Oh for a book and a shady crook...

Oh for a book and a shady crook...

Since Roger is otherwise detained and I still have a key to the place -

There are very good reasons why the Wall Street Journal employs Karl Rove. After all, he did mastermind the election of a virtual idiot into a spot somewhat higher than first runner up at American Idol. But I think that the WSJ had something other in mind than Rove writing fanfic about Incurious George, the man who put the 'brief' into briefing:

At year's end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as Leader of the Free World.

Mr. Bush's 2006 reading list shows his literary tastes. The nonfiction ran from biographies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, King Leopold, William Jennings Bryan, Huey Long, LBJ and Genghis Khan to Andrew Roberts's "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900," James L. Swanson's "Manhunt," and Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower." Besides eight Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald, Mr. Bush tackled Michael Crichton's "Next," Vince Flynn's "Executive Power," Stephen Hunter's "Point of Impact," and Albert Camus's "The Stranger," among others.

Fifty-eight of the books he read that year were nonfiction. Nearly half of his 2006 reading was history and biography, with another eight volumes on current events (mostly the Mideast) and six on sports.

To my surprise, the president demanded a rematch in 2007. Though the overall pace slowed, he once more came in second in our two-man race, reading 51 books to my 76.

I'm as willing as the next person to believe that Rove may have actually read 76 books; he doesn't exactly look like he spends his late evening hours at raves. But please don't try to tell me that George W. Bush reads nearly a book a week. The Sporting News, during baseball season, yes. "A History of the English Speaking Peoples Since 1900."? Please. That would be too ironic.

Rove should stick to giving tips on manipulating public opinion in order to destroy the Constitution inch by inch while emptying the Treasury into Dick Cheney's buddies pockets. When it comes to what is commonly called "polishing the turd", he should leave it to pros like John Hinderaker who can use his tongue purtier than a twenty-dollar whore.