Is there any Republican that the Trib likes? Not just Presidential candidates, I mean at all.
They are a strong voice for small gov’t conservatism, but seem to save a lot of venom for the GOP. They’ve always been after Santorum. They have a thing for Tim Murphy and wouldn’t endorse anyone for the Allegheny county executive.
Tim Murphy is very similar to Rick Santorum politically-- a bit weak on the union and compassionate conservatism type issues, solid on everything else. I really can't see why they don't like him, particularly when they endorsed the corrupt old b*st*rd John Murtha over a solid conservative challenger in his last election (2008).
The best I can figure is that they are a libertarian paper and maybe smoke just a little too much weed from time to time. I've never seen them print anything critical about Ron Paul, for instance.