Don Nickles: “I rise in total and complete support of John Ashcroft to be the next Attorney General of the United States. I do that…”

“I rise in total and complete support of John Ashcroft to be the next Attorney General of the United States. I do that with great pleasure, and with pride, because I know him. And I am not amused when I hear people talking about John Ashcroft in a way that is not the John Ashcroft I know. I know John Ashcroft. I have served with John Ashcroft. I have spent hours and hours and hours with John Ashcroft on a multitude of issues. I have absolute, total, and complete confidence that he is going to be one outstanding Attorney General of the United States. He is as qualified as anybody that has ever been an Attorney General. If you look at his qualifications, he was attorney general for the State of Missouri for 8 years. He was named head of the National Association of Attorneys General which means the other attorneys general all across the country elected him to be their leader. I have heard some of my colleagues say he is extreme. That is not the type of person a bipartisan group of Attorneys General would pick. He would not have been picked as the head of the National Association of Attorneys General. He served for 8 years as Governor of the State of Missouri. He was elected head of the National Governors' Association. Again, that is not an extremist. That is not somebody outside the mainstream.”