It's even easier than that. We looked too much like Democrats.
As for the war, Bush made the same mistake his father did. It irritated me(I would like to use stronger language, but...) in 1990, 1991, and again in 1993. When you go to war, you must declare war, so the weasels cannot easily stab you in the back. If we had declared war in 1990, it would have been much easier to have ignored Powell and destroyed the Republican Guard when they should have been destroyed. That would have prevented what we have now.
1991=2001
1993=2003
I guess I can't see straight because of the irritation.