Another NH Paper Endorsement

The latest in a long string of NH media endorsements is the Valley News.

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It is entirely possible that at age 71, Sen. John McCain of Arizona is now making his last stand in presidential politics. That almost certainly will be the case unless New Hampshire Republicans rally to his cause in the Jan. 8 primary. We hope that they do, not only because McCain's life reflects the highest ideals of service to the nation, but also because he represents the best hope to liberate a party that is being held hostage to its own worst instincts.

McCain is by no means a perfect candidate, or, as he is the first to admit, a man without flaws. We disagree with him on several fundamental issues, including his longstanding opposition to abortion rights. Nevertheless, the case for McCain is a strong one: Duty and honor are to him living imperatives forged in family tradition, not mere rhetorical flourishes calibrated to the exigencies of the campaign trail. He should be just the ticket for Republicans astonished and appalled that, during the Bush years, their party has become identified with a brand of evangelical, anti-immigrant, big-government, borrow-and-spend “conservatism” that is antithetical to its best traditions.

The senator's current struggles in the polls are probably largely the result of his continuing support for the unpopular war in Iraq. It must be noted, however, that McCain's judgment in this matter has been vindicated in several important respects. He warned early on about the dangers of trying to fight a war on the cheap, with too few troops and without a comprehensive plan for victory. He was among the first to call for the sacking of Donald Rumsfeld, one of the chief architects of the fiasco. And he also, almost alone, was a vigorous champion of the troop-surge strategy eventually adopted by President Bush, which almost certainly has improved the security situation in Iraq, despite a lack of accompanying progress toward political reconciliation.
And although we do not agree with McCain's thesis that prompt withdrawal of American troops from Iraq would necessarily have dire consequences throughout the Middle East and the world, we do not dismiss it lightly, either. His case is plausible, and his credentials in national security matters impeccable.

McCain, of course, is literally battle-tested. He springs from a distinguished line of admirals and himself served with distinction as a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, when he was shot down over North Vietnam and held as a prisoner of war for five and a half years. His stubborn defiance while being tortured by his captors is the stuff of legend. But just as heroic, we think, is his principled stand against the use of torture by the United States against detainees in the war on terrorism. He alone among the major Republican candidates seems to understand that failure to adhere to civilized standards of conduct during war not only puts our own servicemen and -women in jeopardy in the future, but also grievously wounds America's moral standing in the world.

Nor do we assume that a McCain presidency would necessarily be bellicose because of his military background. It is often the case that leaders who have themselves served in the armed forces have a fuller appreciation of just what committing troops to combat entails than do those who feel the need to demonstrate their toughness. It ought to be noted that McCain has a son now serving with the Marines in Iraq and another soon to graduate from the Naval Academy. It is difficult to credit the notion that he would be reckless with their lives or put them in harm's way without a compelling reason to do so.

There are other reasons to prefer McCain to the rest of the Republican field. He not so respectfully declines to pander to party orthodoxy on several important matters. He understands that sealing the borders is not a substitute for rational immigration reform; he disdains pork-barrel spending and the lobbyists who corrupt the public purpose; he remains a small-government Republican and a fiscal hawk; he does not regard the dangers of climate change as mumbo-jumbo cooked up by liberals; he champions campaign-finance reform.

Yes, by all accounts he has a short fuse. His candor can border on simple meanness. He would be the oldest man ever elected to the presidency if he were to prevail next November. But those flaws may be kept in perspective when his main competition for the Republican nomination comes from the likes of Mitt Romney, who combines a justifiable claim to executive competence with opportunistic serial flip-flopping; and Rudy Giuliani, whose life work in recent years has largely been to wring political advantage out of his response to the 9/11 attacks. As for Mike Huckabee, well, it is perhaps enough to say that he's no John McCain.

http://www.vnews.com/12192007/4445768.htm

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.