Elizabeth Dole for Vice President

One of the best ideas to ever emerge from the calculating mind of William F. Buckley Jr. was the suggested drafting of Elizabeth Dole as running mate for her husband Bob (Commentary, July 17). Exactly what Dole and his party need. A bold stroke that will command attention and interest, add luster and energy to the Dole image and broaden the appeal of the ticket in November a hundredfold.

“Dole/Dole” sounds like a compelling ticket to me, an unprecedented synergism of man and woman that could turn impending disaster into one of the most stunning and popular victories in American history.

JAMES DONOVAN

Beverly Hills

* I used to head for “Laugh Lines” in Life & Style to get my day started with a good joke. Now instead I go right to the Op-Ed page, where Republican cutups keep me in stitches. James Pinkerton cracks that Dole needs Democrat Sam Nunn as his running mate. Buckley tops that one--what Dole needs, he says, is Mrs. Dole as his running mate. Then Cal Thomas brings the house down. The problem’s not the running mate, he says, it’s the candidate (July 18). Cal says Bob ought to step aside and open the convention up for a brand-new candidate. Hey, how about Lamar Alexander?

So what turned yesterday’s revolution into today’s comic opera? Simple; since 1994 we’ve gotten to see and hear what modern American conservatism is all about. More weaponry, more piety, more hypocrisy, less compassion, less idealism, less diversity--no further striving for a more perfect union.

Poor Bob Dole. He now has to share with the stinking liberal media and that wascally wabbit Bill Clinton the blame for killing the right-wing dream. As always, of course, it’s not the messenger, it’s the message. The American right had its time in the sun--and, like red meat tends to do, it went rancid.

DAN RILEY

Thousand Oaks

* As the dark clouds of the coming political storm gather at the horizon, we Republicans search for a fresh voice of reason. Thomas is such a voice.

Dole, bless his heart, has tried to head the Republican ticket for many years. As he waited for his chance, he kept himself busy shaping a nation from the floor of the Senate. Now it appears his chance has come and nobody can argue with him if he chooses to avail himself of it. But with it comes his chance to show himself an even greater leader by stepping aside.

Like the kid telling the emperor he has no clothes, Thomas states what many have been thinking. It is no shame to Dole that he can’t win against Clinton; he well knows the winds that blow the will of the people.

But before we take steps that can’t be retraced, let’s make getting the Clintons off Pennsylvania Avenue the overriding priority.

DAVID FRY

Covina

* We conservatives are pleased that you choose to print almost as many of our columnists as liberals but would appreciate a bit more selectivity. Thomas’ column not only condemns the Dole candidacy but attacks the Clintons with nothing more than ad hominem arguments. We prefer those conservative commentators with some logic, some reason, some data. Stick to Buckley, George Will and their equal. Let’s leave the raving to the liberals.

M. STEPHEN SHELDON

Studio City

* After watching the Larry King interview with Mr. and Mrs. Bob Dole (July 15), it is obvious why Sen. Dole is running for president--Elizabeth Dole.

DON ELMORE

Huntington Beach

* First Dole endorsed the notion that former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop was “brainwashed” by the “liberal media” into concluding that tobacco is addictive. Then Dole complained that he was being “set up” when Kweisi Mfume invited him to speak at the NAACP convention.

Is it me, or does Dole sound every bit as paranoid and unfit to be president as Ross Perot?

JOHN J. MANIER

Los Angeles