The Times
While the New York Times is probably the best domestic news outlet, a quick look at their history of presidential endorsements is deeply amusing. The Times endorsed Barack Obama for president this year, continuing an unbroken streak of Democratic endorsements dating back to their 1960 endorsement of John F. Kennedy. While I personally agree with their endorsement this year, their Democratic allegiance over this extremely long period ironically erodes even the slight credibility that a newspaper's presidential endorsement might carry. No one will listen to your arguments if they suspect that they were created to justify a predetermined outcome.
My favorite is endorsement tagline is the one for Walter Mondale in 1984: "Walter Mondale has all the dramatic flair of a trigonometry teacher. His Nordic upbringing makes it hard for him to brag. The first debate may have been the high point of his political personality. But there's power in his plainness." Ironically the article itself is a pretty fair assessment of Reagan's strengths and faults, and it correctly lauds Mondale's honesty--rare in a politician. But I think that they probably underweighted the threat of Mondale's allegiances to anachronistic special interests.
On the other hand, the Times makes an incisive point in their recent article on the danger of single-party government. This is probably the single strongest argument for voting for John McCain over Barack Obama. If my vote weren't meaningless, it might actually sway me (sounds irrational? Meh, voting is irrational). Single-party government under George W. Bush sparked enough of a disaster to warrant serious consideration of this point.
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