I think the chronicle, one of the largest papers in the lone star state pretty much says it all:
For only the second time since native son LBJ in 1964, the Houston Chronicle has endorsed a democrat for the presidency.
The chronicle, which endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012, stated the following:
"On Nov. 8, 2016, the American people will decide between two presidential contenders who represent the starkest political choice in living memory. They will choose between one candidate with vast experience and a lifelong dedication to public service and another totally lacking in qualifications to be president. They will decide whether they prefer someone deeply familiar with the issues that are important to this nation or a person whose paper-thin, bumper-sticker proposals would be dangerous to the nation and the world if somehow they were enacted.
The Chronicle editorial page does not typically endorse early in an election cycle; we prefer waiting for the campaign to play out and for issues to emerge and be addressed. We make an exception in the 2016 presidential race, because the choice between Hillary Clinton and
Donald Trump is not merely political. It is something much more basic than party preference.
An election between the
Democrat Clinton and, let's say, the
Republican Jeb Bush or
John Kasich or
Marco Rubio, even the hyper-ideological
Ted Cruz, would spark a much-needed debate about the role of government and the nation's future, about each candidate's experience and abilities. But those Republican hopefuls have been vanquished. To choose the candidate who defeated them - fairly and decisively, we should point out - is to repudiate the most basic notions of competence and capability.
Any one of Trump's less-than-sterling qualities - his erratic temperament, his dodgy business practices, his racism, his Putin-like strongman inclinations and faux-populist demagoguery, his contempt for the rule of law, his ignorance - is enough to be disqualifying. His convention-speech comment, "I alone can fix it," should make every American shudder. He is, we believe, a danger to the Republic."
These are unsettling times that require a steady hand: That's not Donald Trump.
