August 20, 2003
Iraq Mess Eroding Bush's Southern Support
South may not back Bush
Support for Iraq war slides
By DANIEL HOLBROOK
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
WASHINGTON — Southern support for Operation Iraqi Freedom is eroding, according to a new poll.
Forty-two percent of Southerners now question the administration's decision to commit troops, according to a poll by the Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University. The poll found a broad drop in Southerners' commitment to U.S. involvement in Iraq since early May, when President Bush declared an end to major military operations there.
At the time, less than one-third of Southerners were uncertain about the war. But as the postwar occupation drags on and the promised weapons of mass destruction fail to appear, doubts are increasing.
"Back when it's an easy fight with little or no resistance, people get kind of wound up in the cheering and flag-waving," said David Gespass, a lawyer and anti-war advocate with the Birmingham Peace Project. "Now that troops have been there for a year, we're worrying about when they'll get home."
Concerns also are growing for Southern soldiers abroad, some say. With some of the largest state National Guards in the country, the South is disproportionately represented in occupation forces.
"For the most part, Southerners are more militaristic, and they're dying in large portions," said Karen Cartee, a professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Alabama. "People ask themselves, 'Is the end in sight?' "
Southerners are starting to oppose the war for the same reason they once supported it, said Nikos Zahariadis, a professor of political science at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
"It seems paradoxical, I know, but many people from the South weren't supporting Bush, they were supporting the troops," he said.
This piece of good news was brought to my attention by Liberal Oasis.
LO also has another excellent entry about Secretary Abraham's assertion that the rate payers have to pay for upgrading the grid in order to keep our rates low. Oh, really? His point that the Democrats should be rethinking deregulation is right on the mark. I'd really like to see some of Rocky Mountain Institute's policies considered rather than paying off the energy companies. (I covered some of the reasons that we don't want to let the big energy companies make the policy in my Left Coaster post last Sunday.)
Posted by Mary at August 20, 2003 12:10 AM | TrackBack