"Press-Gazette Endorses John McCain For President"
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Eight years ago on
the eve of the presidential election, the economy was reeling from the
collapse of the dot-com market. A recession either loomed or had
already begun. The nation's voters had a chance to choose a moderate
Arizona senator as their new president, but he didn't advance past the
Republican primaries.
Now, another collapse, this time in the mortgage industry, has led to
even greater economic uncertainty on election eve. It's no time to
repeat past mistakes; this time voters must choose the candidate with
the experience to lead us through the storm.
The Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial board endorses John McCain for
president.
There is nothing automatic or routine about this decision, even though
this newspaper has usually picked the Republican candidate in recent
decades. Our choice follows literally hours of the most heartfelt and
deep discussions to accompany an endorsement in many years. In Barack
Obama, the Democratic Party has its most compelling nominee in memory.
Strip away the politics, which seem to get nastier with every election
cycle, and McCain is correct about Obama: "I have to tell you he is a
decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as
president of the United States."
In point of fact, both candidates are decent men who don't deserve the
sordid attacks that have been launched against their records, their
beliefs and their very characters. Sweep away the chaff, however, and
the edge must go to McCain's long record of working for change and
reaching across the aisle to achieve important results.
A senator since 1987, McCain was a major author of the Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act. He opposed President Clinton's military intervention in
Somalia, and he joined Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in working for
campaign finance reform.
He was one of only two Republican senators to vote against the 2001 tax
cuts favored by President Bush, although he reversed that stance in
2006 when the cuts were extended -- noting accurately that opposing the
extension was the same as raising taxes.
McCain led a group of 14 moderate senators who preserved the ability of
senators to filibuster judicial nominees, but only in "extraordinary
circumstances." Far from foiling the nomination of conservative judges,
the compromise aided the confirmation votes for Chief Justice John
Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.
Whatever one thinks of the Iraq war, there is no doubt that the troop
surge of 2007 achieved its goals of reducing violence and American
casualties there, and McCain supported that action from the beginning,
even when many senators and presidential candidates were resisting the
idea.
McCain also stood for the ideal that America does not condone or
endorse torture, and he has questioned the long confinement of
prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. We are disappointed that he has backed
away from those principled positions during the campaign and fervently
hope he will revisit them once in office.
These positions reflect McCain's understanding of the President's
solemn authority to commit troops to battle. Certainly McCain's
personal biography -- in the military and Congress -- gives him the
edge when it comes to the matter of national security. And what
happened on Sept. 11, 2001, is one of the most compelling reasons that
John McCain is the more attractive candidate.
"I'm not running for president to be somebody, but to do something; to
do the hard but necessary things, not the easy and needless things,"
McCain said as he launched his campaign in April 2007, reflecting the
philosophy he has followed for two decades in Washington.
Sen. Obama may one day be able to point to a similar record of
achievement, but the plain fact is that he has served barely more than
half of one term in the Senate. He is an eloquent speaker with great
promise as a future leader.
But we also see in McCain someone who shares the bedrock positions of
the Press-Gazette -- that the government that governs least governs
best, that the best tax relief occurs when government spends less, that
the American dream is within reach to anyone willing to put in the
necessary hard work and commitment.
And that, finally, is why we support John McCain for president.