Bush's hometown newspaper blasts the president, endorses Kerry

September 29, 2004

Wow. I wanted to check it out when I heard Bush's hometown paper in Crawford, Texas had endorsed Kerry. I was amazed however, when it turned out to be one of the most thorough criticisms of why Bush doesn't deserve a second term I've seen. It is brutal, it is accurate, it is thoughtful. And it is really quite shrill. In the intro to the story in today's headlines stories, I suggested that it may be shrill enough to make Paul Krugman blush. I had to supress a whoop or two as I read it.

Here it is, from the Crawford Texas Lone Star Iconoclast: http://www.iconoclast-texas.com/Columns/Editorial/editorial39.htm. A few quotes. Here's the opening:

Few Americans would have voted for George W. Bush four years ago if he had promised that, as President, he would:

Empty the Social Security trust fund by $507 billion to help offset fiscal irresponsibility and at the same time slash Social Security benefits.
Cut Medicare by 17 percent and reduce veterans’ benefits and military pay.
Eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans and raise oil prices by 50 percent.
Give tax cuts to businesses that sent American jobs overseas, and, in fact, by policy encourage their departure.
Give away billions of tax dollars in government contracts without competitive bids.
Involve this country in a deadly and highly questionable war, and
Take a budget surplus and turn it into the worst deficit in the history of the United States, creating a debt in just four years that will take generations to repay.

These were people who endorsed Bush four years ago and the war in Iraq.

It is so harsh (and so good), I actually checked to make sure this was really Bush's hometown paper. It is. I suspect he's gonna cancel his subscription tomorrow. Bush is gonna be down to two morning papers, the Washington Post and the Washington Times.

Rather than using the billions of dollars expended on the invasion of Iraq to shore up our boundaries and go after Osama bin Laden and the Saudi Arabian terrorists, the funds were used to initiate a war with what Bush called a more immediate menace, Saddam Hussein, in oil-rich Iraq. After all, Bush said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction trained on America. We believed him, just as we believed it when he reported that Iraq was the heart of terrorism. We trusted him.

....

Again, he let us down.

We presumed the President had solid proof of the existence of these weapons, what and where they were, even as the search continued. Otherwise, our troops would be in much greater danger and the premise for a hurried-up invasion would be moot, allowing more time to solicit assistance from our allies.

Instead we were duped into following yet another privileged agenda.

It also reminds me that Bush's church has publicly come out against the war in Iraq as immoral. Ouch. And the mayor of Crawford has endorsed Kerry also. This is almost a trend.

And they have a very nice endorsement of Kerry, too.

John Kerry has 30 years of experience looking out for the American people and can navigate our country back to prosperity and re-instill in America the dignity she so craves and deserves. He has served us well as a highly decorated Vietnam veteran and has had a successful career as a district attorney, lieutenant governor, and senator.

Kerry has a positive vision for America, plus the proven intelligence, good sense, and guts to make it happen.

That’s why The Iconoclast urges Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country.

The Iconoclast wholeheartedly endorses John Kerry.

I'm lovin' it.