No endorsement from The American Conservative

The editors of The American Conservative magazine could not come to a consensus on who to endorse for president. This is rather surprising, considering the Republican party is supposed to be the repository of conservativism in America. Instead the "special endorsement issue" features competing editorials for Bush, Kerry and even Nader from the editors. Endorsing Bush is Pat Buchanan, who while critical of Bush for getting us into Iraq, the fiscal deficit, and so on, will vote for him. "Why? Because, while Bush and Kerry are both wrong on Iraq, Sharon, NAFTA, the WTO, open borders, affirmative action, amnesty, free trade, foreign aid, and Big Government, Bush is right on taxes, judges, sovereignty, and values. Kerry is right on nothing."

On the other hand, Scott McConnell makes the case for Kerry: "Bush has behaved like a caricature of what a right-wing president is supposed to be, and his continuation in office will discredit any sort of conservatism for generations. The launching of an invasion against a country that posed no threat to the U.S., the doling out of war profits and concessions to politically favored corporations, the financing of the war by ballooning the deficit to be passed on to the nation’s children, the ceaseless drive to cut taxes for those outside the middle class and working poor: it is as if Bush sought to resurrect every false 1960s-era left-wing cliché about predatory imperialism and turn it into administration policy."