Billings Gazette (* in 2000) Endorses KERRY

[AVID]

Sorry if dupe - been waiting for this, writing op LTTEs and hoping. :thumbsup:
(In a sort of trade off, they endorsed the repug governor candidate Bob Brown) :mad::thumbsdown:

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/10/24/build/opinion/32-gaz-op2.inc

Gazette opinion: Bush hasn't earned 2nd term in office

As election day approaches, Americans are asking "are we safer?" Many of us don't feel safer.

President Bush had the whole world on his side after 9/11. He squandered that goodwill and undermined U.S. credibility with his Iraq policy. After his initial strong response in Afghanistan, he turned his focus to Iraq. Osama bin Laden remains at large. The president failed to adequately plan a U.S. exit from Iraq as demonstrated by the ongoing deadly insurgency.

One of the most troubling aspects of Bush's leadership style is his view that "if you're not with us, you're against us." The right to dissent is a basic guarantee of our democracy. Americans should exercise their right to criticize the government and work for positive change.

America needs new leadership that can more effectively prosecute a worldwide battle against terrorism and successfully enlist the international community as partners while also keeping a strong focus on the American homeland and domestic issues. America needs a president who will be strong against terrorists without compromising the civil liberties of all Americans. Americans need a president who will listen to both dissenters and supporters - a president who will challenge his advisers to challenge groupthink. George W. Bush is not that president.

Sen. John Kerry has pledged that he would immediately implement the recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, a panel that President Bush initially opposed. Kerry has pledged to greatly speed up the pace of securing nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union to prevent these nukes from falling into terrorists' hands. He plans to expand the U.S. Army by 40,000 troops and to double Army Special Forces capability, measures much needed in a military now stretched thin.

John Kerry may not have all the answers yet, but he knows this great nation's problems and strengths. He understands better than Bush does that 21st century wars won't be won by military might alone.

[Ms.Victory]

1. Great News!

Yeah!!

[AVID]

2. This is very satisfying

However, you have to look hard to find it - small section, font, and even smalled pic of Kerry.

[AVID]

3. kick because this made my day

:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:
:party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party::party:

[Ms.Victory]

4. They just keep

rolling in. This is great to hear.

[bushwakker]

5. Are we gonna carry Montana?

Seruiously though it's good to see even conservatives recognize the atrocity that is the AWOL Administration.

[AVID]

6. Unlikely, but I'm working 6am to 8pm on the 2nd to GOTV

to try to make that happen.

The Native American vote is getting stronger - they are behind Kerry

[bushwakker]

7. thanks for your efforts

[Ediacara]

9. I don't think we'll carry Montana

Unfortunately the only polling firm that bothers with Montana is Mason-Dixon, and they tend to (at least in my experience) oversample Republicans, and give us totals like Bush: 60%, Kerry 35%.

Oddly enough, an internal poll from the Velazquez campaign (sorry no link, it was never released to the media, although she blurted it out on stage at a MoveOn event), showed the presidential race at Bush 48%, Kerry 40%. I think her numbers are closer to reality but not enough to swing us in the next 9 days. I also think in 2008, Montana will be a big surprise and go blue.

Or maybe it'll be a big surprise this cycle :-) Maybe I live in a vortex of a town, but here in Bozeman, population around 35,000, I have been able to count SIX Bush/Cheney yard signs. I've literally gone looking for them too! As for Kerry signs? Almost 1/4 (I'm seriously not exagerating) of the houses I drive by have Kerry, Schweitzer, Velazquez, and other assorted dem signs in their yards. I'd imagine that in Butte, Helena, and Missoula, the situation is similar. Great Falls and Billings may be more evenly matched, but onw would hope that would be enough to offset the effect of the rural majority of the state. Hell.... there's whole counties in Montana with less people than some city blocks in Bozeman :-)

[AVID]

10. In Billings - Kerry bumper stickers outnumber the W04, but

not many yard signs for Bush or Kerry.

Its a Schweitzer v Brown battle of the yard signs here. Few Tracy not many Rehberg.

[flygal]

8. Brown?! WTF - well, they redeemed themselves with the Kerry end.

[AVID]

11. Schweitzer is up by ten

[Ediacara]

12. and the Great Falls Tribune endorsed him today

Energy, ideas earn Schweitzer the nod