Cape Cod is the ancestral Massachusetts home of the Kennedy clan. In America, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more liberal area. There is one newspaper there, the Cape Cod Times.

And yesterday, the Cape Cod Times endorsed George W. Bush for President. (Hat tip: Mike K.)

Sen. John McCain, the well-respected Republican from Arizona, recently described what’s at stake for every American in the first presidential election since Sept. 11, 2001:

“So it is, whether we wished it or not, that we have come to the test of our generation, to our rendezvous with destiny. …

”All of us, despite the differences that enliven our politics, are united in the one big idea that freedom is our birthright and its defense is always our first responsibility. All other responsibilities come second.“

If we waver now, McCain said, ”we will fail the one mission no American generation has ever failed - to provide to our children a stronger, better country than the one we were blessed to inherit.“

For McCain and for millions of other Americans, the global war against terrorism is the defining issue of this election.

In this context, we believe President George W. Bush will best lead a bolder, more proactive, more focused struggle against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan and rogue governments and groups that shelter, finance or otherwise support terrorists.

In contrast, Sen. John Kerry has said any attack against America will be met with ”a swift response,“ but that pre-emptive strikes must meet ”a global test.“

In other words, Kerry would play defense, much like previous administrations did after the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993, the USS Cole, and U.S. embassies abroad.

We can no longer live in a pre-Sept. 11 world. We must remain on the offensive. ”The United States can no longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we have in the past,“ President Bush said. ”We cannot let our enemies strike first.”