South Carolina Voters Angered by Donald Trump's Claim that Bush Lied to Start Iraq War

WeeklyStandard.com:

Did Donald Trump damage his candidacy at Saturday night’s debate when he alleged that George W. Bush knowingly lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to launch the war? A few signs suggest the answer is yes.

On Monday, Rush Limbaugh lumped Trump in the same league as Michael Moore and Daily Kos bloggers for standing by his Iraq war conspiracy theory. Then on Tuesday, CNN released a poll that found Trump dropped 9 points after the debate—from 40 percent to 31 percent. On Tuesday night, every voter I spoke to at Trump's campaign event in Beaufort, South Carolina disapproved of Trump's comments. Their views ranged from genuine disgust to mere displeasure.

Dave Paxton from Hilton Head said he still doesn't know who he's voting for on Tuesday, but he is certain he won't be voting for Trump. Paxton said Trump's comment about George W. Bush "was horrible. I couldn't hardly watch after that. I mean, really, I was hoping they would not even ask him another question."

"I just think he made an ass of himself," Paxton added. "And then he kept interrupting."

On the ride over to Trump's event, Paxton said, his girlfriend and another friend who support Trump brought up the Iraq debate remark and both agreed that it was embarrassing. "I think it hurt him a lot. We'll see come Saturday," Paxton said.

"He just recently got crossed off my list," Michele Williams of Okatie, South Carolina said of Trump. Williams hadn't liked Trump's bullying behavior for some time, but it was "the debate that was the nail in the coffin."

"The thing about 'Bush lied'—that makes me question his conservatism. I don't trust him any more. I really don't. I don't respect him," said Williams, who has narrowed her choices down to Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich. "Definitely voting in the primary, but I'm as confused as ever," she said about her vote.

Trump's running as Populist, but this attack on former President Bush not only made zero sense, but in a state where Jeb Bush brought out his big brother out to specifically campaign for him, why would you risk alienating South Carolina voters with unnecessary comments about Bush and Iraq? Then too, why would would go out of your way to diss Bush when you consider the facts about us going into Iraq? And when you consider that the far-Left loons who delight in stating that 'Bush Lied' us into Iraq aren't gonna vote for you anyway? And when you consider that Saddam Hussein was a really, really bad guy who needed to go. And when there are still so many people out there who maintain skepticism of how much a 'true conservative' you really are?

RELATED: Donald Trump loses the lead in a national poll for the first time in months