This is not to suggest in any way that Mr. Ashcroft, as attorney general, might engage in the kind of criminal conduct of corrupt politicians or spies. The point is an oath really is just so many words. I think it might just violate my oath of office. An attorney general has so much flexibility in enforcing the laws of the land that he or she can do what one damned well pleases and still live with his or her conscience in carrying out the oath of the office. She could not possibly have known it would in time lead a mad man to blow up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the boldest act of domestic terrorism in the nation's history.
Oaths are totally worthless.
The Ashcroft supporters picked as their buttress a bed of quicksand on which to stand while defending the attorney general nominee. Those who take these oaths could not repeat the words from memory five minutes later to save their lives. And for all the efforts to extract verbal and written promises from Mr. Ashcroft by his former Democratic colleagues, there are countless ways for him to easily escape the bindings they have fashioned. We no doubt will come to see this pass in the next four years. John Martin Meek writes and teaches at Pima Community College in Tucson.