EDITORIAL
U.S. Politics is not something I cover closely here. I acknowledge that today’s Internet-savvy readers prefer to get their fix of all things political from the vast array of available sources out there that align more with their particular bent, including local sources like the notoriously conservative New Hampshire Union Leader.
But there’s a lot at stake in the upcoming presidential election, and I’ve editorialized only twice before, because I couldn’t hold my nose any longer over the Union Leader’s stinky fumbling of the NH Primary political football.
Last year I took issue with Publisher Joseph McQuaid’s chummy relationship with Donald Trump in the months leading up to the paper’s NH Primary endorsement of Chris Christie over Trump. My problem with McQuaid’s indictment of Trump was that it was too little too late from the newspaper of record here in New Hampshire.
I felt McQuaid squandered his chance as the official bastion of conservatism to pull back the curtain on the facade that is Trump long before he did.
And so it is refreshing to me that on Sept. 15 McQuaid took a bold step outside of the century-old box his newspaper has been stuck in by endorsing Libertarian Gary Johnson for president.
Way to go, Joe.
I don’t disagree with McQuaid’s assessment of Johnson. I covered Johnson closely back in 2012 while I served as Editor of Nashua Patch, and I liked Johnson back then.
I like him even more today.
Not only because I view Trump and Clinton as equally morally unfit to serve as president. But as someone who has voted for the substance of a candidate’s character – independent of party affiliation – for my entire adult life, the third-party choice has always been a no-brainer for me, and for other enlightened voters.
Perhaps this is a signal that the Union Leader will no longer feel obliged to cling to the vestiges of its past unyielding GOP loyalism, and finally take to heart its masthead, as a thought Leader.
That would truly be a breath of fresh air.
Carol Robidoux is editor and publisher of Manchester Ink Link.
