Signing Statements Strike a Nerve

Paulson Watch

Reuters reports: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson renewed support for a strong dollar on Tuesday but said he has not discussed dollar policy with President George W. Bush.

"'I have not talked with the president about the dollar policy. I've talked with him about a number of things. This is very much my policy,' Paulson said in a Bloomberg television interview on a day when he made his first major speech and gave his first on-the-record interviews as Treasury secretary."

So does this indicate: a) Bush isn't really involved in setting key features of his administration's economic policy; or b) Paulson only thinks he's setting the administration's economic policy.

Fitter, Fatter, Shorter

David Stout writes in the New York Times: "President Bush continues to enjoy robust health but has put on a little weight, the White House said Tuesday after the president's annual physical examination."

Julie Mason writes for the Houston Chronicle: "President Bush lost a quarter-inch in height and gained nearly 5 pounds in the past year -- but he lowered his cholesterol and is still in better shape than most men his age, according to his doctors."

Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts ask in The Washington Post: "Is President Bush a seesaw dieter? He gained six pounds in the year and a half before the 2004 elections, then lost eight pounds by last summer -- only to regain five pounds since then, according to the results of his annual physical yesterday. He now weighs in at 196.

"'Too many birthday cakes,' explained POTUS, who celebrated his 60th last month, as he exited National Naval Medical Center. During six hours of tests, doctors also burned a tiny precancerous lesion off his left arm -- nothing serious, they said -- and gave him the old scold about sunscreen."

According to the medical report released by the White House, Bush hasn't had a single sick day since his last physical.

And he exercises six times a week. "Workouts include bicycling (15-20 miles, 15-18mph), treadmill (low impact 'hill-work'), elliptical trainer, free weight resistance training, and stretching."

My question: How does a guy who exercises that much put on that much weight? He must really be packing the food away.

Author and screenwriter Nora Ephron marvels on the Huffington Post Web site about "how it's possible for anyone under these conditions to have a resting heart rate of 46 beats per minute."

The Wounded

While at the National Naval Medical Center for his physical yesterday, Bush visited with some wounded Marines, sailors and soldiers there. Here's a White House photo .

I'm guessing he didn't ask them how they felt about the war.

Brian MacQuarrie writes in the Boston Globe about one soldier Bush visited recently at another military hospital: "President Bush came and sat by the side of Sergeant Brian Fountaine, a 24-year-old tank commander from Dorchester, a gung-ho soldier who had lobbied to be deployed a second time. Now Fountaine was among the wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, his legs amputated below the knees after an explosion June 8 ripped apart the Humvee in which he was riding.

"The president chatted about the sergeant's beloved Red Sox, but made no reference to the war, the soldier said.

"If the topic had come up, the president might not have liked what Fountaine had on his mind. In a dramatic change of heart, Fountaine now considers the war a military quagmire in which American soldiers are caught in a deadly vise between irreconcilable enemies."

Briefing Room Nostalgia

Argetsinger and Roberts write in The Post: "Today is the last day reporters will meet in the West Wing's ratty old press room, so a celebration is in order: Former White House press secretaries Jim Brady, Marlin Fitzwater, Jody Powell, Ron Nessen, Joe Lockhart and Dee Dee Myers will join Tony Snow at the last briefing this afternoon. The press corps is decamping across the street to Jackson Place until long-overdue renovations -- state-of-the-art technology and wider seats -- and rat extermination are completed next May."

Cindy Sheehan Watch

Ann Compton blogs for ABC News about how anti-war mom Cindy Sheehan is moving into Crawford -- just in time for Bush's vacation.

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