A letter I wish I had written:

In Saturday’s New York Times:

To the Editor:

Let me get this straight. If Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush's nominee for attorney general, had paid his nanny under the table, recent history shows that there is no way he could be confirmed.

But Mr. Gonzales is merely the architect of a White House policy on torture that even Republicans believe has endangered the lives of American troops.
Therefore, his confirmation does not appear in doubt.

Diane Runyan Bech
Swarthmore, Pa., Jan. 7, 2005

Well said, Ms. Bech!