We reproduce the following with comment or embellishment.
“Since The Arizona Republic began publication in 1890, we have never endorsed a Democrat over a Republican for president. Never. This reflects a deep philosophical appreciation for conservative ideals and Republican principles.
This year is different.
The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified.
That’s why, for the first time in our history, The Arizona Republic will support a Democrat for president.
What Clinton has (and Trump doesn’t)
The challenges the United States faces domestically and internationally demand a steady hand, a cool head and the ability to think carefully before acting.
Hillary Clinton understands this. Donald Trump does not.
Clinton has the temperament and experience to be president. Donald Trump does not.
Clinton knows how to compromise and to lead with intelligence, decorum and perspective. She has a record of public service as First Lady, senator and secretary of state.
She has withstood decades of scrutiny so intense it would wither most politicians. The vehemence of some of the anti-Clinton attacks strains credulity.
Trump hasn’t even let the American people scrutinise his tax returns, which could help the nation judge his claims of business acumen.
Her flaws pale in comparison
Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of State was a mistake, as she has acknowledged. Donations to the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of State raise concerns that donors were hoping to buy access. Though there is no evidence of wrongdoing, she should have put up a firewall.
Yet despite her flaws, Clinton is the superior choice.
She does not casually say things that embolden our adversaries and frighten our allies. Her approach to governance is mature, confident and rational.
That cannot be said of her opponent.
Clinton retains her composure under pressure. She’s tough. She doesn’t back down.
Trump responds to criticism with the petulance of verbal spit wads.
That’s beneath our national dignity.
When the president of the United States speaks, the world expects substance. Not a blistering tweet.
Whose hand do you want on the nuclear button?
She is intimately familiar with the challenges we face in our relations with Russia, China, the Middle East, North Korea and elsewhere. She’ll stand by our friends and she’s not afraid to confront our enemies.
Contrast Clinton’s tenacity and professionalism with Trump, who began his campaign with gross generalities about Mexico and Mexicans as criminals and rapists. These were careless slaps at a valued trading partner and Arizona’s neighbor. They were thoughtless insults about people whose labor and energy enrich our country.
Trump demonstrated his clumsiness on the world stage by making nice with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto only a few hours before appearing in Phoenix to deliver yet another rant about Mexican immigrants and border walls.
Arizona’s been there on immigration (it doesn’t work)
What’s more, Arizona went down the hardline immigration road Trump travels. It led our state to SB 1070, the 2010 “show me your papers” law that earned Arizona international condemnation and did nothing to resolve real problems with undocumented immigration.
Arizona understands that we don’t need a repeat of that divisive, unproductive fiasco on the national level. A recent poll shows Arizonans oppose both more walls and the mass deportations Trump endorses.
We need a president who can broker solutions.
Clinton calls for comprehensive immigration reform, a goal that business, faith and law enforcement leaders have sought for years. Her support for a pathway to citizenship and her call for compassion for families torn apart by deportation are consistent with her longtime support for human rights.
Clinton’s equality vs. Trump’s lack of respect
As secretary of state, Clinton made gender equality a priority for U.S. foreign policy. This is an extension of Clinton’s bold “women’s rights are human rights” speech in 1995.
It reflects an understanding that America’s commitment to human rights is a critically needed beacon in today’s troubled world.
Trump’s long history of objectifying women and his demeaning comments about women during the campaign are not just good-old-boy gaffes.
They are evidence of deep character flaws. They are part of a pattern.
Trump mocked a reporter’s physical handicap. Picked a fight with a Gold Star family.Insulted POWs. Suggested a Latino judge can’t be fair because of his heritage. Proposed banning Muslim immigration.
Each of those comments show a stunning lack of human decency, empathy and respect. Taken together they reveal a candidate who doesn’t grasp our national ideals.
A centrist or a wild card?
Trump’s conversion to conservatism is recent and unconvincing. There is no guarantee he will name solid conservatives to the Supreme Court.
Hillary Clinton has long been a centrist. Despite her tack left to woo Bernie Sanders supporters, Clinton retains her centrist roots. Her justices might not be in the mold of Antonin Scalia, but they will be accomplished individuals with the experience, education and intelligence to handle the job.
They will be competent. Just as she is competent.
If a candidate can’t control his words
Trump’s inability to control himself or be controlled by others represents a real threat to our national security. His recent efforts to stay on script are not reassuring. They are phoney.
The president commands our nuclear arsenal. Trump can’t command his own rhetoric.
Were he to become president, his casual remarks — such as saying he wouldn’t defend NATO partners from invasion — could have devastating consequences.
Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, a thug who has made it clear he wants to expand Russia’s international footprint.
Trump suggested Russia engage in espionage against Hillary Clinton — an outrageous statement that he later insisted was meant in jest.
Trump said President Obama and Hillary Clinton were “co-founders” of ISIS, then walked that back by saying it was sarcasm.
It was reckless.
Being the leader of the free world requires a sense of propriety that Trump lacks.
Clinton’s opportunity to heal this nation
Their concerns deserve to be discussed with respect.
Ironically, Trump hasn’t done that. He has merely pandered. Instead of offering solutions, he hangs scapegoats like piñatas and invites people to take a swing.
In a nation with an increasingly diverse population, Trump offers a recipe for permanent civil discord.
In a global economy, he offers protectionism and a false promise to bring back jobs that no longer exist.
America needs to look ahead and build a new era of prosperity for the working class.
This is Hillary Clinton’s opportunity. She can reach out to those who feel left behind. She can make it clear that America sees them and will address their concerns.
She can move us beyond rancour and incivility.
The Arizona Republic endorses Hillary Clinton for President.”
Well, This Is What I Think 
Aaah the fear factor techniques that worked so well during the Brexit vote. Very cheap.
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Brexit was lies. So is Trump. When a very very conservative paper in a very conservative state empties a bucket all over him it says something …
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Lies from both sides I hasten to add. Yolly you know as well I do that political shenanigans exist in the media and to deny it is indefensible. I’m no big fan of Trump but I actually hope he wins to give the USA a kick up the ****.
I don’t completely understand the voting system in the USA but with the General Election, Brexit etc showing a trend it could well continue.
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A kick up the arse is one thing – electing a man who is very possibly mentally ill, and who is manifestly not up to the job, is another. Much of the criticism of Clinton is ludicrously partisan, and while I am by no means a huge fan of hers, she is far and away the better candidate.
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The most basic level of research would see that the Arizona Republic was purchased by Gannett in 2000. This has subsequently been brought into the same stable as USA Today and NBC.
Hardly a surprise that it has come out for the Democrat Candidate despite what its private owners did in 1890.
Another non-story from Planet Bullshit. Still waiting for the ‘you heard it here first – due in 30 minutes, look at me look at me’ revelation from the Labour Conference, btw.
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And all of elections since 2000.
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Sadly, of course, your assertion that Gannett titles are innately liberal is, of course, more of your sad and silly bias. Besides which, the decision to endorse Clinton was taken by the local editorial board, not the owning group.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/what-your-preferred-news-outlet-says-about-your-political-ideology-2014-10?r=US&IR=T
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As for the story re the Labour Conference, it wasn’t about the Labour Conference, never said it was, and the story is still current, but embargoed. Thanks for playing.
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Lonestar, thanks for providing some facts behind this story. As I said at the start of the thread Yolly is well aware of political shenanigans in the media but decides which to promote based on his own ‘biased agenda’.
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Except the point that “Lonestar” raised is based on his own bias, not fact, and innacurate. Still that never stopped anyone seeking to derail a simple re-reporting of someone else’s views. Comments on this thread are now closed.
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Reblogged this on Coalition of the Brave.
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The Arizona Republic is not the only Republican institution endorsing Clinton, and a goodly number of republican individuals will be voting for her as well. I just hope all this adulation doesn’t push illiberal “liberals” farther in the direction of third parties. Gary Johnson would destroy government just as much as Trump would, and Jill Stein is the sham that so many (wrongly) think Hillary is. I can, of course, see why either of them, or Trump, might appeal to a pessimistic anarchist.
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The Republican Congress has failed to stop the megalomaniac President for years. Hardly surprising that the non-conservative element of the Party is doing backflips.
I note that most of the people trying to tell me Trump would be a bad President are the same ones who told me, ad nauseum, that Obama would be a good one. Which kind of makes me park their argument pretty quickly.
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Richard, I accept that you don’t believe Obama is/was a good President. But do you think he’s done ANYTHING praiseworthy?
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Very little. He has avoided personal scandals which is one-up on some of his predecessors.
But trebling of the debt, setting race relations back 40 years, increasing the reach of Federal Government, disastrous immigration policy, making America a laughingstock in the international community…….no, I will be happy to see him go.
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Interested that you consider him a “laughing stock” in the international community. Generally he is considered to be the most popular and admired US President overseas since JFK.
I hardly think he can take the blame for setting race relations back. I think the country did that to itself without any help from the President.
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I agree one one key issue with you. He has failed to unite the country around any major initiatives – I believe Obamacare will come to be seen as a brave but flawed effort that future administrations will reform and build on rather than demolish, but there is no question that he failed to build a consensus.
This all assumes, of course, that Obama was ever capable of forming a consensus, around anything. Not even you can deny that he faced the most obstructionist Congress in more than 150 years, as it’s a simple statistical fact. What Obama’s Presidency reveals is the depth of the partisan divide in America, which I wrote about recently.
You will place, I presume, all of the blame for that at Obama’s door, but in reality the right has been in a ferment of anger for years now, and has employed every tactic possible to stymie him doing anything. The interloper challenger from Trump shows how that anger has riven the conservative base from top to toe. It makes any dialogue virtually impossible, and as sure as day follows night it has produced its own counter-reaction on the Left.
The “great work” for American democracy in the next ten years is to re-unite as a nation, around common goals. Sadly – and made worse by the choice of Presidential candidates – there is absolutely no sign of that happening.
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