11 Days to Go--An Endorsement for McCain from Where???

The Detroit News on Thursday endorsed John McCain. Some excerpts are below (emphasis added):

Thursday, October 23, 2008

DECISION 2008: Endorsement

McCain best choice for uncertain times

During these perilous times, the nation needs an experienced, proven leader in the White House. Sen. John McCain is best equipped for the job.

The Republican presidential candidate has the character, pragmatism and independence necessary to lead a united America past our poisonous partisan divisions and into a more civil and productive future.

And he has been right on the most pressing issues of the day, from climate change to immigration.

Had Congress listened to McCain's warning in 2005 about the dangers of the exploding sub-prime mortgage market, the financial crisis choking the nation today might be less severe. Had the Bush administration heeded McCain's plea for a troop surge earlier in the Iraq War, more of America's soldiers might now be home.

In choosing McCain, we do not ignore the profound significance of Sen. Obama's candidacy....But if he wins this election, he will enter the White House as the most inexperienced president since Herbert Hoover in 1928. His proposals reflect the Democratic Party's big-spending orthodoxy. Conservative estimates place the price tag for his new programs at nearly $350 billion a year, and yet he vows even more middle class tax cuts.

Obama would raise taxes on investors and costs for job creators at a time when America needs more investment and jobs.

By contrast, McCain vows to freeze spending while he scours the budget for areas where it can be cut. Though his opponents deride a spending freeze as a simplistic response, we must take a breather from the Bush-era spending spree that has increased the size of government by 50 percent during the past eight years.

Though economic concerns are understandably dominating the nation's attention, it can't be forgotten that the world remains a very dangerous place. Within the next year, the new president will have to make difficult decisions about how to answer Iran's push toward nuclear capability. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez continues to agitate in South America, Vladimir Putin appears determined to remove Russia from the league of democratic nations and North Korea is ever volatile.

The next president will be charged with stabilizing Iraq so American troops can leave that country in good conscience. He will also have to find an answer for Afghanistan that doesn't bog down America in another long conflict or provoke Pakistan, a tenuous and nuclear armed ally.

McCain may lack the inspirational qualities of his opponent, but if this were a blind audition judged solely on the resumes of the two candidates, he would win decisively.

John McCain has what it takes to lead America in these very uncertain times.