For sometime now on this blog, I have been saying that the Republicans running for the U.S. Senate here in Tennessee are not taking the war in Iraq seriously, as they never say anything about it while campaigning.However, I never thought I see this. The Republicans have came right out and said it: they do not think the war in Iraq is that important of an issue!
The Associated Press reports, "Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker and former U.S. Reps. Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary say Republican primary voters in Tennessee generally support President Bush and the war in Iraq."
"In recent interviews with The Associated Press the candidates said they're not getting much negative feedback from supporters.
"You really don't hear so much about the war in Iraq -- it's actually surprising," said Corker. "You all (in the media) are asking about that issue. It's just not an issue that comes up a great deal on the campaign trail."
"An Associated Press-Ipsos poll last month found that 59 percent of Americans say the United States erred in going to war in Iraq, but Hilleary said he doesn't see those national attitudes filtering down.
"Most people that vote in the Republican primary are supportive of the war, as am I," he said. "And I think President Bush has done a better job than John Kerry would have done."
Hilleary also said he expects Bush's poll numbers to rebound before the general election.
The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,003 adults was completed shortly before the announcement that U.S. airstrikes had killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader in Iraq. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points."
"U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., the likely Democratic candidate, said he finds it hard to believe that voters will not be thinking about the war when they cast their ballots.
"The war in Iraq has cost $400 billion, we've lost 2,500 soldiers," Ford said at a campaign event. "I don't know what world my Republican opponents are living in if they don't believe the war in Iraq is an important issue to people across this state."
I find this totally unacceptable. Iraq may just be the very most important issue in this race. For the Republicans to try and say that it really isn't that important and that people are not talking about it is just a lie.
Harold Ford Jr. has not backed away from the issue of Iraq throughout this campaign. He has stood by his initial support of the war and has said time after time we have to stay and make sure victory is acheived. He has visited Iraq five times and has laid out clearly what he feels should be done in order for us to succeede there.
That is the type leadership we need in our next U.S. Senator.
We have already saw enough failed leadership when it comes to Iraq, lets not send another stooge to the Senate that will add to the incompetence this fall.
We need to elect someone who takes Iraq seriously and will not back down in the face of political troubles.
Harold Ford Jr. is our man.
