Rep. Tom Cole cites Iraq war in GOP’s struggles
Lawmaker speaks out against unprovoked aggression
CHRIS CASTEEL, Washington Bureau
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Published: July 19, 2009
WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Cole, in a candid new assessment of the state of the Republican Party, says the GOP lost its majorities in the House and Senate because of the Iraq war and calls for the party to abandon former President George W. Bush’s doctrine of unprovoked aggression.
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‘War of choice’
In an interview, Cole said, "The reality is that if you engage in a war of choice — and Iraq was a war of choice — it’s going to become a partisan war. That’s OK I suppose if you win quickly. But I think once a war lasts as long as (the Iraq war) has lasted — March of ’03 to November of ’06 and of course still on to today — that it had political consequences for the Republican Party nationally.
"Certainly it did on the coasts, in places like New England and California. Again, it didn’t damage us equally everywhere. It didn’t hurt us in the Southern states. ... It did cost us a lot of support and provided a lot of fuel and energy for the other side.”
Cole said he still believes the world is better off without Saddam Hussein running Iraq, but he questioned whether Bush would have gone to war if the only reason was to depose Saddam.
"When you go to war, you run real risks politically, you run real risks for the country in terms of its unity and cohesion unless you’re absolutely certain,” Cole said. "Being very cautious about these things is probably a virtue rather than a vice.”
He said Democrats paid political prices for wars in in Korea and Vietnam.
Opinions vary about why the Democrats won Congress back in 2006. Karl Rove, the longtime political adviser to Bush, said on "Meet the Press” in 2007 that the main reason people switched was corruption within the GOP.
Cole has been in the U.S. House since 2003. He also served in the Oklahoma state Senate and as secretary of state to former Gov. Frank Keating.
His resume includes stints as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, chief of staff for the National Republican Committee and executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He was also a longtime partner in an Oklahoma City-based political consulting firm.
Republicans controlled the U.S. House from 1995 until 2007. Democrats picked up 31 House seats in the 2006 elections and won a working majority in the Senate.
For the 2008 election cycle, Cole was chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in charge of getting the majority back, but Democrats picked up another 21 seats. The Democrats now have overwhelming majorities in both houses, and the party controls the White House. Cole said the GOP can build coalitions to come back.
‘Center-right’ country
"The real issue here is not demographics, but values,” he said.
"And I think the country is a center-right country, not a right-wing country. ... It’s institutionally and intuitively conservative.”
In his magazine piece, Cole says Republicans, often viewed as rigid on social issues, "need to change the focus of the cultural debate” and "address issues with policies that promote personal responsibility rather than enforce social norms.”
He said in the interview that Democrats are having fierce internal struggles overspending, health care reform and climate change legislation.
"The normal strains of governing are going to create some strains within their party and provide us openings,” he said.
Looking back, he said, it was relatively easy to govern in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union and with an economy expanding through technological advances. The current decade has been a different story, he said.
"Real history is happening again, and it’s tough on political parties.”
Related Topics:
U.S. Government, Politics, U.S. Politics, War and Conflict, U.S. Congressional News, Iraq War, Political Parties, U.S. Republican Party Politics
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http://www.myhowtoos.com/en/red-hot/86-all-costs-of-war-in-iraq-for-usa
A "war of choice."
What an utterly abhorrent and evil concept.
I call few things "Satanic" - but that's one of them.
Yes, it is easy for Cole to distance himself from the war now that it has been proven by others to be a war of "choice". He also sat quiet when anyone else, namely the Democrats, was branded as unpatriotic for questioning the war.
Too bad he was so quiet when we were all being called traitors by the right when we opposed the lead up to war in 2002.
Rob,Moore
The Republican party needs to understand how significant a role that has played in revealing the disconnect between their own pious self-perception and how they are seen in the eyes of the voters, especially the younger and non-white voters.
I have said it before and will say it again: I voted for Bush twice and felt it was the right thing to do; however his last 2 1/2 years in office made me so mad at him I could have kicked his butt. Oh, Jeff, Pauls Valley, this conservative takes it seriously and like Bill, OKC, I hate war!