Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
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 Posted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 8:40 pm Post subject: Dallas Morning News' endorsement of George W. Bush |
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The Dallas Morning News' endorsement surprised me. I think it's really pretty good. I transcribed the following from the printed version (Sunday, 17 Oct 2004, Section H, p. 2) so all typos, errors, etc., are mine, and the emphasis added is also mine. I think I just might keep my subscription for a while.
| Quote: | Bush is the best candidate for President
Americans want and need a president with a backbone steeled by courage and a heart tendered by compassion. Not since the beginning of World War II has America faced as much uncertainty about its national security and its economic prospects. The next president must have the firm conviction to persevere against Islamic terrorism and the empathy to give his fellow citizens a helping hand, even as he steadily guides the American economy through the turbulent waters of globalization.
Four years ago, when the world was much simpler, George W. Bush sought the presidency claiming that he had “a charge to keep.” Having been tempered by the most eventful and consequential four years served by any U.S. president since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third term (1941-1945), Mr. Bush has earned the right to hold firm to his charge for another term.
This newspaper has seen the Texas Republican in action since his first days on the gubernatorial trail. Though he has stumbled and fallen at times, Mr. Bush has always risen to fight the second round. It’s called conviction. It’s called sticking. It’s called guts. The challenges of these dramatic days demand an American president with guts. As Mr. Bush told his convention, “You know where I stand.”
We do, and we wish we knew where John Kerry stood. To be honest, we wish John Kerry knew where John Kerry stood. The senator has been more clear about his positions lately, particularly in Iraq. But his record of vacillation cannot be overcome in a single campaign. What’s more, aside from indulging in the fantasy that he can persuade the Europeans to contribute to the Iraq effort, Mr. Kerry’s Iraq policy is not substantively different from Mr. Bush’s. The national security stakes are far too high to risk a return to the indecision of the Carter years.
We have also seen Mr. Bush preach compassion to a party that historically hasn’t rallied to the cause of the immigrant in South Texas or the student stuck in a failing school. Government can be a force for good, Mr. Bush tells his supporters. Republicans normally don’t talk that way. This one does, and he walks the walk (his landmark education and Medicare reform bills, for example). America is better for it, too, despite Mr. Bush’s tacking too far to the right on certain divisive social issues.
Mr. Bush inherited an economy slip-sliding into recession. Then came 9-11, followed by bruising blows from the cost of the Iraq war and occupation. Yet the economy has started to revive, thanks in part to his leadership on taxes. And his pro-business, free-trading instincts are more reliable than Mr. Kerry’s.
That said, we have been disappointed by the president’s refusal to rein in domestic spending. True, Mr. Kerry has no real plan to eliminate the deficit either, but that’s cold comfort. In a second term, Mr. Bush would have to turn into a budget hawk. We trust that would be easier for a Texas Republican than for a Massachusetts Democrat.
We are also troubled that the threat from Saddam Hussein was not what it seemed (though let us remember that most policy-makers – including Sen. John Kerry, who voted to authorize the Iraq war – believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction). The blood of more than 1,000 American soldiers has consecrated battlefields in Iraq, and the nation is far from stabilized. America’s relationship with the world has suffered under the strain.
And yet Mr. Bush, unlike Mr. Kerry, grasps the true nature of this war. In the words of historian Victor Davis Hanson, “We really are in a war for our very survival to stop those who would kill us and to alter the landscape that produced them.” The nation can count on Mr. Bush to hang tough, just like Ronald Regan during the worst moments of the Cold War. And as Mr. Regan did in his second term, Mr. Bush may be able to leverage his strength through creative diplomacy, using it to create a more peaceful and ordered world.
The world is, and will continue to be, a dangerous place, and national security will continue to be our overriding issue. This is not the time for America to go wobbly. This is not the time for Americans to abandon their president. |
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