text: are republican governors even smart enough to worry? by robert tanner, ap national writer 29 minutes ago  washington - republican governors are openly worrying that the bush administration's latest stumbles — from the natural disaster of hurricane katrina to those of its own making on prescription drugs and ports security — are taking an election-year toll on the party back home the gop governors reluctantly acknowledge that the series of gaffes threatens to undermine public confidence in president bush's ability to provide security, which has long been his greatest strength among voters. "you've got solid conservatives coming up speaking like they haven't before, it's likely that something's going on at the grass roots," said republican mark sanford of south carolina. "whether it's temporary or not remains to be seen." but it wasn't bush's political opponents alone who saw weaknesses. so did his allies — listing the days of chaos in new orleans after the hurricane, the nationwide confusion over the drug prescription program that forced many states to step in to help seniors get medications, and the ports security debacle that has drawn criticism from leading republicans in congress and the states. "i don't think he was well served on the port issue by the bureaucracy," said republican dirk kempthorne of idaho, who is leading a united front of governors pushing back on potential reductions to national guard forces. "he's at the forefront on national security. when you combine this flap on the ports, and these potential cuts on the military, you need to make sure that issue doesn't slip away. it's one of his strengths." he also said the lack of communication from the administration on the guard issue has been a problem. "there has been too much we have learned outside the loop. it's time we be inside the loop." republican bob taft of ohio offered judgment on katrina: "this is hindsight, but it was a mistake to bury fema under the department of homeland security." wow, you've sure done alot of thinking on the issues. i'm  extremely concerned about us outsourcing our ports to terrorist nations. what the hell - why don't we just outsource the secret service to iraq. as far as katrina is concerned i feel that they did what they could for those people. if you have millions of people in this situation the government  cannot possibly take care of them all. it doesn't matter who's running the show. i would firstly blame the people living there who were warned to evacuate the city but didn't. it falls down to personal responsibility.   perscription benefits for seniors - who will pay? it's a lot of loot.  george bush has failed the people in this country by not securing the borders and  ports and too much spending, something usually done by the dems.  as far as arnold s. is concerned he seems more concerned about making a name for himself then anything else. he has sure switched sides big time. i don't think he is concerned about the ports because people would think he's a racist - go figure.