Zoltan, you're showing yourself to be a card-carrying member of the paranoid fringe if you think the NYT endorsement is "Orwellian" and "The choice of hard-left Dems"...I'm beginning to understand just how besieged you guys feel by the liberal orthodoxy and how much pleasure you get out of this fantasy. It seems to head off at the pass in your minds anything but the most reflexive antipathies towards any train of thought that doesn't fit neatly inside your little mental thought boxes.
<<Mr. McCain's potential proceeds from deeper knowledge
about government and a commitment to reform as a guiding idea rather
than a hastily adopted slogan. ...
... the smarter course for Republicans would be to
choose Mr. McCain, who would not have to be repackaged and
repositioned when it comes to outreach and reform. He has a proven
ability to get votes from the vital center of the American spectrum. He
began with a vow to destroy the "iron triangle" of donations, lobbyists
and legislation. He broke further with the Republican leadership to
oppose Mr. Bush's outsized tax-cut scheme as too weighted toward the
wealthy. Bravely, and perhaps foolishly, he became the first important
Republican figure to challenge leaders of the religious right for intimidating
the party with religious-based litmus tests.
This has led Beltway Republicans to launch a nonsensical effort to depict
Mr. McCain as a false conservative. The charge is wrong on the facts.
Mr. McCain has opposed gun control and abortion. In the foreign policy
area, he has been one of the Clinton administration's toughest critics.
Although we do not agree with many of these positions, we think
Republican voters should judge him on his real record, not the falsified
version being pushed by Mr. Bush's right-wing enforcers.
As a zestful insurgent battling to open his party, Mr. McCain has brought
gusts of fresh air, excitement and common sense to American politics.
Despite our differences with him on abortion and other important
policies, we respect his politics of principle and his opposition to
Congressional influence-peddling, and we recommend him to voters in
the Republican primaries. >> |
