The Portsmouth Herald Endorses John McCain

The Portsmouth Herald endorses John McCain citing his honesty and kind heart.

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Vote Sen. McCain in GOP primary
Portsmouth Herald

U.S. Sen. John McCain will tell you the truth, even if it costs him the election.

He has a very clear-eyed view of the truth having spent his life fighting for our country and leading the U.S. Senate for the past 20 years on virtually every critical issue facing our nation.

In our view, John McCain stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Republican field and deserves the support of those voting in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary Jan. 8.

We were deeply moved at a forum here at Seacoast Media Group Dec. 6 when the senator spoke soothing words to a disabled veteran so despondent over his injuries, he asked whether he had a right to go on living.

McCain's answer was kind and sincere, emphasizing his belief in the value of all life and the hope that medical advances would someday allow this good man to recover some of what he had lost.

McCain is pro-life, but his views are broad in this area. He also believes in federal funding of embryonic stem cell research because in his view life is also sacred after you have left the womb.
This kindness and pragmatism also guided his thinking on immigration. McCain's state of Arizona borders Mexico and is on the front line of America's struggle with illegal immigration. His position is that we need to tighten our borders and enforce the laws already on the books, but we also need to create a path to citizenship for good, honest, hardworking families who make a real contribution to this country.

His principled stance on immigration has made enemies in his own party and has hurt him in Iowa where this is a major issue.

McCain also angered Republicans with his bipartisan McCain-Feingold legislation that tried to even the playing field to restore the power of one person, one vote, that had been replaced by a million dollars, a million votes. That legislation clearly had some flaws as we have seen special interest groups like MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans For Truth pouring limitless amounts of money into campaigns on behalf of their candidates and causes, but his efforts to reform campaign finances show that McCain's first priority is putting power in the hands of the people and that he can work in a bipartisan way to make it happen.

If McCain is president, nobody would have to write him a memo about whether it is legal to use torture. As a former prisoner of war who was denied medical care and beaten by the North Vietnamese, McCain understands at the deepest level that torturing helpless prisoners who may or may not have some information of value to our national security is a losing strategy in the long run, putting our own soldiers at greater risk for torture and lowering our nation's moral authority in the world.

On Iraq, McCain provides a compelling critique of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's mistakes and paints a positive picture of where we would be if we had gone into the country with a sufficient number of troops who were properly trained and equipped. He says the success of the current surge supports his position. There are some on our editorial board who strongly disagree with McCain's position on Iraq, but ultimately history will be the judge of whether he is right or wrong.

McCain is willing to speak the truth about massive spending and the debt we have piled on ourselves. The Republicans have become the party of big spenders, he says. And he can say that because he has spent decades fighting pork-barrel projects proposed by his congressional colleagues.

McCain has been a leader on energy independence and global climate change. He is the only top-tier Republican candidate who agrees that global climate change is real and that it needs to be addressed immediately. He would make sustainable energy a top priority

John McCain has been leading the country from his seat in the U.S. Senate for 20 years. He is a man of integrity and honor who would help the Republicans rid themselves of the stench of Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists and allow the GOP to reclaim its status as the party of fiscal restraint. He is a strong military man prepared from day one to defend our nation against its enemies. Of all the Republicans running, he is by far the best qualified to lead our country.

We hope voters in the Republican primary will support John McCain.

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Editor's note: Seacoast Media Group's Democratic endorsement will appear in the Portsmouth Herald on Thursday, Dec. 20, and in the Exeter News-Letter, Hampton Union and Rockingham News on Friday, Dec. 21.
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