Washington Post dotes on Clinton in endorsement editorial

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Urging voters to look past the "gloom and ugliness" of the election, the editorial board of the Washington Post endorsed Hillary Clinton for president "without hesitation" on Thursday.

By contrast, the paper said a victory for her opponent, Donald Trump, would represent a "grave danger" to the country and the world.

But in an editorial that focused more on Clinton's strengths than Trump's weaknesses, the Post said Clinton has more experience than any recent candidate and "has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States."

The Post noted Clinton's penchant for privacy over public access, from Whitewater and her ill-fated attempt to introduce a national healthcare program in her husband's presidency and her use of a private email server as secretary of state. But, considering her opponent's refusal to release his tax returns and other standard public disclosures by presidential candidates, Clinton is a "paragon of transparency" by comparison, the Post said.

"Mr. Trump, by contrast, has shown himself to be bigoted, ignorant, deceitful, narcissistic, vengeful, petty, misogynistic, fiscally reckless, intellectually lazy, contemptuous of democracy and enamored of America's enemies. As president, he would pose a grave danger to the nation and the world," the Post wrote.

The paper has been among Trump's most dogged investigators, publishing a series of damning articles about the conduct of his charitable foundation and unearthing a video last week that upended the campaign, in which Trump is heard speaking into a hot microphone, boasting that because of his celebrity, he can get away with grabbing a woman's crotch.