Sunday, August 14, 2005
Even Republicans hate being lied to
First, the statistics:
A majority of Americans--54 percent in the latest Gallup Poll-- now say the U.S. made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq.
A minority--just 34 percent in a Newsweek survey earlier this month, and 38 percent in a similar Associated Press-Ipsos survey--approve of Bush's handling of Iraq.
Next, the testimonials (source: Chicago Tribune):
That's what we all want to know. The only person who doesn't seem to be asking the question and figuring out a plan for getting us out of Iraq is the Liar-in-Chief himself.
Chicago Tribune | Doubt on war grows in U.S.
A majority of Americans--54 percent in the latest Gallup Poll-- now say the U.S. made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq.
A minority--just 34 percent in a Newsweek survey earlier this month, and 38 percent in a similar Associated Press-Ipsos survey--approve of Bush's handling of Iraq.
Next, the testimonials (source: Chicago Tribune):
Calls for withdrawal are coming from some of Bush's staunchest supporters. Clyde Graham, a retired trucking industry salesman in Wexford, Pa., twice voted for Bush.
"At the time, I felt we should stay the course," Graham said of the 2004 election. "I'm questioning that now."
The war cost Bush the vote of Graham's wife, Margaret, also a Republican, who supported Bush's election in 2000 but not his re-election.
"New things are cropping up all the time to frighten us," she said. "They don't frighten me, they annoy me--sending all our boys over there in a useless war."
Ruth Carlson of Aliquippa, a Navy veteran, voted for Bush in 2000. So did her husband, an Air Force veteran. But neither voted for Bush in 2004.
"We usually vote Republican," Carlson said. "Come around this time, we couldn't vote for [Bush]. . . . If they came after my son, I'd have to get him out of the country. We don't want our child going over there and dying for nothing."
Across the country, it's the absence of the threat that Iraq was supposed to pose that most troubles Dale Blake, 42, a Los Angeles construction worker.
"When it all started, we were hearing about nuclear weapons, gas, biological weapons, all sorts of stuff," Blake says. "Of course I thought we should get rid of stuff like that. But now we know that was all bull, and so I now believe I was wrong. But maybe wrong because I was lied to from the start. How are we going to get out? That's what I want to know."
That's what we all want to know. The only person who doesn't seem to be asking the question and figuring out a plan for getting us out of Iraq is the Liar-in-Chief himself.
Chicago Tribune | Doubt on war grows in U.S.
