'NYT' Sunday Preview: John Ashcroft Admits He is a 'Sinner'

[Newsjock]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003252621

For her Q and A column in The New York Times Magazine, Deborah Solomon has coaxed some frank and/or revealing responses from leading politicians, bloggers, authors and even Warren Beatty, and this coming Sunday’s session with former U.S. Attorney General (and singer/songwriter) John Ashcroft is no different. He's the author of a new book, "Never Again."

Defending the president’s policy on torture, he says, “I think there is a very sound argument for saying that those who violate the Geneva Conventions should not benefit from its provisions.” When Solomon reminds him that that the U.S. stands for rights for all, he answers, “Well, we have guaranteed many rights to the prisoners.”

... Elsewhere, Ashcroft, a leading evangelical, admits he is a sinner, explaining, “I’m unkind on occasion, and I am selfish.” He’s an active Christian “because I am not good, because I need help.” Ask about specific “sins,” Ashcroft says he has “never had a mixed drink,” never smoked a cigarette, and if tempted by another woman he would immediately call “my wife.”

[WCGreen]

1. Call my wife...

For what, a threesome...

Anyway, never again is right....

How this piece of work ever got elected to begin with is beyond me...

[marmar]

4. Well, he did lose to a corpse...

if that's an indication of his popularity.

[WCGreen]

10. It was Stiff competition......

[marmar]

15. tee hee...

Ashcroft being the least lively of the two, excpet of course when he broke into "Let the Eagle Soar."

[barb162]

9. you bad

[WCGreen]

11. To much time in the Lounge....

[barb162]

14. Who, you or me?

You know what, sometimes I think we shouldn't bash people like Ashcroft because it's like asking a mentally challenged person to do PhD level math. One can tell by these simplistic answers in this interview that he doesn't have much going on upstairs. The stuff about smoking and his wife seem early teenage years level at best.

[WCGreen]

16. Lounge... Me...

Teen age angst... Ashcroft...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. Well, that sounds totally boring.

Mixed drinks and cigarettes for all!

[Human Torch]

3. Did he also admit he can't carry a tune in a bucket, or write songs?

LET THE EAGLE SOAR



http://www.newwartimes.com/eagle.html

Lyrics to song written and sung by John Ashcroft:

"Let the eagle soar,
Like she’s never soared before.
From rocky coast to golden shore,
Let the mighty eagle soar.
Soar with healing in her wings,
As the land beneath her sings:
'Only god, no other kings.'
This country’s far too young to die.
We’ve still got a lot of climbing to do,
And we can make it if we try.
Built by toils and struggles
God has led us through."

:evilgrin:

[tularetom]

5. "Those who violate the Geneva Convention

should not benefit from its provisions." Bwahahahahaha - is this asswipe so irony-challenged he doesn't realize what he has just said?

[Rex]

6. HAHAHA! Sinning fucker needs help, Yes you do and you will

yup, rot in Hell! Better start dealing with it Ashcan. Nothings gonna save your soul over 911. At least Rummy will be there with you - you fucking puritanical freak.

[leesa]

7. What about participating in the coup of 2000 and the catastrophic event of

9-11...or isn't that equivalent to a mixed drink in your insane little world?

[partylessinOhio]

8. Go cover some statues, Ashnut. I don't believe a word he says.

[Az_lefty]

12. perhaps the good Mr. Ashcroft would like to repent a little further...

and discuss some of the crimes of the bush cabal...maybe rid himself of the guilt he seems to be feeling.

[Amonester]

13. And what about not flying commercial airplanes because of some

of some 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 specific warnings of imminent highjackings and not doing anything about it (not even just telling the public who signed his paychecks)?? :grr:

[stepnw1f]

17. When You Made a Deal with the Devil, What DId You Expect? (nt)

[JoFerret]

18. That's for sure. Now let's hear the details

I fear his definition of sin will not match with my reading of Christian doctrine.

[aquart]

19. Yes, that sinner is going straight to hell.

Funny how he doesn't mention booking private jets while letting the rest of America ride commercial planes because he wanted to save his own life no matter how many of us died.

Funny how that isn't on his mind. He'll have eternity to deal with it.

[mcscajun]

20. Special to Ashcroft: Yo, John! I don't give a flying ecclesiastical

FUCK if you're confessing to be a sinner! Have a drink, John! Seriously...it would do you some good. In the meantime, have a great big steaming cup of Shut The Fuck UP!

This guy is wound WAY too tight.

[YDogg]

21. Well, that's a stretch.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

22. Hmm... 3 clauses in the Ashcroft quote, but only 2 "nevers"

Is this why he puts curtains in front of naked statues of women?

[Miss Chybil]

23. 11. Thou shalt not have mixed drink. 12. Thou shalt not smoke

a cigarette.

I think the coveting the neighbor's wife is covered somewhere in the first ten commandments, but I thought we'd better make an addendum for eleven and twelve, lest some people not realize they are sinning when they are. We don't want anybody going to hell based on ignorance, now do we?

[Shakespeare]

24. There's a reason those who worked with him in the Missouri state house....

...before he made it to Washington referred to him as "Asshole Ashcroft." Yeah, John, you're a sinner all right.

[matcom]

25. I think you should kill yourself John

right now. put yourself out of my misery

[latebloomer]

26. "Another woman" would consider sleeping with him?

I DON'T THINK SO!!!


:puke:

[AlinPA]

27. b-b-but I have had straight whiskey, beer and wine. Them mixed ones

are the work of the devil....

[Zorro]

28. You bet he's a sinner

and he's going to hell for covering up and supporting this criminal administration.

[The Stranger]

29. He needs to be tried for establishing and defending the concentration camp

[peekaloo]

30. He's a joker, but not a smoker and a midnight chicken choker.

The only good thing I've read about him is that he's a Simpsons fan.

Show us your tits, Johnny!

[PurityOfEssence]

31. Finally we agree on something

Fundies make my skin crawl.

[LiberalFighter]

32. So mixed drinks are bad but beer and shots are not? Geesh

By that logic... he and his kind should support legalizing pot

But you don't get arrested and jailed for drinking mixed drinks. Then maybe it should only be a sin to smoke pot but not a criminal offense.

[Dulcinea]

33. Too bad Ashcroft didn't pursue a career in country music.

No offense intended to country fans.

The world would be a much better place if he had just stuck to writing & singing bad country songs & stayed out of politics.

And, aren't we ALL sinners, according to the fundies?

[marshall]

34. He stole Jimmy Carter's line

Didn't Carter say the same thing in an old Playboy interview?

[yurbud]

35. oh damn. I thought he was coming out of the closet too...

[yurbud]

36. or that he got surgery to look like Fess Parker on purpose (pic)

[AlCzervik]

37. Asscroft will be on The Daily show monday night.

[FooFootheSnoo]

38. riveting stuff!!

[Sapere aude]

39. those who violate the Geneva Conventions should not benefit from its

provisions.

What the hell does this mean? Does it mean if we torture and that is a violation then our people should not benefit from the provisions and be tortured too? Does it mean a terrorist violates the conventions so we can violate the conventions thus denying the terrorist benefit from provisions? If that is the case, why have any conventions in the first place since both sides are going to violate them.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

40. Well John, it's pretty sick when the statue of Justice tempts you...

...not that you'd ever admit it.

[Jack Rabbit]

41. This is hardly worth a headline

Under the doctrine of Original Sin, being a sinner is pretty much synonymous with being human. As a Christian and more specifically as a Protestant, Ashcroft does not believe he is any less of a sinner than anybody else, only that his sins are forgiven by the grace of Christ.

I am not a Christian, and I am aware that not all Christians would consider some of the things Mr. Ashcroft regards as sin as such. Nevertheless, I will defend Mr. Ashcroft's right to worship God as he sees fit.