Ashcroft Nomination

* Re “Boxer Announces She’ll Vote Against Ashcroft,” Jan 11: By already declaring that she will vote no [on John Ashcroft’s confirmation as attorney general], Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has shown us that she is not interested in evaluating Ashcroft’s nomination during the hearings. Boxer is consistently a hard-line liberal partisan in all her actions in Washington.

This is not surprising, but it is worthwhile pointing it out from time to time, lest anyone think that she is in any way moderate or thinks through this nomination of Ashcroft with an open mind.

B. DIRK YARBOROUGH

Santa Ana

*

* As seen with Linda Chavez, Ashcroft and now Gale Norton, the strategy of divide and conquer is still being employed by the Democrats and the far liberal left, who aren’t at all interested in healing the nation or bringing unity back, which is what President-elect George W. Bush is trying to do. The Clinton “attack mode” machine is still at work, sadly enough.

TOMMY CHENG

Cypress

*

* In “And This Is the Thanks You Get for Winning the Election” (Commentary, Jan. 10), Michael Kelly seems to suggest that liberals, in the name of “bipartisanship,” ought to roll over and play dead while Bush panders to his most ultra-conservative supporters in naming appointees such as Ashcroft.

A truly bipartisan approach to governance must involve a shift to the center by both sides, but Bush’s ideology-driven appointments have already put the lie to his supposed desire for “unity.” The unusual circumstances of Bush’s election gave him an unforeseen opportunity to put his money where his bipartisan rhetoric is: After all, even his far-right allies must realize that his victory, such as it is, hardly represents a conservative mandate. Instead, Bush appears happy to pretend that his court-ordered presidency actually resulted from an electoral landslide in favor of a return to the Reagan era.

I, for one, will cheer on the efforts of liberal senators to smother Bush’s extremist appointments. And if, in the future, Bush should decide to act and not just talk like a unifying president, I’ll cheer for that too.

MICHAEL CHASKES

Los Angeles

*

* I assume that Kelly’s column was meant to be an over-the-top sarcastic stab at the vast left-wing conspiracy, masquerading as a stab at the vast right-wing conspiracy. But you know what? I feel exactly as he portrays us lefties. Bush has a deficit mandate, and his nominees and policies are going to get the microscopic examination they deserve until 2002 and 2004. The rabid right is reaping what it has sown, and this isn’t about retribution or revenge, it’s about keeping America in the center, where the vast majority of us want to keep it.

GREG LEE

Aliso Viejo

*

* Ashcroft has an admirable record and would be an asset to the Bush Cabinet. His record is impeccable as a governor and senator for the state of Missouri. It is time our country finds positive assets instead of seeking out the negative. Nowhere in his record does he support anything but fairness. He is not a racist now and has never been a racist.

LUCILE SMITH

Seal Beach