Don’t blame the Dems

Regarding “We should look past the politics: Kavanaugh is superbly qualified” (Open Forum, Sept. 10): Michael McConnell’s piece published in support of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court relies heavily on the notion that the American people cannot remember the recent past.

McConnell writes, “If Kavanaugh is unacceptable as a justice to liberals and Democrats, no Republican nominee would pass muster. As sure as tit-for-tat, the result would be that no Democratic nominee in the future will be evaluated on his or her judicial merits, either.”

It is simply not credible to once again blame Democrats for partisanship in Washington when I can demolish this argument in two words: Merrick Garland. Adam Klafter, San Mateo

Olympic-level dodging

If dodgeball were an Olympic event, Brett Kavanaugh would be a gold medalist. Poe Asher, San Francisco

Blatant nomination hypocrisy

Surely Michael McConnell knows that Judge Merrick Garland was equally well qualified and nominated over a year prior to the end of former President Barack Obama’s second term. He did not get even a hearing in the Senate. The blatant hypocrisy of calling for taking the politics out of it while not even mentioning Garland, well, is simply political.

Martin Katz, Larkspur

Worry over nominee

Regarding “Senate’s absurdist drama won’t alter inevitable finale” (Sept. 9): Jonah Goldberg opines that Democratic opposition to Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination in the Supreme Court hearings is all sound and fury signifying nothing. He uses the terms “theater of the absurd” and “hysterics” to describe Democratic senators’ actions in what he sees as a confirmation that can not be stopped.

From his conservative viewpoint, it is clear he is comfortable with Kavanaugh, calling him indisputably qualified.

Those against Kavanaugh have genuine concerns over how his seat will affect the balance of the court, the law of the land. Is it hysteria to be concerned that women’s reproductive rights may be threatened?

Is it absurdist theater to worry that immigrant, LGBT and non-Christian communities’ protections may be at risk? Is it drivel, as Goldberg quotes Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, that a president who seems to seek unfettered and constitutionally questionable powers, already not checked by Congress, may be given a pass by the Supreme Court?

It is a folly not to worry about President Trump’s nominee.

Christine DeLapp, Aptos, Santa Cruz County

Splendid stem cell expose

Regarding “Falling short of lofty goals” (Page One, Sept. 9): Chronicle staffers Erin Allday and Joaquin Palomino deserve a Pulitzer Prize for their splendid exposé of California’s “stem cell research” boondoggle. Speaking as a lifelong science writer, I believe this piece displays exactly the kind of critical scrutiny that should be applied to the unceasing flood of scientific, medical and technological con jobs cooked up by UC empire-builders, Pentagon hypesters, Silicon Valley’s morally clueless techno-utopians, etc.

I’m disgusted by how gullible politicians swallow such hype, and how cynically they foist the price tag on the citizens of California and this nation. John Keay Davidson, San Francisco

Ignorance over protest

Regarding the Nike boycott and the misunderstood protest: In America, ignorance doesn’t require shoes to run amok. Marc Hoffman, Rohnert Park

Embrace diversity instead

Thank you for the article “Family vibe colors Oakland Pride day” (Sept. 10), a celebration of the LGBTQ community, as a counterpoint to the “Trump trickle-down in Solano County” (Page One, Sept. 10) story about an anti-gay vice mayor in Dixon.

I only wish that these two news articles could have been printed side by side to contrast the joy of those embracing diversity versus the narrow-mindedness of someone rejecting it. As singer Cyndi Lauper sang in “True Colors,” every one of us is beautiful “like a rainbow.”

Felicia Charles, Millbrae