Spinner in Chief

" 'If you look at the criticisms,' Bartlett added, 'a lot of them are, "Do it faster, do it better." A lot of our critics are literally saying the same thing we are.' "

McManus also notes: "Administration officials say they believe the antiwar protests led by Sheehan have largely misfired in the wider public, because Sheehan criticized not only the war in Iraq but also the more popular war in Afghanistan. Her remarks have allowed Bush and other officials to charge that their critics want the United States to withdraw from the entire Middle East, not just Iraq."

Camp Casey Watch

Coates writes in The Post: "Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, rallied antiwar protesters here Sunday, drawing comparisons with the civil rights movement on this anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 'I Have a Dream' speech.

"Speaking at a Sunday morning prayer meeting, he called Cindy Sheehan, who first arrived here 22 days ago to protest the war in Iraq, 'the conscience' of the nation."

Angela K. Brown writes for the Associated Press: "Cindy Sheehan hasn't achieved a meeting with the president during her three-week war protest, but she met a man who plays one on TV. Martin Sheen, who portrays the president on NBC's 'The West Wing,' visited Sheehan's makeshift campsite Sunday.

" 'At least you've got the acting president of the United States,' Sheen said as the crowd of more than 300 people cheered. 'I think you know what I do for a living, but this is what I do to stay alive.' "

Peter Wallsten writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Pent-up fervor fueling both sides of the national debate over President Bush's Iraq policies erupted Saturday near his vacation home, with thousands of protesters venting frustrations and using parents of fallen soldiers as icons of their dueling movements."

Poll Watch

Frank Newport and Jeff Jones of the Gallup Organization writes: "A new Gallup Poll reflects further erosion in President George W. Bush's job approval rating, continuing the slow but steady decline evident throughout the year so far. The poll -- conducted Aug. 22-25 -- puts Bush's job approval rating at 40% and his disapproval rating at 56%. Both are the most negative ratings of the Bush administration."

Gallup reports that the only second-term president with an approval rating this low at this time in their presidency: Richard Nixon, at 34.

"The drop in President Bush's job approval rating has been accompanied by a continuing drop in the American public's overall satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States today.

"Just 34% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in this country in the Aug. 22-25 Gallup Poll, while 62% are dissatisfied. This is the lowest satisfaction level of the entire Bush administration to date and is the lowest recorded by Gallup since January 1996."

What to Do?

Matthew Cooper writes on Time.com about how the White House is contending with "declining public opinion polls (that are echoed by 'even worse' internal polling, says one Bush adviser), high oil prices and a recognition that things are not likely to turn around anytime soon. A senior Bush official attributes the president's collapsing poll numbers to 'high gas prices and a lot of anxiety about the war' and acknowledges 'that's not likely to change anytime soon.' . . .