position in the world seems to remain uncorrupted by time. Meanwhile, in his attic an oil painting of him reflects the vileness and decadence not revealed by his public face. Ted Kennedy, once the presumptive heir to John and Robert Kennedy's dreams of Camelot, was formerly the epitome of strength and handsome Irish charm, the Kennedy who spoke so eloquently at the funerals of his two brothers. That picture of vibrancy and can-do spirit is no more. The Ted Kennedy harassing John Ashcroft during the confirmation hearings and threatening filibuster is now America's face of Dorian Gray. Ted Kennedy reflects what some of us have become as a nation: bloated, sickly, incoherent, thoughtless, without class, a twisted entity, lacking in dignity and honor, totally bereft of a sense of justice, decency or fair play. Wise men say that when youthful beauty fades, the face you are left with reflects what you have done in life, what and who you have become. The face of Ted Kennedy is perhaps the face of our own times. The promise of youth has degenerated into the ugly truth of age. There is no softness or wisdom, no glow of inner redemption, no understanding of what one has become. It isn't just that his looks have faded and gravity of the physical sort has changed him; after all, even Ted Kennedy should be allowed old age and what comes with it. Rather, he does not possess the look of someone who has lived life well. There is no beauty in his face, the kind of beauty most grandparents reflect. There is no indication of a life in which the spirit has triumphed over the physical. It is the same look Bill Clinton is developing and it mirrors the mocking arrogance, selfishness, decadence and misuse of God-given gifts. But the personal sadness in seeing Ted Kennedy's visage, the sense of loss watching as he attacked his former colleague, was almost unbearable because I know he is a representation of what we have become as a nation the last 40 years. Ted Kennedy is our Dorian Gray. Let's hope that when John Ashcroft is finally confirmed, and he will be, he and the Bush administration will begin the long, slow process of rehabilitating that picture. Sadly, Bill Clinton's legacy is on the face of far too many Democrats and Republicans – and Americans as well. Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and Barney Franks, Maxine Waters and Charles Schummer are the face of power corrupted. We are Clintonized, and that is the tragedy of this generation. It is everywhere – in the media, our entertainment, our literature, and our personal lives. The senators merely offer us another opportunity to view the picture in the attic of our national slide into decadence. The attacks on Ashcroft by Bill Clinton's Democrats have finally defined their version of Americanism. THAT is Clinton's legacy, and it is not a pretty picture. (Please check out my Web site at www.aldenchronicles.com – we are more than just politics.) ----------------- Diane Alden is a research analyst with a background in political science and economics *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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