Republicans Becoming Critical of Iraq a la Bush, Too

From the Financial Times:

In a worrying sign for the White House, which has tended to paint war critics as unpatriotic, Republican senators appear less reluctant to raise concerns about the way the administration is running the campaign in Iraq.

On Thursday, some joined Democrats in warning the administration that the tide of public opinion is changing.

“I'm here to tell you, sir, in the most patriotic state I can imagine, people are beginning to question [the war],” Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told Mr Rumsfeld, who was testifying before the Senate armed services committee.

“And I don't think it's a blip on the radar screen. I think we have a chronic problem on our hands.”

In characteristic form, Mr Rumsfeld retorted that people who spent time chasing opinion poll numbers end up “getting seasick”. He also argued that the administration and the American people had the willpower to stay the course in Iraq.

“If you're facing a head wind, you got two choices. You can turn around and go downwind or you can there stand there and go into the wind, and that's what needs to be done,” he said.