War Turns Southern Women Away From GOP

breitbart.com ^ | 09/07/2006 | SHANNON McCAFFREY

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

MACON, Ga.

President Bush's once-solid relationship with Southern women is on the rocks. "I think history will show him to be the worst president since Ulysses S. Grant," said Barbara Knight, a self-described Republican since birth and the mother of three. "He's been an embarrassment." In the heart of Dixie, comparisons to Grant, a symbol of the Union, is the worst sort of insult, especially from a Macon woman who voted for Bush in 2000 but turned away in 2004.

In recent years, Southern women have been some of Bush's biggest fans, defying the traditional gender gap in which women have preferred Democrats to Republicans. Bush secured a second term due in large part to support from 54 percent of Southern female voters while women nationally favored Democrat John Kerry, 51-48 percent.

"In 2004, you saw an utter collapse of the gender gap in the South," said Karen Kaufmann, a professor of government at the University of Maryland who has studied women's voting patterns. White Southern women liked Bush because "he spoke their religion and he spoke their values."

Now, anger over the Iraq war and frustration with the country's direction have taken a toll on the president's popularity and stirred dissatisfaction with the Republican-held Congress.

Republicans on the ballot this November have reason to worry. A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that three out of five Southern women surveyed said they planned to vote for a Democrat in the midterm elections. With control of the Senate and House in the balance, such a seismic shift could have dire consequences for the GOP.

Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to seize control.

In a sign of how crucial races in the South will be to the GOP national strategy, Bush was traveling to Georgia on Thursday to help former Rep. Max Burns raise money in his bid to unseat Democratic Rep. John Barrow. The president also will give a speech in Atlanta.

Knight lives in another congressional district considered competitive. Republicans hope to oust Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall, whose district was redrawn by the GOP-controlled Georgia Legislature to make it more conservative.

Voters like Knight could prove to be spoilers. The 66-year-old real estate agent doesn't particularly like Marshall, a hawkish Democrat and former Army Ranger, but she said she'll vote for him because she likes his conservative Republican opponent, former Rep. Mac Collins, even less.

"I'm going to go for the moderate, and these days that tends to be Democrats," Knight said.

Sandy Rubin, a high school teacher in Macon, voted for Bush and said she's also likely to vote for Marshall. Rubin said the GOP's focus on issues that appeal to social conservatives, such as gay marriage and abortion, have turned her off.

"I care about job security and education. The things I hear the Republicans emphasizing in their campaigns are not things that affect me or my family," said the 39-year-old mother of two.

The movement of some Southern women away from the Republican Party tracks with national poll results showing that women have become more disillusioned with the war and were more likely than men to list the conflict as the important issue facing the country.

Nationally, the AP-Ipsos poll found that only 28 percent of women approve of Bush's handling of the war. Bush did better in the South, but only slightly _ just 32 percent of women in the region said they approve of his handling of the war.

"I never did understand why we went into Iraq and didn't instead clean up the mess in Afghanistan first," Knight said.

Teresa Cranford, 39, also of Macon, said her support for Bush was lukewarm in 2004, but she ultimately voted for him so he could finish the job in Iraq. As the death toll has risen, so has her discomfort.

"I'm a mother and that makes me think differently about it," Cranford said.

Lynn Hamilton, 44, said she still supports Bush even though her backing for the ongoing war has waned.

"As a mother you worry, 'Am I going to lose my baby boy?'" said the Gray, Ga., resident. "A mother's view about war is often going to be a lot different than dad's is."

Neither Cranford nor Hamilton has decided how they plan to vote in the midterm elections, although neither ruled out voting for a Democrat.

"I'm not a straight party-line Republican anymore," Cranford said.

Still, some Southern women remain stalwart supporters of the president and the Republican Party. At a watermelon festival in Chickamauga, in the mountains of northwest Georgia, substitute teacher Clydeen Tomanio said she remains committed to the party she's called home for 43 years.

"There are some people, and I'm one of them, that believe George Bush was placed where he is by the Lord," Tomanio said. "I don't care how he governs, I will support him. I'm a Republican through and through."

[nancyvideo]

I'm a southern woman with a career exposing media bias. I say this article is designed to form opinions, not designed to report opinions.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"That is why I contacted you and DJ about the House race polls. I trust you guys's analysis than the CNN pundits."

---

I really haven't seen much polling evidence of the type of Democrat wave that would be necessary for the party to win 15 net House seats, much less 6 net Senate seats. That batch of House race "interactive polls" (which I assume are similar to Zogby's e-mail surveys and thus just as worthless) had absolutely ridiculous results in a couple of districts (including results that contradict those of actual scientific polls), and while in some other districts the results sounded reasonable (and, if true, worrisome), I have to assume that all 30 "interactive polls" were just as phony.

[Scotsman will be Free]

If you are going to vote based on emotion then perhaps you should lose your franchise.
Failing to vote because "all the choices sucked" is just the same as letting go of the car's steering wheel when confronted with the choice of hitting a moose or a dog. I do not want to hit anything, but I'll take the dog over the moose everyday.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Expect to see a lot of these "psy-ops" stories between now and the election. Full speed ahead!

Exactamundo!

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

I keep hearing the BSNBC line, so I dont know our chances this time around. How do you think we'll do this upcoming election?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

What would President Sooner1938 have done differently?

[RebelBanker]

The left-wing media has been lying and spinning so hard against President Bush for so long that some people are bound to fall for it.

Do I agree with everything the Prez has said and done? Certainly not!

Would I vote for him again? Of course!

The unappeasables and one-note Johnnies are just falling into line with what the lefties want, "punishing" the party that at least leans conservative and helping elect hard-core liberals. My new tagline is from David Limbaugh; it seems relevant here.

[dfwgator]

When our own disappoint us, we shouldn't let them off the hook just because we like the (R) after their names.

It's not that we like the (R) after their names, it's just that the D's are traitors. R's are the lesser of two evils.

[NaughtiusMaximus]

Turnout is going to be 90% of it.

Republicans are far better at turning out for off year elections than Dems.

Since the out of office party traditionally picks up seats during the off year, I think a result of status quo will be a major defeat for the Dems.

[RebekahT]

"War Turns Southern Women Away From GOP"

Not this southern woman.

[KYGrandma]

Nor this one, or all those I know.

[highball]

The lesser of two evils is still evil. Why not work for good instead?

[aimee5291]

"I am an unmarried Southern woman and to me Pres. Bush is the bomb. My friends have not waivered as well. I think the poll is liberal @rap as usual."

your'e right...poll is lib c-rap...

[stand watie]

YEP. south-HATING, SELF-deceiving,LEFTIST, northeastern propaganda.

the DIMocRAT media is "whistling in the dark", as they KNOW the DIMs are DYING as a NATIONAL party. they will NEVER again win the POTUS, as they cannot/WILL not carry dixie. (without the majority of dixie, DIMs LOSE every time.)

by 2016 (perhaps by 2012) , i predict that the DIMs will be IRRELEVANT as the "green party" is now.

free dixie,sw

[Alas Babylon!]

Why do you think the DBM put it in there? Answer: In order to make the one freverent Bush supporter look like a loon. It's the gimme quote they reserve for propaganda like this.

Tell me, has anyone ever seen a DBM story about a lifelong democrat now so pi$$ed that they're going to vote Republican? I never have. Yet I've heard this story about a lifelong Republican going Dem about once a month for 25 years now. In that time, Reagan won twice, Bush I once, Clinton twice, and now Bush Dubya twice. Also, the Congress has gone from Deep Dem to Republican control. If there's that many disgruntled Republicans, and no disgruntled democrats, who pray tell is VOTING in all these Republicans? Must be Diebold!!!!

The DBM courtesy of Rushlimbaugh.com

[Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin]

Well, I don't know if this is propaganda and it really doesn't matter if it is. Mostly because it is saying something, and many do not want to hear it, which is obvious from comments.

Fact: Bush seemed to be an, "I will do things, kind of Pres. in 2000.
Fact: Bush is looking quite lame, just like all of Congress, and all of D.C.

The war in Iraq is probably just a mask for all the other lame qualities Bush is exhibiting, namely Border Security. It totally seems he could care less about our borders, and anything else one would care to add. Different view?

[Sooner1938]

"Sooner? Like in Boomer Sooner? OU?"

Amen, JR. Since 1948.

[Froufrou]

Really good point! It hacks me off this gives Southern women a bad name, though. It so happens I like W's ability to stand tough. I think it's one of his best qualities.

[Sooner1938]

"Worse than Carter?"

Six of one and half a dozen of the other, IMO.

Naw, I take that back. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has been worse than Carter and Clinton. But the two Bushes come close.

[EmilyGeiger]

I'm a southern woman. I would vote for President Bush again. I will vote Republican. However, that doesn't mean I am 100% pleased with the direction my party is going toward. I imagine if I were polled and gave honest answers, my response would be skewed toward my being anti-GOP.