To GOP Or Not To GOP?
In its ongoing series, "American Voices," CBS Evening News – Weekend Edition speaks to voters from all over the country. Here is a visit with a Cincinnati couple.
"There was a time when I didn't consider myself a Republican or Democrat, but I consider myself a Republican. I'm registered as a Republican," says Phil Brookshire, an industrial designer who recently sold his business. He is retired but still does some consulting work from home.
"I've been pretty religious about being a Republican since I've grown older,"
says Kathy Brookshire, the chief financial officer for an organization that provides construction loans to minority contractors.
They say they are fiscal conservatives. Both voted for George Bush in the last election, and both are disappointed with the direction in which he has taken the country.
Says Phil, "I'm not sure why I am a Republican. I guess that's what it really boils down to - because they're not doing the things that I thought they traditionally did - which was look after the budget."
And Kathy notes, "I can't believe that we could actually run a war in Iraq and have tax cuts. It doesn't make any sense. The war's costing us a fortune, and we should probably have to pay more out of pocket to keep the economy stable."
Phil adds, "There are those who say debt is good, and I ran a small business and I guess I am too much of a traditionalist to believe that. I know that debt is not good. Debt is not what you want."
And it's not just the deficit that has the Brookshires worried. Both fault the administration's handling of the war in Iraq and the war on terror.
"I think we're too quick to get into other people's business and try to tell them how to run their country and police the world," says Phil. "It's expensive, and it doesn't ever seem to work. It just makes people angry at us."
Kathy says, "I think something needed to be done, but I don't think he had the right to drive us there without the backing of the U.N. I think we were lied to. This backtracking with the weapons of mass destruction: 'Oh, they're there!' 'Oh, they're not there.'"
"I don't feel more secure," says Phil. "Maybe some people do. I do not. I think we just...struck at a hornet's nest. I think we've made matters worse."
The Brookshires are from Ohio, a state that has lost a quarter of a million jobs since President Bush took office. Both have lost faith in the president's ability to solve the country's problems.
Kathy: "My comfort level with Bush is gone. With all the problems we've got -- the war, the deficit, a million domestic problems, things going on overseas that really need attention -- he's deciding that his focus will be to ban gay marriages with a constitutional amendment? Excuse me? Is this the most important thing we have to worry about in this country? I don't think so."
Phil: "Personally, I don't think that I could vote for Bush, although I did in the last election."
Kathy: "We can't continue to go down the road we're going down. And we need a dramatic change. Whether the Democrats are capable of doing that, I don't know. But I'm willing to give them a chance."