Judged, but by whose standard?

By Paul M. Weyrich
web posted August 5, 2002 	

Recently, The New York Times ran a story quoting yours truly,
suggesting that some in the religious right are concerned about
some of Attorney General John Ashcroft's policies. The bulk of
the story, which obviously came from leaks or planted stories
originating in the White House, had nothing to do with our
concerns. It has all the earmarkings of a campaign to dump the
Attorney General. Let me make it clear upfront: I do have some
policy differences with the Attorney General, but in no way do I
want to be connected in any way with a campaign to dump him.
I was never asked by the reporter about any of the supposed
unhappiness in the Administration with Ashcroft. The reporter
seemed to be working on two or three different stories and
strung them all together.

 Soon after the Times story appeared, the editors of the Weekly
 Standard took it upon themselves to publish an opinion piece
 saying that the only people concerned with John Ashcroft were
 conservative activist Grover Norquist and myself. Moreover,
 the article suggested that I can't be a spokesman for the religious
 right since I don't represent anybody anymore. You see,
 according to the Standard, I once was effective in the late
 1970s and early 1980s, but since my effectiveness has been in a
 state of decline.

This is one of several similar gratuitous attacks by the editors of
the Standard, who have also suggested that the Free Congress
Foundation, of which I have been President of for the past 25
years, was increasingly a fringe organization, out of the
mainstream. In fact, one of the editors of the Standard told one
of the Free Congress Foundation staffers that we will never get
any favorable coverage in the Standard because we opposed
President Bush's nominee for Drug Czar. The problem is we
never opposed the President's nominee, but getting it right has
never been the hallmark of the Standard, much of whose work I
still admire.

But I digress. To the point about whether I represent anyone, I
recently composed a letter to the Chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), in which
I congratulated the Chairman for his legislative oversight of the
new FBI guidelines. The Chairman was upset because the
Attorney General and the FBI Director issued the guidelines
without having consulted the Congress. Chairman Sensenbrenner
expressed the same concerns about civil liberties that have been
expressed by the Free Congress Foundation. I mentioned this at
our weekly Wednesday policy lunch in which we connect
conservative outside groups with conservatives in the House and
Senate. I asked if anyone wished to join me in that letter. Some
33 groups did, including the Family Research Council. FRC is
the group that the Weekly Standard cites to try to prove that we
have no influence, but they were one of the first signatories.

Since the Times article appeared, Pat Trueman of the American
Family Association, weighed in and said the reason his
organization has problems with the Attorney General is because
there have been very few prosecutions of child pornography
cases.

When I told the Times that the movement had some concerns
about the conduct of the Attorney General, it was based on that
letter. I would never represent that the movement was involved if
it were my opinion alone. The Standard never called me to ask
that question. Grover Norquist told me the Standard never called
him either.

I don't know what all of this is about. Perhaps it stems from
when I said Bill Kristol, the Standard's editor, should keep his
mouth shut. You will recall that early on in the Bush
Administration one of our planes went down in China. The
President was negotiating for their release. Kristol called that
episode a massive foreign policy failure and an example of
appeasement.

I called his remarks unseemly and suggested that it was time he
kept his mouth shut. Perhaps this is payback time. Whatever it is
I wish the silliness would stop. The Weekly Standard may make
light of the erosion of our liberties. We at the Free Congress
Foundation don't believe it is a trivial matter. And it would
appear that, at least, a majority of the Washington-based social
conservatives share our concerns.

Paul M. Weyrich is President of the Free Congress Foundation
(http://www.freecongress.org)

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