By Bill Fancher, Chad Groening, and Jody Brown

(AgapePress) - Representatives from almost 20 well-known women's organizations rallied in the nation's capital on Thursday in support of Attorney General-nominee John Ashcroft. The various groups voiced their wholehearted support for the former attorney general, governor, and senator from Missouri, whom they characterize as one of the few ethical and honest men in Washington, DC. And they believe he will be confirmed by the Senate -- despite the lies being promoted by his opponents.

Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for America, which hosted yesterday's press conference, claimed Ashcroft would restore integrity to the Justice Department.

"After eight years of enduring an Attorney General who overlooks laws against obscenity, campaign finance abuses, and national security violations, we've learned how politicized this position can be," LaHaye said. She added that Ashcroft will make changes all Americans can support if the liberal attacks on his character, record, and personal faith do not derail his confirmation.

Janet Parshall of the Family Research Council agreed with LaHaye. She said Ashcroft is the victim of a campaign of lies designed to destroy him.

"The issue [with opponents to Ashcroft's confirmation] ... is not [his] record, for that is impeccable. It is, rather, his ideas," Parshall said. "He believes in real right and real wrong. He believes in equal opportunity that does not necessarily guarantee equal outcome. He believes that the womb should not be the modern killing fields of America. And he believes in God, deeply and personally -- whether or not it's a politically correct concept."

She says his opponents have chosen to lie while ignoring the truth.

"Some folks in this town, quite frankly, are not being very honest," she said. "They are practicing deception for political gain. They divide rather than unite, and they have fostered hatred among people because of differences over ideas. Their deception has put on the line the truth -- the truth that needs to be exposed to the sunlight."

During the press conference, speakers from the various women's groups agreed that fear, and not adherence to the truth, is what is driving those who are publicly condemning the nomination. They pointed to record and actions in his previous political positions as proof that the attacks are false. In reference to Attorney General Janet Reno's apparent biased enforcement of existing laws, Parshall said, "We're about to go back to the rule of law ... and for a lot of people, that is scary."

Parshall says the truth about John Ashcroft will win out in the end, and those who have chosen to lie about he and his record will be unveiled for what they are: people who believe anything goes in order to get what they want.

Other organizations represented at the press conference included Coalition of People of Color for a Clear Choice, Independent Women's Forum, Eagle Forum, Enough is Enough, National Right to Life, and the Dulles (Virginia) chapter of the National Organization for Women -- sometimes referred to as "the dissident branch of NOW."

Racist Charges Refuted
A Missouri congressman says Ashcroft had good reasons for opposing the confirmation of a black judge while in the Senate, and that the charges of racism being leveled at him are totally unfounded. Roy Blunt is bothered by the accusation of racism directed against his long-time friend and fellow born-again Christian. The Republican lawmaker, who represents Ashcroft's home district in Missouri, says the Attorney General-designee does not have a prejudiced bone in his body.

"This is a person who is not prejudiced in any way, who has brought people of ... diverse ethnic backgrounds into his office in the Senate [and] has given them jobs of great responsibility based on their individual merit," Blunt says. "I think that [charges of racism are] the most vicious charges you can make about somebody."

Blunt says Ashcroft opposed the appointment of black judge Ronnie White to the Court of Appeals because of White's weak stance on crime, not because of skin color.

"Senator Ashcroft and many other members of the Senate who opposed [White's] confirmation had a reason to do that," he says. "I think he had a number of cases on the death penalty [and] on searching drug dealers [that] led many senators to believe this would not be the best person to put on the Federal Court of Appeals."

Blunt says the attacks on Ashcroft have been vicious because the left does not want to see a man of Ashcroft's high moral character on the Bush Cabinet.

Racist Charges Refuted II
Meanwhile, an editorial today in CNSNews offers further evidence contradicting charges of racism against Ashcroft. In his commentary, Nicholas Sanchez of the Free Congress Foundation points out that several entities in Missouri's black community have honored Ashcroft for his service to their state. In 1989, for example, Ashcroft was awarded an honorary degree from Harris-Stowe State College, which identifies itself as "the only historically black college serving the unique needs of metropolitan St. Louis." In addition, the Mound City Association -- which is the African-American Bar Association in St. Louis -- commended Ashcroft for his commitment to diversity in judicial appointments; and the largest black newspaper in St. Louis, the Limelight Newspaper, endorsed Ashcroft in his unsuccessful bid for re-election during the recent elections.

Sanchez points out these Ashcroft accolades are things the national media has chosen to pay little attention to, and instead has decided to promote the statements of black activists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. He says "leaders" such as these will be appearing in the national media spotlight this weekend, with one objective: "... to destroy the reputation of a qualified, dedicated public servant."

"What a strange way to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.," Sanchez states, in reference to next Monday -- the national holiday honoring the birth of the slain civil rights leader.

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