Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earthshattering kaboom.

Via Political Wire, here's the latest poll saying what Taegan calls an "astonishing" number of people disagree with Bush's Iraq strategy. So what I want to know is, when do they--the SCLM--take the pin out?

This country is, undeniably, increasingly uniting against this war and the arrogant, lying, mass-murderering incompetent who started it. So why is it that when I tuned in to the local ABC News affiliate last night to see what they had to say about Peter Jennings, I was also treated to a neat little story about what good physical shape Bush is in?

Seriously, it was like a campaign commercial. All compared to the average American blah, and Bush doesn't mind the little cuts and scrapes and bruises he gets when he's out clearing blah. Because this president, by god, is a man.

And all I could think of was something Jon Stewart said on the Daily Show, two or three years back after the White House issued a similar statement about President Big Man Not Stupid.

"And in a completely unrelated story, Franklin Roosevelt was in a wheelchair and won World War II."

ETA: Further--why is the headline of this story, about the woman who lost a son in Iraq and is now protesting outside Bush's Crawford ranch, why is the headline:

Of the Many Deaths in Iraq, One Mother's Loss Becomes a Problem for the President

This might be the thing that I find most loathesome about him, if I had to pick only one thing: Why isn't every mothers loss a problem for the President? He doesn't seem to have any conception of responsibility for the fact that he is sending young men and women to die. Leave out completely that he lied about the reasons and that all his pre-war planning has blown up in his face. Well, actually...

But no, leave that out. Even if you really believe we went to war for good and sufficient reasons. Even if you believe "you go to war with the army you have." Don't you want to believe that the President Of The United States pains with every loss?

And do you ever get anything from Bush that indicates he thinks this is anything with more gravity than a college prank gone wrong?

From that same article:

Ms. Sheehan's story is certainly compelling. She is also articulate, aggressive in delivering her message and has information that most White House reporters have not heard before: how Mr. Bush handles himself when he meets behind closed doors with the families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

The White House has released few details of such sessions, which Mr. Bush holds regularly as he travels the country, but generally portrays them as emotional and an opportunity for the president to share the grief of the families. In Ms. Sheehan's telling, though, Mr. Bush did not know her son's name when she and her family met with him in June 2004 at Fort Lewis. Mr. Bush, she said, acted as if he were at a party and behaved disrespectfully toward her by referring to her as "Mom" throughout the meeting.

By Ms. Sheehan's account, Mr. Bush said to her that he could not imagine losing a loved one like an aunt or uncle or cousin. Ms. Sheehan said she broke in and told Mr. Bush that Casey was her son, and that she thought he could imagine what it would be like since he has two daughters and that he should think about what it would be like sending them off to war.

"I said, 'Trust me, you don't want to go there'," Ms. Sheehan said, recounting her exchange with the president. "He said, 'You're right, I don't.' I said, 'Well, thanks for putting me there.' "