Suburban News Publications has never made a Presidential endorsement. Our 22 community newspapers do not regularly cover national politics, and we have always considered it more important to offer readers our opinions on Central Ohio candidates and issues.
This year is different. The stakes in next week's Presidential election are so high, and the contrast between the candidates is so stark, that we cannot in good conscience keep silent. SNP strongly endorses Sen. John Kerry for President and urges voters to support him on Nov. 2.
By almost every measure, the administration of President George W. Bush has become a disaster. Since he effectively rallied the nation following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush has made one wrong decision after another:
*Acting on bogus intelligence, Bush invaded, conquered and occupied Iraq, which had no weapons of mass destruction, posed no threat to the United States and had no meaningful connection with the terrorists of al-Qaida. Now, with Iraqi resistance escalating and much of the world bitterly hostile to the U.S. occupation, Bush has no credible plan to "win the peace" and leave Iraq.
*By insisting on massive tax cuts even as his Iraq invasion required huge new expenditures, Bush transformed healthy budget surpluses into mind-boggling deficits. Taxpayers will bear trillions of dollars in debt for many years because of his profligate spending and tax giveaways.
*After promising during his 2000 campaign to be a consensus-builder, Bush created the most mean-spirited, intolerant, secretive and divisive administration in memory. At times his disdain for the Bill of Rights and the rule of law -- think of the abuses of the USA Patriot Act -- has been downright frightening.
You don't have to be a Democrat or a liberal to condemn the failures of the Bush administration -- and Bush's arrogant refusal to acknowledge those failures. Even the Columbus Dispatch, which hasn't endorsed a Democrat for President in nearly 100 years, finds Bush's conduct appalling.
On Sunday the Dispatch reminded readers that it "strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq," and that Bush's "rationale for the Iraq war has been proved wrong." We agree. The Dispatch said Bush's "borrow-and-spend fiscal policies ... have resulted in massive deficits that weaken America." We agree.
Yet the Dispatch somehow managed to twist and turn and finally conclude that Bush, for all his shortcomings, is a better choice in this election than John Kerry. On that point, we strongly disagree.
True, Kerry has often seemed to be walking a tightrope in this campaign. We wish he had been more outspoken. That said, we have confidence that President Kerry -- as opposed to candidate Kerry -- will be a capable leader, willing to make the difficult decisions.
Kerry is thoughtful and pragmatic. He will be far better positioned to reach out to the many nations that have been alienated from the United States by Bush's dogmatic policies. We don't know if Kerry will do better at "winning the peace" in Iraq than Bush; we know he couldn't do worse.
Kerry has promised to reduce the annual federal deficits by half in his first term. He knows we cannot continue racking up huge debts with no thought to how future generations will pay those trillions back. Bush, caught up in some messianic delusion that he's been chosen to save the world, doesn't seem to care what it costs or who'll pay the bill.
On Nov. 2, voters must choose between George W. Bush, whose policies at home and abroad have been disastrous, and John Kerry, who promises to change those policies.
Our choice is John Kerry.
The Suburban News reaches almost every home in Central Ohio. In over 60 years of publishing they have never before made an endorsement of a Presidential Candidate.
Take that Columbus Dispatch!