Home > Republicans Begin to Question War In Iraq
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(CBS 5) President Bush spoke to the nation Tuesday night in an attempt to address many concerns about the war in Iraq.
But among those questioning U.S. policy are a number of Republicans.
"I don’t see a direction out of him in terms of where he’s trying to take the country," said Jeff Werolin, 44, a Republican and a real estate agent in Folsom.
Werolin voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, but says the president’s message on the war has gotten muddy since November 2nd.
"I just feel like we’re moving along business as usual and it’s starting to get the feel of a quagmire," he said. "That’s sort of the feeling I’m getting, and I didn’t have those feelings nine months ago."
Werolin isn’t alone. Political observers say a growing number of Republicans in the California State legislature are unhappy with the president. But you’d be hard pressed to get any of them to say so publicly. Not so in Congress, where GOP lawmakers are asking tougher and tougher questions about the war in Iraq.
"I’m here to tell you sir, in the most patriotic state I can imagine, people are beginning to question," said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina. "And I don’t think it’s a blip on the radar screen. I think we have a chronic problem on our hands."
The cost of the war is perhaps the most nagging question — the life and death cost, the financial cost, and the human cost here at home. In Folsom, you won’t find a lot of military families, but you will find high gas prices, worries about education, and concerns about the president’s leadership on other fronts. Immigration is a concern for Werolin.
"I think if we tried to cut back on illegal immigration and tried to open up legal immigration a little bit more with some standards, that would help us out tremendously," he said.
But at the end of the day, the war is still the most dominant issue.
"I felt like we had a lot of direction after 9-11," Werolin said. "But since the election we haven’t really been going anywhere."
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