Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

EDITORIAL: McCain is GOP's best
Staff Editorial
The Crimson White (U. Alabama)
02/01/2008

(U-WIRE) TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Months of bitter and costly campaigning have left the Republican Party with four legitimate contenders for the nomination: Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney and John McCain. After examining the four, we have come to the conclusion that McCain represents the best the party has to offer, and he is the man most ready to lead the country.

In proclaiming Paul a "legitimate" contender, we are stretching the conventional definition of a viable candidate. In national polls, he comes in near the bottom, but in terms of popularity and appeal, he has cultivated an army of dedicated supporters. Paul falls on the Libertarian side in the spectrum of Republican ideas, and there's certainly something to be said for limited government. He also has a profound reverence for the Constitution, using it to decide his congressional votes. However, many of Paul's ideas - such as closing the Department of Education - are unsound in theory and unworkable in practice. We cannot endorse Paul because of the impracticality of the majority of his philosophies.

Huckabee has risen as the candidate of the religious right. Unlike other candidates who have touted their faith in the past, Huckabee does so in a more muted and respectful tone. He is funny, personable and charismatic. All in all, he's a likable guy. However, he advocates the Fair Tax, a national sales tax that would replace the current tax system. We believe that this system would be disastrous for the national economy due to the necessary 20 percent increase in all sales prices the tax would require. Therefore, we cannot support Huckabee.

Romney, in terms of likeability, is the antithesis of Huckabee. He seems manufactured at all times, and we cannot shake the overwhelming feeling of duplicity when it comes to Romney. While many may be wary of him because of his Mormon faith, it is, at best, a novelty for us. No one should discriminate against Romney because of his religion. He has the experience of running a state, but we can't seem to figure out what he supports and what he's against. Just look at him on the hot button topic of abortion: he's been for abortion rights and, now, he's against them. He's also said plenty of ridiculous things regarding foreign policy matters - such as the US should double the size of its Guantanamo Bay prison facility and the motivations for Islamic terrorists do not include the American presence in the Middle East. For these reasons, we cannot endorse Romney.

That leaves us with McCain, the candidate we choose to endorse for the Republican nomination.

To be honest, we have policy differences with McCain. While no one in the race - aside from Paul - is opposed to the continued American presence in Iraq, McCain is the candidate with the most vocal support of the war. We strongly disagree with this position. Still, we are inclined to defer to his judgment on the war. His honorable military service gives him an authority and credibility that no one else can claim in this election. A president must make difficult decisions to put men and women in harm's way and only McCain can do that with an understanding of the sacrifices those in the military must make.

Arguably, McCain's most important legislation in the Senate came with the McCain-Feingold Act, a bill that reformed the way elections are funded in this country. It was not a popular position to take in the Republican Party, but McCain did so because he was passionate about removing the shadowy strings of unlimited contributions from our political process. We can only hope he would continue to take principled stances if elected president.

We give our endorsement not because of his policy positions or ideas. We support McCain because we think he is the man in the Republican Party most ready to lead the country. He is a man with bedrock principles of honesty and fairness, and McCain is a man that can be admired by Republicans and Democrats alike due to the service for his country.

There are many choices in Tuesday's Republican presidential primary, but there is only one best choice. That choice is John McCain.

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