Dallas Morning News endorses/recommends (John McCain) that other one

On Sunday’s Dallas Morning News editorial page, their board proudly proclaims “We Recommend: John McCain’s experienced courage for president.” I wonder who was given the task of writing this endorsement?  Whoever it was, I bet that they didn’t endorse John McCain in the Republican Primary.

Well, anyway, the Morning News’ endorsement reads like a John McCain commercial:

• Americans want change, yes, but banking on change alone is a risky proposition.

• The Democrat talks about change, but only the Republican has made change happen.

• He’s (Obama) as smooth and charismatic as his opponent is raw and irascible.

• For example, the Republican maverick has worked with Democrats on campaign finance laws, immigration reform and climate change.

• As inspiring as Mr. Obama’s history-making presidential bid has been, it is risky to take a chance on an untried leader at this point in our history.

I would imagine that there are a number of people on the Dallas Morning News Editorial Board who are embarrassed by this “recommendation.” Not just embarrassed by the fact they they endorsed McCain, which is bad enough. But embarrassed by the fact that the words they use to recommend him seem to ignore the past two months of the campaign.

They say that “Mr. McCain has a solid record of trying to control Washington’s spending habits. This issue, more than any other, is why Americans should put Mr. McCain in the White House.” THIS ISSUE huh? This issue as in economics/economy.

This issue from this candidate who claimed that he is not strong in the area of the economy. Speaking of strong, this issue from this candidate who on August 20th told Laura Ingraham that “I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” This issue from this candidate, who on Black Monday -September 15th- which was the day we found out how bad the financial crisis really was, came out and said “Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

And it is this issue that this paper says -more than any other- is why we should vote for McCain. This paper can’t even believe that. It’s no way that this paper and this editorial board believe that the one area where John McCain is weakest is why voters should put him in the White House. Where was the maverick when this president and this Republican Party were spending us to hell in a hand basket?

The fact that their recommendation hinges on the economy and spending is by itself enough to disqualify their flip flop. I call it a flip flop because the Dallas Morning News was one of the first major publications in the United States to endorse Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee, which they did before the Iowa Caucuses. On that same page the DMN Editorial Staff endorsed Mike Huckabee to be the Republican nominee.

In a column last December, Editorial Page Editor Keven Ann Willey writes of a detailed 2-month process that lead to the decision of Huckabee and Obama. Ms. Willey writes that they narrowed the Republican and Democratic fields down to 5 candidates on either side. They then gave individual writers on their staff one of the five candidates and “each had about a month to research – and score – the assigned candidate against our issues”

What an exhaustive process. Then comes this recommendation which reads like someone wrote it on the back of a napkin the night before. After two months or research last December, McCain wasn’t better than Huckabee. Now after two awful months of campaigning, here in October, McCain is their choice over Obama. What gives?