in an editorial titled Editorial: The Times editorial board recommends Joe Biden for president (warning — if you have an ad blocker you might have to unblock at least this page in order to read).
Several quick comments, before getting to the editorial.
First, the Seattle Times was traditionally the more CONSERVATIVE of the then two major dailies in Seattle (the other, the Post-Intelligencer, is now only an online outlet).
Second, this is incredibly early for a major newspaper to make an endorsement.
So the first question might be, why now?
Well, perhaps the first three short paragraphs makes it clear:
Enough is enough. Four years after Donald Trump won the presidential election, it is time for a nationwide reckoning.
The election of Democrat Joe Biden in November will go far toward restoring honor and integrity to the presidency and the national ethos.
The vindictiveness and greed that have characterized Trump’s tenure wrought damage to government, institutions and U.S. relationships abroad that will take years to mend. Federal failures to resolve the pandemic and economic crises require accountability. And the intentional aggravation of partisan divides across the country cannot be allowed to persist.
OUCH!
vindictiveness and greed
OUCH!
But there is more.
They immediately follow with a list of grievances:
- dispatch of uninvited federal agents to Seattle and elsewhere
- the immigration mess, including separating children from parents
- rolling back environmental protections (note: remember that environment was Gov. Insee’s biggest issue)
- Trump’s using his office for personal financial aggrandizement, and “hawking” Goya beans from Resolute desk
- attacking mail-in voting (remember WA is a state that is all vote by mail)
- his disastrous handling of the pandemic crisis
The editorial follows this with a list of what Biden’s strong background, ending that portion with this brief paragraph:
Biden’s experience shows he can rescue America from the disarray wrought by Trump. Allowing the nation’s downward path to continue would escalate the damage from disastrous to potentially irreversible.
There is to be a sure a list of what Biden’s proposals are and actions would be.
The editorial then moves to conclusion, noting in its penultimate paragraph that giving Trump another term would be a monumental mistake, before concluding like this:
Voters should put Biden into the White House this November with a mandate to heal the nation. A better path lies before America than the one we’re on. Biden can put us on that course.
Yes, there is little doubt that Washington’s electoral votes are safely Democratic, which may make this endorsement seem less important. Except it is from a paper that is traditionally not a beacon of liberalism, it is quite early, and it lays out the case forcefully.
I thought people here should see it.
Peace,