We really should thank Senator Dianne Feinstein tremendously for her strongly worded opposition to John Ashcroft's nomination to Attorney General. She is a member of the Judiciary Committee overseeing the nomination. She is the first member of that committee to actually state her formal opposition. She is also viewed favorably in the Senate as a moderate, which will go a long way to helping others to come out in opposition. Check out this excerpt from the New York Times: In the middle of the maneuvering, Senator Feinstein delivered her unexpected and stinging attack. "I truly believe that a president is entitled to his or her cabinet," she said. "However, the background record of this nominee is not mainstream on the key issues. I know he is strong on law and order issues. However, his views on certain issues — civil rights, desegregation, a woman's right to choose, guns — make him an enormously divisive and polarizing figure." She said his record was "ultra right wing and that's not where most of the people in this nation are." (P.S. also note the reference to "his or her"; you go, Dianne!)