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Editorial: Newsday endorses McCain in New York primary

February 3, 2008

In a Republican roster of mainly lackluster, marginal or unacceptable presidential candidates, Sen. John McCain of Arizona always stood out like a bright light in a dim room. Now that he has risen quickly from the back of the pack to pose a serious challenge to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, McCain is by far the best choice for his party's nomination.

McCain is an honorable man. And his courage, integrity and willingness to take principled and consistent stands on key issues unpopular with his party are admirable traits. He is, in short, a stand-up guy. He should make Republicans proud to choose him as their standard-bearer. He has the guts to vote on his conscience, to ignore opinion polls and do what he thinks is right.

McCain has championed effective campaign finance reform, working closely with Democratic allies to push through landmark legislation. Alone among leading Republicans, he has recognized the dangers posed by climate change and has been a strong early advocate for curbs on global warming, sponsoring bipartisan legislation mandating market-based solutions.

At the risk of alienating most of his party's leaders, he has been a staunch supporter of rational changes in immigration laws to allow the normalization of undocumented workers in American society. This issue alone has turned the conservative movement against him. Right-wing radio talk show hosts attack him with vile language, almost to demonize him for acting on his principles.

As a genuine war hero who endured torture in a North Vietnamese prison camp, McCain has used his experience to condemn the Bush administration's approval of the use of torture against detainees in the war on terrorism. He has made his crusade against torture a point of honor that hasn't endeared him to many of his Republican colleagues.

But he is hardly an anti-war advocate. He doesn't back away from his early and steady support for the Iraq war, but he has also been one of the fiercest critics of the way the Bush administration has waged it, ripping the national security team for its strategic mistakes in the early stages of the occupation. He argues, sensibly, that a premature withdrawal of U.S. troops would endanger the stability of the region and doom Iraq to endless civil disorder.

Still, we don't agree with his stubbornly hawkish stance on the Iraq war. We also worry about his volcanic temper. And we take issue with some of his positions, such as his refusal to support reproductive choice or gay rights and his belated vow to extend President George W. Bush's tax cuts, a disingenuous 11th-hour attempt to placate right-wing critics.

McCain may not have the best credentials or track record to deal with the nation's worsening economy. That's his Achilles' heel. Romney, a successful entrepreneur, has tried to exploit that weakness to the fullest. But however smart and capable Romney may be, he has shown a distasteful enthusiasm for switching his formerly liberal positions on key issues to pander to the right wing of his party.

Even in the context of a conservative Republican constituency, it may be a stretch to call McCain a moderate. But of all Republican candidates, he is far closer to representing the concern of voters in the broad center of the political spectrum.

At age 71, McCain has said himself that he can't very well be called a comeback kid. And his age - he could be the oldest U.S. president ever to take office - may worry some. But his positive qualities overall outweigh his weaknesses. Newsday endorses him for the Republican nomination.