Another funky endorsement of John McCain by the Columbus Dispatch. It seems the reasons used were McCain’s years in the Senate, his “maverickness”, keeping the Democrats from having unchecked power, and he was a POW.
Then there was this funny bit:
At a time when the nation faces serious problems, including international economic turmoil, immigration, health care, war in Afghanistan, nation-building in Iraq and foreign-policy challenges from the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, the president should have an extensive resume and long experience in grappling with tough decisions. Few new presidents have faced an assignment as tough as the one facing the winner of the November election.
The editorial board of the Dispatch seem to forget that until one is President you can’t have that kind of experience before hand. No President has. It is a special job. In the decisions McCain has made recently – how he has run his campaign for one example and choosing Sarah Palin for another – don’t show a good a light on his supposed ability to make tough decisions.
A good President needs to be able to have some vision of the future and McCain has shown he doesn’t have that.
Then there was this bit:
Among the top problems facing the United States is its dire fiscal situation. The nation has a $10 trillion debt and other unfunded obligations to entitlement programs that total $53 trillion. The federal deficit this year is nearly $458 billion and some project the 2009 deficit could hit $700 billion. Despite these staggering numbers, lawmakers and the president just approved a $700 billion Wall Street bailout that they don’t have the money to pay for. In short, the United States is dangerously overextended at a time when a worldwide recession threatens.
For years, The Dispatch has called on the president and Congress to deal with this massive, mounting debt which threatens the prosperity and quality of life of generations to come. But year after year, the nation’s leaders have kicked the problem down the road.
Seriously confronting this problem will require a president able to call on Americans to make sacrifices for the sake of their grandchildren.
The president will have to ask them to accept cuts in popular programs, tax increases and lowered expectations of what government can afford to do.
Because of the personal sacrifices that McCain has made for the nation, he has unmatched moral authority to call on Americans to take their medicine. If elected, that is precisely what he should do.
The thing is McCain hasn’t made that call. He is still promising the moon from the stump. At least Obama has acknowledged some of his plans will have to be changed because of the problems with the bailout.
Just read an article that, according to "Editor & Publisher", only two Ohio papers endorsed John McCain for President: The Big Col. D and… the Findlay Courier. I smell conspiracy against you here, Doug- your two hometowns, and they both, alone in Ohio newspapers, go for McCain. In other news, across the country, 41 dailies have endorsed McCain compared to 121 for Obama, including the Chicago Tribune, which has previously never endorsed a Democratic candidate for president in its 150 year existence. Most papers come out on McCain's poor judgement in VP pick, something the Dispatch doesn't mention in its endorsement, despite citing "experience" as a primary reason for endorsing McCain.
Now, if only newspaper endorsements mattered…
It's true – newspaper endorsements don't really matter unless one has lived in a cave during election season and you don't have any idea how to vote.
I thought it was funny The Courier and Dispatch were the ONLY Ohio papers to pick McCain….