Bush's GOP fan base shrinks

Democrats' take on war spreads

President Bush, weakened by an unpopular war and the loss of Republican control in Congress, is now confronting disaffection within his own party that could complicate his attempt to set an agenda for his final two years in office.

As Republicans departed Capitol Hill over the weekend, some who used to dismiss Democratic attempts to investigate the administration as political posturing are now lining up behind calls for greater oversight of the executive branch.

They are advertising attacks on Bush's foreign policy that they once kept largely private. Last week, Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith not only made a speech calling the current war strategy "absurd" but sent out a news release publicizing his remarks.

Some longtime Bush allies, such as Texas Sen. John Cornyn, are adopting rhetoric used by Democrats to criticize the Iraq war.

And on other issues that will confront the new Congress in January -- including trade and judicial appointments -- Republican lawmakers are signaling their unwillingness to follow the White House.

"Frankly, I think there is a greater recognition and awareness of the necessity for us to exercise checks and balances," said Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, noting how much the Nov. 7 elections changed the climate on Capitol Hill.

"If there was a reluctance to express that in the past, there isn't anymore," Snowe said.

To be sure, no one is expecting a Republican abandonment of the president. But the disaffection marks a remarkable turnabout for a president whose command of his own party was once so supreme he virtually appointed the Senate majority leader, and GOP lawmakers openly acknowledged taking orders from the White House.

And it suggests that the Bush administration may have as much work repairing ties with Republicans as it does building new ones with the Democrats who will assume control of the House and Senate in January.

"They need to have better relationship with members on both sides of the aisle," said Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican whose early support for Bush's war policy nearly cost him his seat last month.

Not long ago, it was Republican members of Congress who labored to stay close to the president.

Influence is slipping

The Bush administration's ability to win approval from a compliant legislative branch for tax cuts, foreign invasions and other initiatives was a source of awe. In 2002, the president was widely seen as responsible for making Tennessee Republican Bill Frist Senate majority leader.

That influence was slipping even before the November midterm elections swept Republicans from power on Capitol Hill.

House Republicans abandoned Bush over immigration. And in the Senate, some of the chamber's most respected GOP members stood up to the White House on Iraq and the prosecution of terrorist suspects.

In the run-up to Nov. 7, Bush weathered more defections as some Republican congressional candidates tried to distance themselves from the president's war policies, calling for troop withdrawals and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

But since the elections, dissent has mushroomed.

And as the House and Senate prepare for what many expect to be heated debates next year over the course of U.S. policy in the Middle East, Republican lawmakers have stepped up their critiques of the war, directly challenging the White House in ways that used to be the province of Democrats.