And what will he be saying around Labor Day

When to try to save his party's sorry ass he starts drawing down troops?

President Bush warned on Tuesday that setting an artificial timetable for withdrawal of Iraq would be "a terrible mistake" and took the rare step of mentioning the precise number of war dead.

"I'm going to make you this promise," Mr. Bush told a cheering throng under a blistering late-morning sun. "I'm not going to allow the sacrifice of 2,527 troops who have died in Iraq to be in vain by pulling out before the job is done."

When it can help his polling at the best possible moment, as if by magic, "the job will be getting done".

Playing politics for Bush is "getting the job done". Saying you want to keep troops from "dying in vain" doesn't mean much when, in fact, they have died and will die for Bush's vanity.