Unnatural Allies
While liberals fight the Ashcroft nomination, tech leaders join the religious right to back Bush's choice for attorney general.
By Keith Perine
WASHINGTON – As senators weigh George W. Bush's nomination of John Ashcroft for attorney general, the battle lines could not be starker. On one side is a liberal coalition of civil rights advocates, feminists and environmentalists outraged by Ashcroft's arch-conservative political views. On the other side are GOP activists, the Christian right and the technology industry.
The technology industry?
Ashcroft's rigid stands on abortion, civil rights and other hot-button issues may put him on the margins of American political thought. But the former Missouri senator, a Republican defeated for re-election last November, has long championed issues near and dear to the heart of technology executives.
The Information Technology Association of America, whose members include companies from Amazon.com (AMZN) to ZapMe, has called on the Senate Judiciary Committee to approve Ashcroft swiftly, casting his nomination as a "win-win" for high-tech firms.
"We're simply looking at where he's been for industry – that's the bottom line," says Connie Correll of the Information Technology Industry Council, whose staffers have telephoned senators to voice support for Ashcroft.
[Full text: http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,21460,00.html]
Carl
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