Newspaper flip-flops

A slew of new endorsements came out over the weekend (reported here), and a number of papers who endorsed Bush in 2000 have learned the error of their ways. There's the Orlando Sentinel (which, by the way, gives Kerry a Florida sweep of major papers):

Four years ago, the Orlando Sentinel endorsed Republican George W. Bush for president based on our trust in him to unite America. We expected him to forge bipartisan solutions to problems while keeping this nation secure and fiscally sound.

This president has utterly failed to fulfill our expectations. We turn now to his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, with the belief that he is more likely to meet the hopes we once held for Mr. Bush.

The usually Republican Chicago Sun Times:

We also like how Kerry thinks -- his thirst for information, his ability to judge situations on their merits. Yes, he sometimes changes his mind, but what the Republicans tar as waffling strikes us as flexibility. We want leaders to stay the course only when the course is a good one.

Perhaps that is the ultimate reason for endorsing John Kerry. The course America is on today feels wrong -- our attempts to defend ourselves have somehow drawn the contempt of the world, and we think much of that is due more to style than to substance -- not to what we've done, but how we've done it. Kerry is no weakling. He fought for his country in Vietnam, and no amount of fault-finding over his medals can undo that. He served for 19 years in the Senate, where he faced problems head-on -- though Vietnam was a vulnerable issue for him, because of his later opposition to the war, he took on the question of whether U.S. prisoners were still there and headed the government's effort to get at the truth.

The question that Americans need to ask themselves, going into the voting booth a week from Tuesday, is this: Do you like the direction our nation is heading? If the answer is no, then your vote should be for Sen. John Kerry.

The Morning Call (Allentown, PA):

Four years ago, The Morning Call recommended that George W. Bush be elected president of the United States. Since then, fate and history have handed him both the challenge of crisis and opportunities to put his stamp on the annals of American statesmanship.

The nation is engaged in a draining war in Iraq, but other places of danger around the world get only nervous, sidelong glances. The economy is sluggish, and the signs that it soon will rebound are faint or non-existent. Presidents don't control the economy, but policy does matter. We think that the grim prospects for the war in Iraq and the state of the domestic economy are in large measure the result of President Bush's own bad estimate of the world, America's role in it … and his own leadership abilities.

Therefore, The Morning Call cannot continue the support we offered for Mr. Bush four years ago, and we recommend that Sen. John F. Kerry be elected president.

And the Bangor Daily News:

We endorsed George W. Bush in 2000 based on his humility, optimism, a professed compassionate brand of Republicanism and, after the divisive years between the White House and Congress in the 1990s, his pledge to be a uniter, not a divider. Those traits have arisen occasionally in the last four years, but not often.

(snip)

Sen. Kerry likely would begin his term as president with a solidly Republican Congress; we do not doubt that the health care, deficit-reduction and after-school programs he has outlined during the campaign would be altered considerably as they encountered Congress, and some ideas would not survive at all. Mr. Kerry would have no option but to negotiate to get anything passed, which may be for the best. However, he would also serve as a forceful block on some of the worst impulses of the House, such as the assaults on civil liberties currently in its version of Intelligence reform.

Sen. Kerry would return the White House to a mainstream, outward-looking style of governance, more inclusive by necessity and inclination, more willing to confront the complex and changing conditions in the world and more willing to address domestic issues in an enlightened way. He will face perilous times abroad and at home, but by many measures he seems the more capable of meeting them successfully.

And for a final surprise, the staunchly Republican Detroit News can't bring itself to choose Bush in 2004:

As Election Day approaches, we find ourselves, like many Americans, agonizing over the presidential election.

Four years ago, the choice was clear. We endorsed George W. Bush based on his promises of fiscal conservatism, limited government and prudence in foreign affairs.

Today, we sadly acknowledge that the president has failed to deliver on those promises.