John McCain, Loveable Loser

On Sunday, still energized from blaming World War II on Ron Paul, Sen. John McCain picked up the endorsement of New Hampshire's conservative Union Leader newspaper.

We don't agree with him on every issue. We disagree with him strongly on campaign finance reform. What is most compelling about McCain, however, is that his record, his character, and his courage show him to be the most trustworthy, competent, and conservative of all those seeking the nomination. Simply put, McCain can be trusted to make informed decisions based on the best interests of his country, come hell or high water.

It got buzz-a-plenty, but how much will it matter? Howard Mortman points out that the paper has a record of endorsing no-hope paladins of the right who'll stick their middle fingers high and wag them at the establishment.

1972 — endorsed John Ashbrook (did not win the NH primary)

1976 — endorsed Ronald Reagan (did not win the NH primary)

1980 — endorsed Ronald Reagan (won the NH primary)

1988 — endorsed Pete DuPont (did not win the NH primary)

1992 — endorsed Pat Buchanan (did not win the NH primary)

1996 — endorsed Pat Buchanan (won the NH primary)

2000 — endorsed Steve Forbes (did not win the NH primary — John McCain did)

Two of those losers lost by a nose, Buchanan '92 and Reagan '76. Still, we're looking at three and a half decades of contested primaries and only two elections when the Union Leader endorsee won the primary, and one when he was elected president.

Actually, the McCain rationale sounds a lot like the Forbes argument of eight years ago.

Steve Forbes is not charismatic. (Some would say he looks like a geek.) But he's also not a phony. Ask him a question, you'll get a thoughtful answer, not a soundbite. He is one tough, smart customer who can be the strong, principled leader America needs.

Also… if McCain's such a straight-talker, what happened to the guy who the paper pilloried in 2000?

McCain… wants big government to take over even more of our decisions. Campaign finance reform is allegedly of great concern to McCain. Unfortunately, and this is especially sad for his younger supporters, it is pretty clear now that McCain is a phony on this issue. McCain wants it both ways. He campaigns as the golden knight who will "reform" political fundraising, even as he thumbs his nose at the voters by continuing to take big corporate money AND still doing favors for those companies by leaning on the government agencies that are supposed to regulate them.

When he was electable, the paper shunned him. Now that he's losing, the paper figures McCain would make a good protest vote.