From the Detroit News on September 29:
“Today this newspaper does something it has never done in its 143-year history: endorse someone other than the Republican candidate in a presidential contest.
“Since its founding in 1873, The Detroit News has backed a Republican every time it has made a presidential endorsement (three times we have sat on the sidelines — twice during the Franklin Roosevelt elections and in the 2004 Bush/Kerry contest).
“We abandon that long and estimable tradition this year for one reason: Donald J. Trump.
“The 2016 nominee offered by the Republican Party rubs hard against the editorial board’s values as conservatives and Americans. Donald Trump is unprincipled, unstable and quite possibly dangerous. He can not be president.
“His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, has an impressive resume and a presidential bearing. And although we disagree with her nearly across the board on the issues, we acknowledge she has the temperament to be commander-in-chief and leader of both a diverse nation and the free world.
“But character matters. Her career-long struggles with honesty and ethics and calculating, self-serving approach to politics trouble us deeply.
“So we find ourselves in the same position as a vast number of voters in looking for an option other than skipping the presidential portion of the ballot.
“Gary Johnson meets that need. We recognize the Libertarian candidate is the longest of long shots with an electorate that has been conditioned to believe only Republicans and Democrats can win major offices.
“But this is an endorsement of conscience, reflecting our confidence that Johnson would be a competent and capable president and an honorable one.”
“Gary Johnson has excelled at public service. In his eight years as the Republican governor of New Mexico, he cut taxes while balancing the budget, and left the state in better fiscal shape than when he arrived. He also was a champion of school choice, and the state under his guidance made great strides in improving education.”
“In abandoning the GOP nominee, The News has plenty of company among traditional Republicans and conservatives. In this decision, we join such longtime GOP luminaries as the Bush family, the 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the party’s mega-funders Charles and David Koch, and many, many others.
“We anticipate our decision not to support either of the major party candidates will bring charges that we are throwing away our endorsement. Our contention is that an endorsement based on conscience is never wasted.
“We urge readers who share our disillusionment with the presidential ballot and disdain for the GOP nominee to join us in casting a conscience vote for Gary Johnson.”
