Who is with Smith? Not who you might think

The Manchester Union Leader ^ | 9/9/02 | Editorial

[Gothmog]

SEN. BOB SMITH has accumulated some odd allies since being challenged in the GOP primary by U.S. Rep. John Sununu.

While this page endorsed Sununu, the Telegraph of Nashua and the Concord Monitor endorsed Smith. If Smith is indeed solidly conservative, then one has to wonder why the state’s conservative newspaper would endorse Sununu while the two largest liberal papers would back Smith.

The Monitor said of Smith, “Throughout Smith’s long career, we have struggled to find points on which to agree with him and rarely, save on environmental matters, found them.” Yet the paper endorsed him over Sununu, primarily because of Smith’s stances on the environment and because Sununu is a closer supporter of President George Bush’s policies, which the Monitor strongly dislikes.

The Telegraph endorsed Smith in large part because its editors thought Smith would more often oppose the Bush agenda and Sununu would more often support it.

The Monitor and the Telegraph see that Smith is not a friend of the Bush administration. President Bush also sees this, which is why he has not backed Smith, which unfortunately has not stopped Smith from claiming that he has Bush’s support. Meanwhile, Smith has been running around the state claiming that he is a bigger supporter of President Bush than Sununu is. To believe that, you must ignore Smith’s attempt in 1999 to prevent Bush from becoming President altogether by running for that office himself, of course.

Smith has even gone so far as to claim that President Bush endorsed him in this race, which is not true, and to attack Sununu for not being a close enough ally of the President.

A question not enough conservatives are asking is this: Where does Bob Smith really stand if the state’s two largest left-of-center newspapers endorsed him, but the state’s leading conservative newspaper and the nation’s leading conservative magazine (National Review) endorsed John Sununu?

Bob Smith has been able to convince too many New Hampshire conservatives that his inconsistency and recurring bad judgment are really signs of a maverick, anti-authoritarian personality. Ironically, the Monitor and the Telegraph see what many conservatives have not allowed themselves to see: Smith’s “independent” streak is really a combination of leftist sentiment on some issues and plain bad judgment on others that makes him an unreliable Republican vote in the Senate. This is why they would rather see him in the Senate than Sununu — Smith will vote their way sometimes, but Sununu will not.

If New Hampshire Republicans want to elect a consistent, reliable conservative to the U.S. Senate, they have only one option: John Sununu.

[Gothmog]

For discussion purposes

[Hellwege]

if there ever was a perfect editorial there you' d have it

[sneakypete]

if there ever was a perfect editorial there you' d have it

Yup! In "Bush-Bot World",the guy who is against big government,high taxes,gun control,and abortion is the "leftist",and the Bush-Drone is the "conservative". I'd be willing to bet it's kinda bright at night there,and kinda dark during the day,too.

[11th Earl of Mar]

NEWSFLASH: The state's liberal newspapers sre going to endorse Shaheen in the general election.

They are only endorsing Smith in the primary because they believe that he will be an easier target for their favorite candidate in the general election.