Support for Bush, war starting to slip (In Ohio)

This article is from the front page of today's Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2004/05/02/20040502-B1-03.html



Support for Bush, war starting to slip
As U.S. casualties mount, questions about reasons behind invasion increase
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Joe Hallett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ken Thomas is the face of polls that show an erosion of support for President Bush and the war in Iraq as the conflict turned deadlier in the past couple of months. Thomas, 53, a microbiologist for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, voted for Bush in 2000 "mainly because he’s pro-gun." But on Nov. 2, Thomas said he will vote for the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, mainly because "he’s not Bush." "I do regret voting for Bush," the Democrat said. "We never should have gone into Iraq in the first place. Now that we’re there, Bush doesn’t have an exit strategy. He’s taken this country in the wrong direction. He’s leading us into wars that aren’t necessary."

Across Columbus Ward 62, a Dispatch Poll in February of 842 likely voters showed 53 percent of respondents approved of Bush’s handling of the war and 47 percent disapproved.As the war turned bloodier, national polls show support for Bush waning. A New York Times/CBS News Poll released Thursday — and largely mirrored by an Associated Press poll posted April 23 — showed 47 percent of respondents now think U.S. military action against Iraq was warranted, down from 58 percent a month earlier and 63 percent in December.
The poll also showed Bush’s approval rating at 46 percent, the lowest of his presidency. Interviews last week with Ward 62 voters who know at least one U.S. soldier in Iraq echoed the conflicting opinions that appear to be increasingly dividing the nation. "I believe that al-Qaida is very much behind the fighting going on over there, and I believe 9/11 and Iraq are connected," said Sharon Freeman, 35, a stay-at-home mom and Bush supporter. "We haven’t had any attacks at home since the war’s been going on. As long as the battles are being fought, it’s better to have our trained men and women fighting over there than to have our citizens blown up at home. . . . I trust the president and his administration. I trust that they know what they are doing and are protecting our country." Others, however, contend that April’s morbid statistics belie the "Mission Accomplished" banner strung above Bush a year ago yesterday as he stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and proclaimed the end of major combat operations in Iraq. With 136 U.S. troops killed and at least 900 injured, along with 1,361 Iraqis killed, April is the deadliest month of the war.
"Every morning when I wake up, when I get home after work, every minute of every day, it seems, you see it, the reports of more dead," said Diana Bowens, 49, who analyzes traffic statistics for the state.
"When I saw the picture of all the caskets last week, that wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. We were supposed to go over there, clean house and come out. The president made us think it was going to be a piece of cake. Now it’s true hell over there. The people are fighting each other, and they’re fighting us."

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

I know a lot of people who voted for Bush in 2000 will not vote for him again.

You better edit your story down to four paragraphs per DU rules.

Honor? What a joke. We lost that when we invaded.

that people select a president based on his stance on abortion, on guns.....or that anyone connects 9/11 with Iraq. UNBELIVEABLE!

He is my husbands ex brother in law. Actually the mayor of Columbus was in NH for one of the Clark rallies. Joe Hallett just returned from Kuwait I beleive. Also the Columbus dispatch has had some scathing articles about the *. I spend alot of time in Columbus and those people really like Clark, he is very popular in Ohio, mainly Dayton but there was a great deal of excitement for him in Columbus. Clark can help Kerry win Ohio.

...it sets the stage for the gung-ho revenge driven fantasies of those hell bent on go-get-em and payback time - results of which are now evident in Iraq.

Regaining honor (a fantasy, of course):

1) Arrest and deport the entire Bush administration to The Hague, without prior impeachment. Let him be tried for war crimes WHILE IN OFFICE where he represents the nation that committed the crimes.

2) Withdraw from Iraq IMMEDIATELY.

3) Give a blank check to the U.N. or the Arab League-- say, 50 percent of the U.S. annual military budget-- toward the stablization and reconstruction of Iraq under whatever terms the Iraqi people wish, even if that means partition into three separate states.

4) At the same time, dramatically reduce the influence of the military in Washington, and in particular enact laws prohibiting the use of military force as an instrument of foreign policy.

5) Resign from the U.N. Security Council.

6) Transfer at least half of the annual aid currently given to Israel to the Palestinians so they can begin to fight back on a level field.

That would be a start....

"If we weren’t managing the chaos as well as we are, there’d be a lot more casualties."

These people quoted here who support and fucking TRUST Bush* are ignorant beyond comprehension.

I want to personally slap every journalist in the corporate owned media who allowed this slaughter fest to happen so they could keep their condos and townhouses.

Fucking media fucking media fucking media fucking media fucking media

open her eyes! She was a bit of a fence sitter but leaning away from Bush. When you lay out the whole case and she understood the misery of both my wife and I being laidoff in Bush's economy that did the trick.

We even took her to the Move On Bake back the Whitehouse sale where she signed up for MoveOn. She loved it.

the war’s been going on. As long as the battles are being fought, it’s better to have our trained men and women fighting over there than to have our citizens blown up at home. . *

Illogical AND uninformed because it starts from the assumption that Al Qaida is in one geographical location and fighting them there keeps them otherwise occupied from hitting us.