Why not despise the leaders BEFORE the wars?

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 1/25/2003:

Lyndon Johnson's approval rating jumped to 70 percent following the Gulf of Tonkin incident off Vietnam in 1964 when North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly opened fire on U.S. warships.

But the 1968 Tet offensive across South Vietnam vividly illustrated the failure of U.S. military operations to secure South Vietnam against communist forces, driving Johnson's approval rating down to 41 percent and provoking his withdrawal from the race for re-election less than two months later.
...
American economic concerns slashed 57 percentage points off the elder Bush's approval rating during the 16 months after the Gulf War, setting the stage for his defeat by then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992.

George W. Bush approval ratings
April 11-13, 2003 (about three weeks after start of Iraq war): 73%
August 11-13, 2006: 36%

AP, today:

The war began just two months after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, men with little military experience, took office. Surveys in two major Hebrew-language dailies on Wednesday showed low approval ratings for both. A poll of 500 people by TNS-Teleseker showed support for Olmert sinking to 40 percent after soaring to 78 percent in the first two weeks of the offensive.

Why can't people figure this out? Oh right. They're stupid.