Atlanta Journal Constitution Endorses Obama, Blasts McCain

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:10:41 PM EST
Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin (all tags)

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has just released its Sunday endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama.

Columnist William Kristol, a longtime McCain backer, calls the McCain campaign “close to being out–and–out dysfunctional,” concluding that “its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic.”

And of course, the most unfortunate evidence of that “strategic incoherence and operational incompetence” was McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a person utterly unprepared for the high post in question.

Not just unprepared, but "utterly unprepared." The paper's primary reason: McCain is Bush III. [More....]

However, in his current role as Republican nominee, McCain has yet to explain how most of his proposed policies and approaches differ from those of the current president. From deregulation of Wall Street and tax cuts that favor the richest 5 percent of Americans to a more aggressive foreign policy, McCain’s approach now reflects the same Republican orthodoxy that has governed this country since 2000. Time and again, he has been offered chances to explain how his philosophy differs from that of the current president, and he has not been able to do so.

And it’s not just a matter of policies. A third term under another Republican president would inevitably be populated by much the same cast of GOP staffers, executives and bureaucrats that has run Washington for so long and with such disastrous results. McCain’s campaign staff illustrates that problem perfectly because it is populated by many of the same people who ran previous Bush campaigns. They are also still trying to run the same basic Republican playbook that the party has used since 1980.

< Denver Post Endorses Barack Obama | Chicago Sun Times Endorses Obama >

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Atlanta Journal Constitution Endorses Obama, Blasts McCain | 14 comments (14 topical)

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"Utterly unprepared." (5.00 / 0) (#1)
by oculus on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:16:28 PM EST

God is back at his heavenly post.

ya (5.00 / 0) (#7)
by connecticut yankee on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:47:26 PM EST

Palin is getting walloped lately.

Peggy Noonan just torpedoed her as well. Said she represents, "the vulgarization of american politics" as well as a few other things.

This is one of the seldom (5.00 / 0) (#8)
by cal1942 on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 09:26:07 PM EST

mentioned problems with a Mccain or ANY Republican candidate for the highest office:

another Republican president would inevitably be populated by much the same cast of GOP staffers, executives and bureaucrats that has run Washington for so long and with such disastrous results.

After the nominations were settled the argument often put forth against McCain was federal court nominations. Democrats in the Senate could have blocked extreme court nominees and perhaps a whacko cabinet nominee but it would very difficult to stop the large numbers of lower level nominees without drawing criticism for obstruction. Beyond the numbers of lower level officers requiring Senate confirmation are still lower level staffers not subject to confirmation.

For me, in the end, this was the greater danger and the danger with ANY Republican administration. Beginning with the Nixon administration federal agencies, under Republican Presidents administered programs and enforced laws of their own choosing often subverting the purpose of a given program and cherry picking laws and regulations to be either enforced or ignored. After Nixon/Ford came Reagan, Bush I and now Bush II. Same practice. McCain would have been no different. Same cast of characters,same results.
The executive branch is supposed to enforce all the laws of the land. IMO all Republican Presidents since Nixon should have been subject to impeachment because they all failed to uphold their oath to preserve protect and defend the Constitution.

How do you rate GHW Bush in that (none / 0) (#9)
by ThatOneVoter on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 10:46:02 PM EST

regard? To me, he seems like the last Republican President since Eisenhower who wasn't crazy.


: He was the only Bush (none / 0) (#10)
by CoralGables on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:02:09 PM EST

to understand the concept, and the damage to be caused by pursuing voodoo economics.

: I agree that he was the last GOP (none / 0) (#12)
by cal1942 on Sat Oct 18, 2008 at 12:34:22 AM EST

President since Eisenhower who wasn't totally crazy. But he's no innocent. Many of the same problems in the executive branch were continued. Not as bad as Reagan because he did clean out a lot of Reagan appointees but he nonetheless weakened agencies in the federal branch. Remember that Bush I's FEMA (hurricane Andrew) was about as bad as Bush II's. Since the Nixon years it's all but impossible IMO for a Republican President, even one determined to do otherwise, to avoid inapproprite agency behavior. The legions of possible appointees seem to be cut from the same bolt of cloth.
The revulsion for government, the ideology that claims government doesn't work can hardly yield appointees determined to properly operate government agencies that they don't believe should even exist. It's become standard operating procedure in the Republican party a part of their DNA and probably won't change for many years. Insofar as governance is concerned the Republican party has become chronically incompetent simply because they don't believe in governing.

add to the irony list (5.00 / 1) (#11)
by dws3665 on Sat Oct 18, 2008 at 12:05:43 AM EST

that while the AJC uses Palin's selection to highlight the validity of Kristol's criticism about the McCain campaign, Kristol himself was a leading backer of Palin as VP (according to Benen, who has a rundown here).

The competition is fierce, but is there a more craptacular, always-wrong pundit than Kristol?

: Yep (5.00 / 0) (#13)
by cal1942 on Sat Oct 18, 2008 at 12:39:37 AM EST

The competition is fierce, but is there a more craptacular, always-wrong pundit than Kristol?
Kristol sits atop that craptacular pile. Great hire NYT.

when the habit is to (5.00 / 0) (#14)
by cpinva on Sat Oct 18, 2008 at 04:48:10 AM EST

appoint foxes to guard the henhouses, it's no surprise that, at the end of the day, only feathers are left. this is the republican method of gutting gov't; appoint industry insiders to head regulatory agencies, and reduce those agencies' budgets.

you don't even need to pass laws reducing the regulations, merely refuse to enforce the existing ones. supposedly, the market will govern its own. it never actually works that way, though every republican president since nixon has tried.

it has to be genetic, since re-inventing (unsuccesfully) the wheel, time after failed time, would cause normal people to stop.

What's with the flood of endorsements? (none / 0) (#2)
by nycstray on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:17:26 PM EST

Refresh my memory please :) Do they always come out in an onslaught like this from the papers?

Yes (none / 0) (#3)
by Jeralyn on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:19:35 PM EST

It's endorsement weekend...these will all appear in the Sunday papers, but the papers are releasing them today.


: Ah, thank you! (none / 0) (#6)
by nycstray on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:27:56 PM EST

I missed that this was an endorsement weekend, my life is split between harvest season and christmas product development 2009, so my mental calendar is a bit whack and definitly missing the present!

With early voting (none / 0) (#4)
by CoralGables on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:20:04 PM EST

they come out sooner. Expect a rush of Florida newspapers to endorse this Sunday. Early voting in Florida begins on Monday.


: LA Times is a little late, as I (none / 0) (#5)
by oculus on Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:21:49 PM EST

received my absentee ballot earlier in the week. But then "only a fool" would think California is in play.