Political Payback

When a respected columnist such as George F. Will states, in reference to the president’s nomination of an individual to a governmental post, that “a deeply satisfying and entirely valid reason for rejecting the nomination is payback” for the rejection eight years ago of his party’s nominee, it is a concise illustration of the priorities of many of those in power and, presumably, much of the electorate (Column Right, Oct. 12).

How sad that, rather than applying thoughtful, mature statesmanship to the managing of our country, any of our leaders would make party vengeance a primary consideration in their decisions--government by “gotcha!”

NANCY BAKER

Santa Ana

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Please, spare us poor readers from the pedantic pap of that pusillanimous putz of punditry, George Will. Not one reader in a thousand has any idea what he’s talking about anyway, and that’s a pretty poor batting average (.001, to be precise) for a writer who is granted regular access to The Times.

RUSTY AUSTIN

Culver City