For Joe Biden:
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: Behind a paywall, but I suspect there wasn't a full-blown editorial.
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Joe Biden is not a perfect candidate, but he has the attributes to unite the willpower of many and throw away the rhetoric of violence that is creating so much division in the United States. We need a President for all, someone who believes in inclusion, who respects diversity and treats each of us as equals, regardless of color, language or accent when speaking. A President that represents the Constitution, rescuing from oblivion the fundamental principle that all American citizens are covered by a Bill of Rights that protects all our liberties, as well as our right to have our own opinion and differ without fear of being attacked or ridiculed.
Although it is far more specific and encompassing that any of Trump´s unfocused ideas and hurtful speeches, Biden´s plan emerges in the final stages of the campaign. We will keep a vigilant eye to ensure he makes good on his multiple offers. It would be unforgivable to defraud the hope of Puerto Ricans both in the island and in the United States.
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It will come as no surprise to readers of this page that we endorse Mr. Biden for president. Four years of Donald Trump have left this nation bitterly divided at home, increasingly isolated in the world, struggling through a mismanaged pandemic that has left more than 217,000 Americans dead, and searching for its moral compass.
Mr. Biden’s 47 years in public service, 36 of them as a U.S. senator and eight as vice president, speak to a breadth of experience not just in politics but in the art of governance, negotiation and compromise. These are things Mr. Trump seems not only unwilling to embrace, but temperamentally unable to even grasp.
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Decatur Daily: Behind a paywall.
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There are many other reasons to vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Trump mishandled the coronavirus pandemic and let far more Americans die than would have if the nation had acted sooner. He abused his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son. He has turned us against each other to aggrandize himself.
The task of trying to enumerate his misdeeds — from the May 2017 firing of FBI Director James B. Comey because “the president wanted to protect himself from an investigation into his campaign,” according to Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s report, to Trump’s recent inexplicable behavior and shocking comments after he was found to have COVID-19 — is a numbing one.
Joe Biden, by contrast, is the beacon of sanity this nation desperately needs right now. The Democratic Party has offered a platform of substantive policy initiatives that promise health care for more Americans and an economy that works for all, not just the rich. Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, have the will and good judgment to restore decency to America.
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We need a president we can trust, who will level with Americans, not deal in misdirection and deception. Biden would restore principled leadership and presidential norms to the White House.
Trump’s disgraceful response to the pandemic would be enough to disqualify him from another term. Sadly, he has inflicted more damage on our nation. He obliterates the norms we expect in a president, sowing division and stoking racial strife instead of trying to heal open wounds. He fawns over dictators and takes their word over this country’s own intelligence experts. He jeopardizes our national security and isolates us from other democratic nations. America’s strength and standing depends on its relationships with our allies, relationships Trump has left in tatters.
Trump prefers a world without fact-checkers, criticism and the free press that is a hallmark of American democracy. He prefers an authoritarian style that bypasses Congress and buy-in from the American people. At his order, not Congress’, toddlers were cruelly separated from their parents at the border.
Biden would restore normalcy, civility and humanity to the presidency at a time they are desperately needed. He would lead with dignity and respect for American values and our military. He understands what it is like to send a son or daughter off to war.
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Based on the trajectory of the last four years, the best choice for America’s next leader is Joe Biden.
The former vice president and senator from Delaware offers a wealth of experience after more than four decades in public office – not to mention a different path than the man he hopes to unseat.
Simply put, Trump’s first term in office has not been what Nebraskans need. Biden will be a change of pace – and that in and of itself represents an improvement.
Trump’s approach of division, of red vs. blue, fails to address the fact that reasonable Americans can have differing opinions in this nation founded on dissent and freedom.
Meanwhile, Biden has a history of being the type of leader who works across the aisle in hopes of achieving a needed compromise. He went as far as calling Trump in April to offer guidance in dealing with a pandemic. A recent Politico profile of Biden noted that, as vice president, he often bridged the gap between Republican and Democratic interests during partisan fever pitches.
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Given his age, 77, it is a legitimate question as to what will happen if Biden cannot live out his term. Fortunately, he has as his running mate a woman well qualified to step in, if necessary. Kamala Harris has been a prosecutor, a state attorney general and a U.S. senator. Her positions on the issues are similar to Biden’s.
We could on and on with reasons why President Trump should be defeated. He has been tragically wrong on almost every issue and his personal conduct is deplorable. We’ll just say he is intellectually and morally unfit to hold office under the U.S. Constitution and leave it at that.
But there’s no need to base your vote solely on what Trump is and says. The Democrats have put forth a good candidate who can be supported on his own merits.
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Biden’s normalcy is one of his greatest assets. So, too, is his experience. He served as Barack Obama’s vice president for eight years and did so admirably throughout. Before that, he was a U.S. senator from Delaware, first elected in 1972.
Has he been on the right side of every issue all the while? Of course not. No one who’s been in government for so long could possibly be. He’s always been a good, decent, honorable and hardworking man who has long demonstrated a quality that is all too rare among today’s politicians: genuine empathy.
We surely could stand some of that right about now.
When Biden talks about governing the way it used to be done, by working across the aisle and forming a consensus, many people dismiss his talk as just so much blather, an impossible wish to return to a time that is long gone. Biden doesn’t believe that, and neither do we. Wouldn’t that be a dream come true.
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Beyond the issues, we look forward under a Biden presidency to a return to a kinder, more empathetic leadership, one that uplifts and upholds American principles.
When we listen to Trump stand up for white supremacists and essentially call for armed militia types to intimidate us at the polls, our hearts break for a moral and ethical loss that cannot be quantified – and we fear for the future and the soul of our country. When he mocks people and turns conversations with Gold Star families into puffery for himself, we are aghast. When he uses deflection and ugly "I don’t know if it’s true'' dog whistles to avoid responsibility and cast aspersions, we count the days until he is out of office.
Biden sums up his campaign as a call for a return to decency.
We urge you to vote for Joe Biden and put an end to the incompetence and ugliness of the Trump administration.
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More to come...
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