You know Bush is hurting when the Kansas Senate talks about opposing the push in Iraq

By Diane Silver

I never thought I'd see the day when Bush country starts talking about seriously opposing anything involving George W's War. But, friends, that day has come, and it has arrived in the Kansas Senate.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports:

State Sen. Donald Betts, D-Wichita, filed a resolution that would put Kansas lawmakers on record of being opposed to Bush’s call for 21,500 more troops in Iraq.

At a minimum, the resolution states, Bush should seek approval from Congress before sending more troops, and that Congress should prohibit the president from spending taxpayer dollars on an escalation in Iraq without his first seeking congressional approval.

“We are sending 18- and 19-year-olds, at the start of their lives, to Iraq, and they are not coming home,” Betts said. The war has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 U.S. soldiers with more than 22,000 wounded.

Yes, the resolution is coming from a Democrat, and it is possible (likely even) that the Republican-dominated state Senate won't let this resolution come up for a vote. But honestly... I've never seen a proposal like this in the Kansas Legislature before.

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised, though. Bush's approval rating is at a woeful 40 percent in Kansas as measured in a Jan. 12-14 poll taken by Survey USA.

Meanwhile, Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has a 69 percent approval rating in a poll taken by the same organization over the same time period.