I'm amused by my conservative friends' reactions to the Manchester Union-Leader's endorsement of John McCain and unendorsement of Mitt Romney. Growing up there (and delivering the paper throughout my teen years), I have pretty good memories of the paper getting Ed Muskie to cry after a particularly vicious Bill Loeb editorial, references to Gerald Ford as "Jerry the Jerk" etc. The paper has always had an old-time feel of the papers where Clark Kent and Peter Parker worked at, with a cigar-chomping, bellowing bully in charge. While current publisher Joe McQuaid isn't quite the same guy the Loebs were, he grew up at their side and the paper still views its role in the presidential contest as its chance to be a newspaper on the national stage. Come January 10th, they'll turn back into a pumpkin for the next 3.5 years.

By the way: The last time McCain ran, McQuaid referred to him as "the most liberal guy on the Republican side." The Leader endorsed Steve Forbes in 2000. McCain of course won, with Forbes a distant third. McQuaid called GW Bush "a wimp". So those who want to dig up something the Concord Monitor wrote 28 years ago to call the Union Leader a liberal paper should probably think whether that really applies.

By the way, part 2: This fellow used to write at the U-L, and it gets me to thinking that if the Loebs were alive today, they might have endorsed Ron Paul.

Labels: politics