Boston Globe Endorses John McCain

John McCain wins another newspaper endorsement with Boston Globe throwing their weight behind John McCain noting his ability to bring people together a time when the country is so divided politically.

For Republicans: John McCain

CONVENTIONAL wisdom among political handlers used to hold that a candidate needed to capture the political center. The last two presidential campaigns proved that wrong. The Republicans scraped out victories by pressing just enough buttons and mobilizing just enough voters. But such wins breed political polarization and deprive a president of the political capital needed to ask Americans to sacrifice in difficult times.
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The antidote to such a toxic political approach is John McCain. The iconoclastic senator from Arizona has earned his reputation for straight talk by actually leveling with voters, even at significant political expense. The Globe endorses his bid in the New Hampshire Republican primary.

McCain is a conservative whose views differ from those of this editorial page in a variety of ways. He opposes abortion rights. At least in the current election cycle, he has shown no particular quarrel with his party's knee-jerk view of tax cuts as the cure to the nation's economic problems.

Also unlike this page, McCain has strongly supported the current war in Iraq, including the troop surge. Yet the Arizona senator has never been an uncritical booster of President Bush's policies. Early on, he accurately predicted that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wasn't sending enough troops to maintain order after Saddam Hussein fell. Today, he straightforwardly acknowledges the fragility of the Iraqi government and the corruption that pervades that country. He understands that US failures in Iraq, along with President Bush's torpid response to Hurricane Katrina, have damaged the nation's credibility abroad and at home.

McCain's honesty has served him well on other issues. As a longtime public official from a border state, he recognizes that illegal immigration is a complex problem - for which better border control is only part of the solution. His thoughtful stance may be a tough sell politically at a time when many Republicans (and many Democrats) are anxious about the number of people living and working in the United States illegally. But his opponents' get-tough poses are unlikely to close the gap between immigration law and immigration practice; McCain's comprehensive approach is far more likely to bring the two back in line.

One of McCain's great virtues is his willingness to acknowledge unpleasant realities. McCain sees that special interests with money to throw around have an undue influence over the electoral process and public policy, that the planet is getting warmer because of human activities, that interrogating a suspect by pretending to drown him is a form of torture. To the consternation of many of his fellow Republicans, McCain has pushed for serious reform legislation in all three areas.

In 2000, McCain's insurgent candidacy almost succeeded in stopping the George W. Bush juggernaut. This time around, McCain is running further back in the pack of candidates. Yet Republican voters in New Hampshire would be wise to consider this: Of all the party's candidates, McCain has the greatest potential appeal to independent voters.
The Arizona senator is running for president at a treacherous time. Iraq is in flames. The economy is weak. American voters are worried about their futures, and about their government's ability to enforce its own laws. A general election campaign with John McCain in it is more likely to turn on substance, not demagoguery.

As a lawmaker and as a candidate, McCain has done more than his share to transcend partisanship and promote an honest discussion of the problems facing the United States. He deserves the opportunity to represent his party in November's election.

John McCain is Hitting Stride at Right Time

by Frank Donatelli
Reprint from TheHill.com http://pundits.thehill.com/2007/11/08/john-mccain-is-hitting-stride-at-right-time/

Evidence continues to accumulate that Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is making progress in his comeback effort to secure the Republican presidential nomination. McCain and dark horse Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee are on the upswing, while the support levels for other candidates are either flat or actually declining.

Consider these recent developments:

First, McCain won the endorsement of Sen. Sam Brownback, the conservative, pro-life senator from Kansas. Brownback will campaign for McCain and be very helpful among social conservatives, especially in the caucus state of Iowa. Thus far, Sen. McCain has not been able to get traction with social conservatives, despite boasting the most pro-life voting record of any of the top-tier candidates. Brownback will remind conservatives that actions speak louder than words, and that only John McCain has by action demonstrated a real commitment to protecting human life.

Second, three national polls released in the last week confirm that John McCain is alone in second place among all of the GOP candidates. The ABC-Washington Post, Pew Foundation and Marist polls all show McCain moving into second place behind Rudy Giuliani while the others remain farther back. This represents a substantial gain for McCain in the last several months.
Third, a number of state surveys confirm that it is McCain, not Giuliani, who runs best against Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.). It is true that Rudy does better in very blue states like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but these are long shots for any GOP nominee. The better test is who does best in real Midwest battleground states such as Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the evidence suggests that McCain runs better than Rudy in those key states.

Fourth, the continuing threat of some social conservatives to refuse to support Giuliani, or even to back an independent candidate in the general election against him, represents the continuing problems that a Giuliani candidacy will have in keeping the Reagan coalition of social and economic conservatives together. The best road to a GOP victory next year is to keep the base intact and add moderate and independent voters who like the GOP candidate’s expertise on national security and foreign policy issues and his willingness to work with the other party to fashion legislative solutions to our problems. That profile fits Sen. McCain much more than Rudy Giuliani.

The election season is just now beginning. Voters are looking hard at the choices available. John McCain is hitting his stride at just the right time.