Many Ohioans stand behind Bush But some losing patience after heavy losses

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05219/550003.stm

With U.S. flags flying from businesses, yellow ribbons wrapped around utility poles and "I love my country" scrawled on the side of a downtown building, this city about 20 miles north of Columbus is prepared to press on with the war in Iraq despite a number of casualties that hit home last week.

John Vass, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3297, said he encounters few war critics among his peers.

"We got a few come in here, but they don't whisper too loudly against President Bush and his war policy because most of us are behind him solidly," said Vass, a career Navy man who participated in the 1962 missile crisis blockade of Cuba and later served in Vietnam.

Working at a downtown frame shop a few miles and a political universe away from the VFW, Linda Shearer's eyes filled with tears as she accused Bush of leading the American people into war with false claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaida. But Shearer stopped short of calling for an immediate troop withdrawal, saying she didn't know a good way out of the "mess."

The hotly contested state of Ohio went for Bush last year, its 20 electoral votes a key part of his re-election victory over U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts. But with the battleground state taking major hits on the battlefield -- it lost 20 Marines last week alone, including Sgt. Justin Hoffman, whose father, Robert, lives in Delaware -- some observers sense a growing unease among Ohioans.

[Erika]

1. Ohioans are slowly waking up out of the W fog

and the VFW better wake up and recognize it.

[Carolab]

2. Further proof that Bush didn't win Ohio. n/t

[Rufus T. Firefly]

3. Too bad they're too late.

If they hadn't waited until it affected them personally, then those soldiers might still be alive.

[Lindacooks]

4. Actually, Americans stand in front of chimpy.

Because he's too cowardly to be first in line. And ordinary Americans are just cannon fodder to him.