David Horowitz seems to forget rather conveniently that the right wing has been using this rabid lynch mob mentality far longer and far better than the left. Instead of complaining about foul play, Horowitz should grin and bear the retaliation that has been years in coming. It seems more than a little hypocritical to expect the left to remain silent as the right spreads its vindictive hatred for anything liberal.
Horowitz claims that the "same pack of feminists, civil rights advocates and liberals who slandered Thomas" could not wait to defend Clinton. Yet he neglects to mention that those same Republican senators and conservatives who refused to give Anita Hill justice could not wait to see Clinton disgraced. Surely Horowitz, a seasoned policital writer, is not naive enough to think that this is about ideals instead of the reality of political bedfellows and best interests.
-- Avi Lev
Perhaps David Horowitz should be reminded that the Democratic candidate didn't lose the election -- he won the popular vote. That means more than half the country didn't want George W. Bush to become president. Now, after Bush made plenty of noise about unity and how the Democrats would have a significant presence in his administration, where are they?
Who in the liberal sector wouldn't be at least a little resentful of his choices? He might also consider getting one fact straight. Gale Norton supported legislation denying members of the gay communtiy their right to privacy -- a right that, last time I checked, was basic, not special.
As for Clarence Thomas, there are millions who still believe Anita Hill told the truth. Finally, there's John Ashcroft. The question in my mind, and probably most liberal minds, is this: As attorney general, will Ashcroft be an enforcer and upholder of this nation's laws or will he merely uphold his out-of-touch conservative ideology? If Bush's appointees weren't ready for a storm of controversy, they could easily have respectfully declined the offers they received.
-- Penny Clifton
What's that whining noise you hear? It's the right wing, which is recoiling in horror -- horror! -- that one of its own is being challenged before the hearings on his nomination are called. Funny, when Horowitz and his buddies were calling Lani Guinier a "quota queen" before Day 1 of her nomination hearings, and when stories were leaked about Zoë Baird, not a word did we hear uttered by GOP commentators about "character assassination" or "unfair tactics."
Indeed, Horowitz has to skip over the last eight years of nominations in order to avoid the embarrassment of having to point to all the GOP-led attacks on good people who were nominated to serve our federal government.
Remember a guy named Bill Lann Lee, Horowitz? Of course not. When the GOP bashes a Democratic nominee, it is on principle. But when the Dems bash a GOP nominee (on his actual record, no less), that's an unfair, partisan attack.
Get over it, Horowitz. Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Or, to use another metaphor, if W. can't stand the heat, he can get out of the White House.
-- Christopher Barnes
I just finished reading columns on the Ashcroft nomination by David Horowitz and Eric Boehlert and am amazed at the contrasting styles of the journalists.
Boehlert's column was an unbiased look at Ashcroft the politician that painted Ashcroft as a wily political opportunist, backing up his suppositions with pages of revealing facts about Ashcroft's baiting for political purposes. It was a first-rate column.
Horowitz, on the other hand, read like the first draft of a high school essay written by a sophomore while waiting for the schoolbus. Horowitz sounds like a raving right-winger with his fingers caught in a closed door -- all yowling and braying but very little substance.
-- Gerard Nealon
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