From The Chicago Sun-Times
Time to shift command to Kerry
October 24, 2004
The Chicago Sun-Times endorses Sen. John Kerry for president. This represents a change in outlook for us. Four years ago, this newspaper endorsed George W. Bush. We thought his administration would be about trimming big government and spending a surplus projected at $4.5 trillion. We liked Bush's vision for cutting taxes. And, most of all, we saw Bush as a leader who could unite the nation.
-snip-
We also like how Kerry thinks -- his thirst for information, his ability to judge situations on their merits. Yes, he sometimes changes his mind, but what the Republicans tar as waffling strikes us as flexibility.
We want leaders to stay the course only when the course is a good one. Perhaps that is the ultimate reason for endorsing John Kerry. The course America is on today feels wrong -- our attempts to defend ourselves have somehow drawn the contempt of the world, and we think much of that is due more to style than to substance -- not to what we've done, but how we've done it. Kerry is no weakling. He fought for his country in Vietnam, and no amount of fault-finding over his medals can undo that. He served for 19 years in the Senate, where he faced problems head-on -- though Vietnam was a vulnerable issue for him, because of his later opposition to the war, he took on the question of whether U.S. prisoners were still there and headed the government's effort to get at the truth.
The question that Americans need to ask themselves, going into the voting booth a week from Tuesday, is this: Do you like the direction our nation is heading? If the answer is no, then your vote should be for Sen. John Kerry.
-snip-
http://www.suntimes.com/output/endorse/cst-edt-edits24x.html