John Ashcroft

Now that former Sen. John Ashcroft has been confirmed as attorney general by the Senate (Feb. 2) after heated and bitter hearings, Democrats, moderates and advocacy groups who opposed his nomination should sit back and see if he will be true to his pledge to enforce the laws as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, despite his opposition or lukewarm attitude toward some of them. The worst thing that Ashcroft can do is to use his office, implicitly or explicitly, for political, religious or ideological motives or gain. He will be under scrutiny, considering the controversy and opposition that his nomination sparked and the silence of the Bush White House on the issues raised against him.

Ashcroft’s political allies in the Senate and outside have high praise and hopes for him, some even predicting that he may yet turn out to be one of the best attorneys general we have ever had. The jury is still out on Ashcroft, but there’s no doubt that it will be Ashcroft himself who will either make or break his stint at the Justice Department.

GIL TALAVERA

Chino Hills

* If, as the president claims, Ashcroft’s personal views were not relevant in his selection as attorney general, and his right-wing agenda isn’t going to play a role in how he does the job, then why was it so important to have him in that job? I guess we’re about to find out.

ANDY PEARLMAN

Marina del Rey

* To those “Democratic” senators who voted for the Ashcroft nomination, a lesson: Politics is ideology put into practice.

TED McCRAY

Altadena

* The confirmation of Ashcroft is the last nail in the coffin of the American experience in democracy.

FRANK R. LAWRENCE

Palm Springs