Esquire Endorses America
Leafing through the Esquire list of endorsements for all the Senate, House, and Governor’s races in this nation. I go to the folks I’m largely familiar with. I wonder about this:
District 4
Doc Hastings (R)
Richard Wright (D)
A strong conservative from Washington’s most conservative district, Doc Hastings has been a loyal party man. But even Democrats have praised his fairness as chairman of the House Ethics Committee. Esquire endorses: Hastings
Argurably he’s been praised, or at least not scorned, for his current role with Foley, because some hearings appear to be happening. And sometime before he was chairman of the House Ethics Committee, he was on some Ethics sub-committee where he was praised, or at least not scorned, for his dealings with non-controversial tasks involving James Traficant and Gary Condit.
There was a CNN special, called “The Broken Branch” about our woeful Congress, within this past week that cast a sympathetic light on Joel Hefley, the man that Doc Hastings replaced after Hefley admonished Tom DeLay. Doc Hastings was mentioned with this phrase “Dennis Hastert accolade” — though it would have been better to say “Tom Delay accolade”.
I guess I wouldn’t expect Esquire to get this right when shuffling through 500 some races from an office in New York — or wherever. Nor would I particularly expect them to endorse anyone but a strong Republican in a strong Republican district. But the reason is phony.
Another interesting endorsement for Washington State:
District 7
Steve Beren (R)
Jim McDermott (D)
McDermott is one of the most liberal, least tactful members of Congress; this is the man who called Saddam Hussein more credible than George Bush. Just because John Boehner says this kind of garbage about Democrats doesn’t make it right for a Democrat to say it about the president. In protest, we endorse the Republican.
Esquire endorses: Beren
Maybe I should go back to see precisely what he said, but you don’t have to toss in Saddam Hussein name as any comparison to argure that George Bush lacks credibility. But this is a piece of the moderating influence in a generally Democratic leaning batch of endorsements — firebrands of any type not welcome.
A bit curious to check Ron Paul from Texas:
District 14
Ron Paul (R)
Shane Sklar (D)
Rep. Paul, a true libertarian, is one of the great eccentrics in Congress. He used to be considered the most right-wing member from Texas. Now most of the delegation is far to his right. They’ve changed. He hasn’t.
Esquire endorses: Paul