Right neighborly

George W. Bush's hometown newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast, has officially endorsed John Kerry for President:

Four items trouble us the most about the Bush administration: his initiatives to disable the Social Security system, the deteriorating state of the American economy, a dangerous shift away from the basic freedoms established by our founding fathers, and his continuous mistakes regarding terrorism and Iraq.

This is a gonzo refersal of the usual campaign/media rhetoric: Iraq/terrorism comes last in this list of grievances, and none of the other three has gotten much serious attention in these closing weeks of the campaign. Tell the truth, I don't know much about Crawford at all, particularly whether the Iconoclast's editorial page reflects the majority view of the town's 700-odd residents. But this old CJR profile of Iconoclast editor W. Leon Smith includes this curious quote: "While the population of the state is largely Republican, most people don't really feel it in their soul."

Well, considering that the state's Republican party organization was largely built in the 1960s by a wealthy carpetbagger (George H. W. Bush) and a liquored-up dwarf (John Tower), I can see why the soul-pentration hasn't happened. Texas, whose hot dry soil begat both Ralph Yarborough and Barbara Jordan, is utterly incapable of producing an inspiring Republican, no matter how convincingly they drawl past that blueblood heritage.