Wonderful Morning Reaction by Kula2316 today. I love reading those things!
One of the stories mentioned is a Sunday newspaper Obama endorsement by the Wisconsin State Journal, out of Madison, Wisconsin.
You'd think that with Madison's reputation as a tree-huggin' librul bastion, this would be a gimme...
It wasn't. This is actually quite the departure.
Until this year, Madison had two newspapers under the aegis of a single organization. The Wisconsin State Journal, the morning paper, has always been the more conservative of the two, out of step with the Madison majority. The Capital Times, the afternoon paper, as a reliably progressive voice, always did a much better job of reflecting the prevailing tenor of Madison politics. (The Cap Times has recently restructured into a primarily-web presence, with a Tuesday news-and-opinion insert in the paper WSJ and a Thursday entertainment insert.)
The Wisconsin State Journal endorsed Bush over Gore in 2000, and again over Kerry in 2004 (the state went narrowly Democratic both times). Also in 2004, the WSJ endorsed the relentlessly-negative-campaigner Dave Magnum (R) over the magnificent Tammy Baldwin (D) for Wisconsin's 2nd district in the House of Representatives.
This past spring, they had a chance to redeem themselves slightly, in an awful race-baiting Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Funded by a massive corporate influx from Wisconsin Manufactures & Commerce (worth its own diary rant), underqualified challenger Michael Gableman ran slimy Willie-Hortonish ads against the appointed African-American incumbent Louis Butler.
The State Journal couldn't bring themselves to endorse Gableman, but neither could they quite bring themselves to endorse a librul. So they declined to endorse at all, bemoaned the depravity of the race, and came out "bravely" in favor of appointed rather than elected Supreme Court justices in Wisconsin.
Gableman won, on April Fool's Day. (Update: He's now under ethics investigation for knowingly misrepresenting facts in those ads.)
In the current presidential race, the State Journal has been going overboard to be "fair and balanced." To paper over what must be an overwhelming tide of letters to the editor in favor of Obama, they'd taken to running presidential-politics LTEs as a point-counterpoint, only one of each.
But today! The Sunday paper version of the Wisconsin State Journal has a huge photo of the American flag with Obama speaking in front of it, taken at a rally at Madison's Monona Terrace last fall. The photo takes up the entire above-the-fold.
Headline: Now is the time for Obama
Some snippets:
Obama doesn't just give pretty speeches. He speaks to people's best instincts, encouraging them to shine.
An Obama presidency will immediately give America more clout and credibility around the globe. It will immediately win over and win back allies and friends.
They can't quite bring themselves to really mention the McCain meltdown, I guess. No mention of the nastiness, no mention of Palin, no mention of the erratic Hail Marys. "John McCain is a great American. He would make a fine president."
But in the end, it's all about the endorsement:
The right leader for the time is Barack Obama.
Yes! We! Can!