SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT

Bob Moser writes: Once a wartime President has lost support in gung-ho North Carolina--home to major Army, Air Force and Marine bases and longtime bastion of pro-military sentiment--it's safe to assume that he's lost it everywhere. A recent poll conducted by Elon University provided grim news, then, for George W. Bush and his Iraq adventure: 57 percent of Tar Heels said they disapproved of the President's handling of the war. But that wasn't the worst finding for the floundering Bush Administration. The poll showed that active military personnel, reservists and veterans in North Carolina had turned just as strongly against the war as nonmilitary citizens. More than 56 percent disapproved of his war leadership. In perhaps the most startling result of all, when they were asked whether the war with Iraq was "worth fighting" in the first place, a mere 19 percent of these soldiers, ex-soldiers and soldiers-in-waiting said yes.

UN-COMMON REJECTION

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