AZ Republic endorses McCain

[SEVERUSMAX]

Well, this beats all. A center-left newspaper endorses the native son after all, despite expectations to the contrary (its politics have been more blue state than red of yore).

Mind you, they also endorsed all of the Congressional incumbents, most of the legislative incumbents, only one of the propositions (kudos to them that it wasn't 102 that got the nod), and the Republican slate for Corporation Commission. In other words, they played it safe, except on County Attorney and Sheriff, where they endorsed both Democratic challengers to the GOP incumbents.

I'm hoping that on the Sheriff slot, the voters listen to them. Joe Arpaio is good on crime and immigrants, but he's also so corrupt and arrogant that he needs to be forced into retirement. I don't give a flip about the prosecutor job, since Thomas is a right-wing nut and Nelson is the leftist version of the same fanaticism. Either way, we get a loony.

 

[DeeZire]

Down here in Tucson, the Arizona Republic has always been seen as conservative, which might equate with 'center left' up in Phoenix, since Phoenix is the red part of the state. (There are periodic grumblings of Southern Arizona seceding to form a 51st state, but it's basically just a way to let people know we don't want to be associated with the conservative mindset that thinks growing lawns in the desert makes sense.)

Our big daily, the Arizona Daily Star endorsed Obama, along with most of the Ds and a few Rs. They encouraged 'no' votes on all the propositions except two.

My ex-boss, the Newt Gingrich conservative, used to call the Arizona Daily Star the Red Star, (alluding to communism,) but back then the editorial board was a little more left-leaning than they are these days. New owners bought it, and it's been crap ever since. An example - the only opinion on Sundays, besides local letters, is George Will. At least with the previous owners, there was balance, with both points of view being represented on the opinion page.

The most laughable part these days is the caustic outcry every time Garrison Keillor writes a column. Some of these rightwingers want the guy drawn and quartered in the town square. Hey, I wonder if Ami writes letters to my local paper?

 

[SweetPrettyAss]

Well, this beats all. A center-left newspaper endorses the native son after all, despite expectations to the contrary (its politics have been more blue state than red of yore).

Mind you, they also endorsed all of the Congressional incumbents, most of the legislative incumbents, only one of the propositions (kudos to them that it wasn't 102 that got the nod), and the Republican slate for Corporation Commission. In other words, they played it safe, except on County Attorney and Sheriff, where they endorsed both Democratic challengers to the GOP incumbents.

I'm hoping that on the Sheriff slot, the voters listen to them. Joe Arpaio is good on crime and immigrants, but he's also so corrupt and arrogant that he needs to be forced into retirement. I don't give a flip about the prosecutor job, since Thomas is a right-wing nut and Nelson is the leftist version of the same fanaticism. Either way, we get a loony.

Why should it surprise you that a newspaper endorses a native son? The Chicago Tribune did the same thing. Of course, McCain isn't really a native of AZ but neither is Obama a native son of IL. Both of them were bsically carpetbaggers when they went to their respective states to begin their political careers.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Down here in Tucson, the Arizona Republic has always been seen as conservative, which might equate with 'center left' up in Phoenix, since Phoenix is the red part of the state. (There are periodic grumblings of Southern Arizona seceding to form a 51st state, but it's basically just a way to let people know we don't want to be associated with the conservative mindset that thinks growing lawns in the desert makes sense.)

Our big daily, the Arizona Daily Star endorsed Obama, along with most of the Ds and a few Rs. They encouraged 'no' votes on all the propositions except two.

My ex-boss, the Newt Gingrich conservative, used to call the Arizona Daily Star the Red Star, (alluding to communism,) but back then the editorial board was a little more left-leaning than they are these days. New owners bought it, and it's been crap ever since. An example - the only opinion on Sundays, besides local letters, is George Will. At least with the previous owners, there was balance, with both points of view being represented on the opinion page.

The most laughable part these days is the caustic outcry every time Garrison Keillor writes a column. Some of these rightwingers want the guy drawn and quartered in the town square. Hey, I wonder if Ami writes letters to my local paper?

That's odd, because a minister friend of mine once said that when he became a Communist, the Republic would be his first choice, but until then, he wouldn't use the "Repugnant", as he called it.

Given that it endorsed a number of Democrats as well as Republicans, and has plenty of anti-Bush editorials, I wouldn't exactly call it a right-wing rag. Nor a far left one. At least not since Keven Willey took it over. It's more a center-left periodical, as I said.

As for the native son thing, that isn't always the decisive factor, though it was a factor. The argument that they used was that they knew McCain's mettle, and that in this crisis, they could trust his leadership to be sound. This implied that they had doubts about Obama, mainly in terms of experience. It was a "better the devil we know" kind of endorsement, as far as I could see.