The Arizona Republic is with her. And it’s a stunning change of direction for the paper.
The Republic announced Tuesday that it had endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — the first time the paper has endorsed a Democrat in a general election since it launched in 1890.
In making its endorsement, the Republic called Clinton “the only choice to move America ahead.”
Meanwhile, the paper said, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump “is not conservative and he is not qualified.”
“The challenges the United States faces domestically and internationally demand a steady hand, a cool head and the ability to think carefully before acting.” the paper continued. “Hillary Clinton understands this. Donald Trump does not …. Clinton has the temperament and experience to be president. Donald Trump does not.”
The endorsement comes the day after Clinton’s first presidential debate with Trump, in which the topic of Trump’s temperament played a prominent part. Clinton was largely believed to have won that debate.
The paper went on to hail Clinton’s ability to withstand scrutiny. Trump? Not so much.
“She has withstood decades of scrutiny so intense it would wither most politicians. The vehemence of some of the anti-Clinton attacks strains credulity,” the paper noted. “Trump hasn’t even let the American people scrutinize his tax returns, which could help the nation judge his claims of business acumen.”
The Republic did concede that Clinton has her flaws, but “is the superior choice.”
In particular, the paper criticized Trump’s hard-line immigration stance, saying that Arizona had tried that approach before, without success.
“Arizona understands that we don’t need a repeat of that divisive, unproductive fiasco on the national level,” the paper stated. “A recent poll shows Arizonans oppose both more walls and the mass deportations Trump endorses.”