Endorsing John McCain
I long ago stopped reading the opinion pages of the Arizona Republic. The diversity of opinion that former editor of the editorial pages Keven Ann Wiley brought to the paper is long gone, replaced by a plodding, deeply unserious recycling of right-wing talking points and boosterism that would be hilarious if the stakes were not so huge. Yes, to declare an interest, I chose to leave the paper in 2007 rather than accept a new assignment that would have eliminated my centrist (“socialist) column.
Still, I came across a mention in the New York Times that wealthy Republican John Sidney McCain III had won the endorsement of his “home” state newspaper.
The endorsement is remarkable:
We have seen the irascible McCain. The bawdy and irreverent McCain.
And, yes, the temperamental McCain. Likewise, we here in Arizona have
seen the former Navy pilot and war hero evolve – slowly and with lots
of fits and starts – into a statesman. We have witnessed John McCain become a leader – not only of a
delegation from a fast-growing Southwestern state, but into a national
leader with a reassuring habit of stepping to the front when things
seemed most difficult.
It’s almost as if we’ve been watching two different presidential campaigns. Obama has a big lead in newspaper endorsements, including many Bush ’04 editorial boards that switched sides. But not in Phoenix.
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