More people are beginning to compare Iraq and Vietnam.

Today, comparisons of the Iraq war to Vietnam are growing louder and steady reports of American troops killed on the battlefield are having a corrosive effect on public opinion of President Bush.

One of the most telling numbers of late: four in 10 Americans, 39 percent, think the United States made a mistake by sending troops into Iraq - roughly the same number that said that about Vietnam in the summer of 1967.

Early on, people approved of Johnson's handling of Vietnam by a 2-1 margin, according to Gallup polls from 1965. By the summer of 1967, four in 10 thought Vietnam was a mistake, and people were evenly divided on Johnson's handling of the war. Public support then slipped steadily.

The decline in public opinion about Iraq has come more quickly for Bush. In April, three-fourths approved of the way Bush was handling the war. In a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll released Thursday, 54 percent disapproved and 45 percent approved. The number who say it was a mistake to send in troops has almost doubled from the 22 percent who thought so in July.

It may be only a matter of time until someone comes up with the sequel to the infamous chant we remember so well, "Hey, Hey, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?"