THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN FOR PRESIDENT

"[A]t some point, voters do have to choose, and that choice seems quite clear. We recommend Arizona Sen. John McCain ... His torturous captivity as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam provides a powerful and stirring tale of one man's fidelity to duty and love of country. To many, this alone might commend him for higher office. However, his public service afterward also compels a vote for McCain in our state's open primary. As a U.S. senator, he has been - despite rhetoric to the contrary - a dependable conservative voice." -- The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Excerpts From "McCain: Principles Count"

The Arizona senator's principles have selectively guided him to courageous stands and demonstrated an ability to transcend both party and ideology.

Editorial
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Sunday, February 17, 2008

By staying in a race that the numbers say he cannot win, Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, is offering Wisconsin's primary voters a choice.

He is quite correct in resisting party pressure to step aside. An early coronation might satisfy the party pooh-bahs but is not a worthy substitute for a well-argued and contested election - the latter better serving the electorate. These are points Huckabee himself makes.

But at some point, voters do have to choose, and that choice seems quite clear. We recommend Arizona Sen. John McCain in Wisconsin's GOP primary on Tuesday.

His torturous captivity as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam provides a powerful and stirring tale of one man's fidelity to duty and love of country. To many, this alone might commend him for higher office.

However, his public service afterward also compels a vote for McCain in our state's open primary. As a U.S. senator, he has been - despite rhetoric to the contrary - a dependable conservative voice. But what makes McCain different than myriad conservative voices is his capacity to selectively forsake crowd-pleasing ideology when his principles take him elsewhere.
He has been a consistent voice against pork-barrel spending, angering those at the trough on both sides of the aisle.

He has been, along with Wisconsin's Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, a leader to diminish monied interests' unhealthy influence on elections. The landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill took us a distance there, at the same time making him a pariah among those who believe the First Amendment is the right to buy elections and indebt members of Congress to those best able to do that.

His part in the Kennedy-McCain immigration reform package last year similarly angered those in his party of the seal-the-border, deport-'em-all variety. But it was compromise worthy of the nation's ideals, embodying the notions that our borders must be secure and the law respected but that economic realities and humanity also must be part of any reform equation.

The path to legal residency in the bill for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already here would have required fines, learning English and clean criminal records. It was nonetheless decried as "amnesty" by those who would rely on the already failed policy of enforcement only.

On the war in Iraq, McCain was seemingly alone, demanding that it be conducted with more thought. Instead, we had an invasion without adequate planning or troop levels for what came later - extended occupation and insurgency amid the lack of Iraqi political reconciliation. To the extent the troop surge damped violence, it was with a formula that McCain espoused early.
He stood nearly alone in the GOP field on the issue of torture. From personal experience, he knows the damage it does to a person and to a country.

And he voted against President Bush's tax cuts, characterizing them as unwise. ...
The McCain candidacy would be well-served also by listening more to one of his remaining opponents.

Huckabee is wrong with his idea of a 23% federal sales tax to replace the current income tax.
It's regressive, harming lower-income consumers, and will starve the federal government of essential revenue. And the high tax creates a huge incentive to avoid it altogether, by not buying or going underground to buy.

His comments on amending the Constitution "so it's in God's standards" are scary even if, as he explained to the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board on Friday, he was speaking purely of abortion and marriage. ...

Among the most conservative in the Senate, the Arizonan has proved himself selectively flexible - too flexible for some, not flexible enough for others.

These principles are what make him the best candidate in the GOP field.

Read The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial: "McCain: Principles Count"
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