Senator Boxer Agrees with John Ashcroft

Senator Barbara Boxer (D. CA) ranted against the nomination of John Ashcroft as Attorney General of the United States. Boxer wrote President elect George W. Bush to urge him to withdraw the nomination of John Ashcroft for Attorney General. Boxer advised the President elect that if he did not reconsider the nomination, she would oppose it.
 
Senator Boxer wrote (in part) that Ashcroft was
"far outside the mainstream of our nation." Boxer further expressed her concern that, if confirmed, Ashcroft's strong ideological views would influence his actions as Attorney General. "He is not the kind of person to set aside his deeply held personal views as a matter of principle," Boxer wrote.
The amazing thing about this statement is the voting record on nominations in the 106th Congress (both sessions). The Table below shows the votes of Boxer and Ashcroft.
 
VOTE NOMINEE POSITION ASH. BOX.
172 Madelyn Creedon Dep. Admin. for Defense NNSA Y Y
128 General J. Gordon U. Sec. Nuclear Energy, Dept. of Energy. Y Y
112 Mary Mclaughlin US District Judge Y Y
111 James Brady US District Judge Y Y
107 Bradley Smith Federal Election Comm. Y N
40 Richard Paez US Circuit Judge 9th Circuit N Y
38 Marsha Berzon US Circuit Judge 9th Circuit N Y
34 Julio Fuentes US Circuit Judge 3rd Circuit Y Y
14 George Daniels District Judge So. District of New York Y Y
13 Kermit Bye US Circuit Judge 8th Circuit Y Y
11 Joel Pisano US District Judge for District of New Jersey Y Y
10 Thomas Ambro US Circuit Judge for 3rd Circuit Y Y
190 Ellison,Feess, Underhill, Pepper, Schreier Unspecified Y Y
195 Lawrence Summers Secretary of the Treasury Y Y
259 Richard Holbrooke US Representative to the UN Y Y
262 Adalberto Jordan US District Judge Y Y
263 Marsha Pechman US District Judge Y Y
307 Ronnie White US District Judge 9th Circuit N Y
308 Brian Stewart US District Judge Y N
309 Raymond Fischer US Circuit Judge Y Y

Of the 24 people voted on by the 106th Congress who needed approval of the Senate, 19 were affirmed by both Ashcroft and Boxer. That's 79% of the total. Hence, we have Boxer agreeing with Ashcroft nomination votes and then saying that he is "far outside the mainstream of our nation." Where does this put Senator Boxer? 

An analysis of the votes on which they disagreed is also interesting. Judge Richard Paez and Marsh Berzon were both confirmed despite a negative vote by then Senator Ashcroft. Senator Boxer voted for both. But Senator Ashcroft was not alone in his objection to these two judges being joined by 38 others against Paez and 33 others against Berzon. In the case of Judge White, he was rejected by the Senate by a vote of 54 to 45 with Senator Ashcroft voting with the majority. In this case, Senator Boxer could be considered "not in the mainstream". The vote on Judge Stewart as a US District Judge was approved 93 to 5 with Senator Ashcroft voting with the majority and Senator Boxer with only 4 other senators. 

Senator Boxer will say anything and make any accusation against John Ashcroft even though she agreed with him on nominees 79% of the time. Senator Boxer is obsessed with keeping activist judges on the bench so that they can negate the will of the people as expressed by votes of their representatives and by the initiative process in the state of California. Only then can her liberal ideology be forced on the citizen.