To the editor:

I read the comments of the Kansas GOP chairman regarding the Democratic response speech of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius following President Bush’s State of the Union address. I feel that his comments were negative, politically biased and mean-spirited.

It is sad that such comments (: a liberal who is “more interested in pandering to special interests on the East and West coasts than serving the people of Kansas,” “she’s got a poker face,” her delivery was “stiff,” “I think she squandered it”) were offered in response to a speech that did not criticize this administration’s actions, as it could have, but merely asked for bipartisanship in Mr. Bush’s one remaining year in office.

Sadly, this sums up the behavior of many Republicans during the Bush administration. Words such as “I’m a uniter, not a divider” must be backed by behavior that actually leads toward bipartisanship or they become hollow rhetoric reflective of the Orwellian society that we increasingly seem to mimic.

Hopefully, the voters will see the light, and not just conservative smoke and mirrors by the time of the coming election, and true change will be reflected by more Republican seats being filled by Democratic candidates. Following that election, perhaps the statement that no Democratic presidential candidate has prevailed in Kansas since 1964 will also no longer be true. People in this country really want change, and anything is possible; e.g., KU football.

Robert A. Duver,

Lawrence