Wall Street Journal: GOP losing advantage over national security
RAW STORY
Published:
Friday September 1, 2006
Print This Email This An article in today's Wall Street Journal asserts that Republicans are losing their political advantage on issues of national security.
Based on poll data, Congressional race analyses, and a breakdown of recent speeches by prominent Republicans including President Bush, writer Jackie Calmes argues that the GOP monopoly on national security is in a palpable state of decline.
Among additional factors weakening the Republican platform this election year, Calmes writes, are unrest in Iraq, corruption, outlandish federal spending, and a growing distate for incumbents.
Excerpts from the registration-restricted article follow.
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In both national elections since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, President Bush and congressional Republicans successfully played the national-security card to win big victories against the odds. Now, with their party's control of Congress at stake, Republicans are betting on the issue again. But it may not be the trump card it used to be.
The public's patience has frayed as the Iraq war grows bloodier in its fourth year, eroding confidence in Mr. Bush's stewardship of national security. Mismanagement of the response to Hurricane Katrina contributed. Democrats, having ceded the security issue to Republicans in the past, now are on the offensive. They're attacking the administration's competence at home and abroad and fielding candidates with military experience.
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A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll in June, buttressed by other polls since, suggested Democrats have gained significant ground. It gave them a three-point advantage on the question of which party can best deal with Iraq, erasing Republicans' 30-point edge of October 2002. Democrats had a nine-point edge on handling foreign policy, a swing from Republicans' 18-point advantage in June 2002. Republicans did retain a 24-point advantage on "ensuring a strong national defense" -- though that was down from a high of 41 points just before 9/11.
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