Senator Gordon Smith (R., OR) in Spotlight After a Critical Iraq Speech [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Senator Gordon Smith (R., OR) in Spotlight After a Critical Iraq Speech
By JAMES RISEN
Published: December 28, 2006

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 — At the close of the Senate’s lame-duck session, in between formulaic tributes to senators departing voluntarily or otherwise, a Republican backbencher suddenly rose to give one of the most passionate and surprising speeches about the war in Iraq yet delivered in Congress.

For a solid Republican who had originally voted for the war, the words spoken by the senator, Gordon H. Smith of Oregon, on the evening of Dec. 7 were incendiary and marked a stunning break with the president.

“I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day,” Mr. Smith said. “That is absurd. It may even be criminal.”

But the real impact of the address came not just from Mr. Smith’s words, but from the way he delivered them. His somber cadence resonated in a way that made political Washington take notice, transforming him into one of the most talked-about Republicans heading into the new Congress....

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...within days of the Iraq speech, Mr. Smith emerged as a new spokesman for an endangered political species: the moderate Republican.

In the process, Mr. Smith may have signaled that some moderate Republicans in the Senate are poised to break openly with the White House on the war, just as President Bush is seeking a new strategy to deal with the bloody stalemate in Iraq....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/washington/28smith.html