I imagine most everyone has heard lawyer jokes. Many are exaggerations of actual  behavior but still true. You may feel contempt for some hapless member of the legal profession and swear to avoid doing business with him. Your attitude, however, changes drastically when the time comes for you to seek legal service.

You want a lawyer who can win and stand firm against the hoard of manipulative operators that know how to use every rotten trick in the book. Your choice has to be as rotten to the core as the opposition; the last thing you want is some obsequious liberal stooge that can be pushed around and out-classed by shady legal procedures.

If it’s true what I hear about John Bolton, the nominee for the job as ambassador to the United Nations, then he’s my man, and it shows that President Bush understands the stakes at hand.

— William J. Mleczko, Somis