Island Packet offers a weak endorsement for Joe Wilson

To be clear I don't so much take issue with who The Island Packet has endorsed, but the rather weak logic they've offered up as to why he deserves my and your vote.

You can read their piece here, but I'd summarize it as follows with my counters:

  • He's an incumbent of 10 years; valid but the paper doesn't tell us why Wilson's going to do more with future years than challenger Rob Miller would in a few years.
  • The paper says it's good that Wilson is against earmarks, except for those earmarks that he's not against because they're good for us; this is as bad as a politician's double speak.
  • Wilson gets a thumbs up for not wanting to see the Bush tax cuts end and he gets praise for wanting to reign in spending; again, double speak.
  • The paper seems to offer a word of caution about Wilson's controversial notes (notably, the "you lie" incident.)

There's nothing in the endorsement about why Wilson is good for Beaufort County other than being supportive of our bases and local earmarks (which I have little reason to think Miller would be less enthusiastic of.) The paper should be telling us what about Wilson's vision makes him good for us in Beaufort. Or have the national issues of spending and earmarks become the only points of concern?

If the paper had written that Wilson wasn't a stand out guy but he's better than what Rob Miller offers, that'd be one thing, but offering up a rehashing of what seem to be Wilson's own talking points isn't very insightful.

I'm sure we can expect another endorsement or two in the campaign and hopefully those will be a bit more compelling.

Also worth noting is that Wilson and Miller have just wrapped up their ETV debate, which you should be able to watch soon over here.

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