What the news accounts rarely bring up, but need to more vociferously, is the now-named "Ashcroft standard" which is how Ashcroft chose stalling, intimidation, name-calling, personal vendettas, and ideological reasons to oppose any appointments Clinton made during the six years he was in the Senate. Democrats are trying to play fair, but are hard pressed to not use his own "Ashcroft standard" against him when he is now the nominee and so many of them have previously had friends or associates of theirs tarnished by Ashcroft in the past. This analysis is a good one, but still leaves out so many of the other nuances of Ashcroft's tenure in the Senate.