Even Republicans Resist Bush Appeal

Despite his State of the Union plea to give the Iraq war another chance, the president is suffering defections from his own party, including a number of GOP senators who have emboldened Democrats in their fight against Bush’s planned escalation of the war.

AP via Yahoo!:

At least eight other Republican senators say they now back legislative proposals condemning Bush’s decision to boost U.S. military strength in Iraq by 21,500 troops.

The growing list—which includes Sens. Gordon Smith, George Voinovich and Sam Brownback—has emboldened Democrats, who are pushing for a vote in the full Senate by next week to rebuke the president’s Iraq policy.

In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Bush urged skeptical members of Congress to give the plan a chance to work.

Many lawmakers remained reluctant.

“I wonder whether the clock has already run out,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. She said she was worried that U.S. troops in Iraq are already perceived “not as liberators but as occupiers.”

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