Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) is a close political ally on the president, and right now he has some advice for Bush: admit that mistakes have plagued the post-invasion occupation of Iraq.
Rep. Howard Coble, a close ally of President Bush, said the White House should admit that U.S. mistakes have plagued the post-invasion occupation of Iraq.
“Candor is not a sign of weakness,” the 11-term Republican from Greensboro said Monday. “People in my district who stood in line to vote for President Bush aren’t happy about Iraq.”
With all due respect to Coble, if he believes that Bush might agree that candor is not a sign of weakness, then he just hasn’t been paying much attention lately.
Regardless, when conservative Republicans from “red” states start complaining about voters’ discontent back home, it leads one to wonder if the official GOP 2006 strategy — all national security, all the time — is the right idea.
It’s worth adding, by the way, that Coble’s approach to the war has cut against the Republican grain for a while now.
From way back in January 2005:
U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican and close ally of President Bush, says the United States should consider pulling out of war-ravaged Iraq.
Coble is one of the first members of Congress to suggest a withdrawal publicly.
The 10-term congressman said in an interview with the News & Record of Greensboro that he’s “fed up with picking up the newspaper and reading that we’ve lost another five or 10 of our young men and women in Iraq.”
Support among Coble’s 6th District constituents has also waned, his office said.
The dean of the state’s congressional delegation said he arrived at his position only after many months of searching in vain for evidence that the Bush administration had a post-invasion strategy to deal with the transition to Iraqi self-government.
Coble, who has represented the 6th District since 1984, says he voted to give Bush sweeping war-making powers assuming the administration had a post-invasion strategy.
“If there was, I wish someone would tell me what it is or show it to me,” he said. “I’d like to see it.”
Coble added that the U.S. had to consider a troop withdrawal if the Iraqi government is unable or unwilling to “shoulder more of the heavy lifting” for its own security.
That was 20 months ago. I think Coble may have been onto something.