At Wednesday's Republican presidential debate in California, John McCain asserted that Iraq was not the major factor in the GOP's 2006 election losses:
Spending got out of control. Republicans lost the 2006 election not over the war in Iraq, over spending. Our base became disenchanted.
The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press surveyed voters in the 2006 election.
GOP voters were found to be unhappy about spending:
Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 56% overall say the party is doing only a fair or poor job standing up for its traditional positions on things like reducing the size of government, cutting taxes or promoting conservative social values; just 42% say the party is doing an excellent or good job.
Among the broader electorate, though, Iraq was key:
Pew's post-election survey, which asked Americans to identify which issue was most important in their voting decision, finds that Iraq was the central issue of the campaign. Indeed, a majority of voters saw the Iraq war as one of the top two issues in the election (53%), with the economy second (37%), followed by values issues such as abortion and marriage (27%). About one-fifth of the voters gave priority to corruption and scandal (23%), terrorism (21%) and illegal immigration (20%).
Iraq was the central issue for voters during the 2006 campaign that took Congress from the GOP. Truth or not?
Thoughts
Take a look at today's topic - cost of the Iraq is $3 Trillion!
Submitted on February 26th, 2008 by AnonymousThat's a lot of money, and certainly a significant chunk of that $13 GNP on top of the rest of our already staggering negative trade deficit.
Was the Iraq War worth $3 Trillion?
Iraq--reason GOP lost in 2006
Submitted on February 26th, 2008 by insightsYes, main reason is because most americans do not think things through.
they say to much money being spent on the war in Iraq and it should be spent on them or their problems.
the money that Iraq war is using is a very small amount of this countries GNP.
the GNP of USA is right now at 13 trillion dollars, and even if you spend 500 billion on Iraq. that's a drop in the bucket against our GNP.
It's not about oil, as Iraq belongs to OPEC and they set the prices of oil. It's really about two forms of religion and who really wants to run the whole world. 9/11 proved that.
gop's 2006 election losses
Submitted on February 24th, 2008 by jeyuhasWhat lost those elections was the vote of misinformed Bush haters that still think he's gonna run for president again. And look what they wanna do with their victory, Pelosi as house speaker, trying to choose a nominee with some superman delegates, want to elect someone that has 1 year as a state Senator and 1 year in the U.S. Senate. Oh yea, and Billery who wants to work together. From our pockets to Socialism.
You do seem to forget that
Submitted on February 12th, 2008 by AnonymousYou do seem to forget that asprin factory Clinton bombed was to try and kill some guy named Bin Laden that people though he made-up via "Wag the dog"
Slick Willy
Submitted on February 11th, 2008 by BobC692Guess You preferred to bomb empty aspirin factories,and sexual contact with an Intern.
Oh yes You forgot Bush caused Katrina.
pussilanamous
Submitted on February 11th, 2008 by BobC692"Of a cowardly defeat" was the main reason.
Iraq was not the major issue
Submitted on February 8th, 2008 by musicwriter48While the war in Iraq was a contributing factor in the gop losses, it truly was George Bush and his globalist minions that have alienated me and millions of other registered Republicans. To date, Bush and his father are the leftmost leaning republican presidents in our history.... but if McCain gets elected, he will blow them out of the record books of history! I think what we have in store for us is a more socialist Jimmy Earl Carter in Clinton and a possible future UN Secretary General in John McCain, so to speak. Our troubles have not even begun yet! You want a near pure socialist government? Well babes, you're gonna get your wish in spades! You want our country to be taken over by those from south of the border... better learn the Mexican language and Arabic. Lock up your wallets and get rid of any firearms you have (actually, you probably should get more!... Thomas Jefferson says!)
Both?
Submitted on February 6th, 2008 by jcfialaI think the Iraq war was a factor in getting out the Democrats to vote against the Republicans, and the spending was a factor in keeping Republicans away from the polls, not wanting to vote for either candidate. The two factors, I believe, worked together.
Social issues, Iraq, Bush cost GOP dearly
Submitted on February 3rd, 2008 by Another skepticThe Terry Schiavo case marked the turning of the tide against the GOP. From there, it was all down hill.
Voters simply decided that the so called small government party actually was the big brother demanding access to our bedrooms and death beds.
And many nationalistic and economically conservative Repubs got fed up with the anti-gay marriage bias and discrimination advocated by President Bush and other GOP leaders.
Add to its missteps on the social issues, the GOP congress got "DeLayed" and stamped with the "corruption" label even though Democrats always spend more and are just as corrupt as Republicans.
Finally, of course, the left's anger about Iraq, or it's pretend anger, finally won a following, and that capped a disastrous year for the GOP, and it won't recover for years.
Iraq
Submitted on January 31st, 2008 by Eddie CollinsWhether Iraq was the main factor in 2006
depended on whether you had a child there or lost a child there - I had a grandson there - 3 times now.