State of denial, indeed

I never really know what to make of Woodward's books. I haven't read any since All the President's Men, so I can only comment on excerpts. And I found (from the excerpts) his last two so hagiographic to be ridiculous, so it's hard to say whether -- his own "state of denial" having evaporated -- he should or shouldn't be making a habit of scooping his own paper, since, in reality, he's reporting little that's new.

“State of Denial” is a bit like watching a replay of a marble rolling off the table. It could be argued that the last book he wrote about the administration should have been his first. Only the passage of time allows for the kind of consideration that takes the historical narrative beyond the status of a draft.

Mr. Woodward ended up breathing the same air and classified documents as his exalted sources, sharing, not exposing, the group think. (Meanwhile, Seymour M. Hersh, his journalistic contemporary and competitor, has spent time working disaffected generals and government lifers to what many consider more substantive investigative ends.)

“Some thought the books showed Bush as a strong leader because that was the evidence at the time; others drew contrary views,” Mr. Woodward said. “But it is silly to criticize a book for dealing with things that hadn’t happened yet. ‘Bush at War’ and ‘Plan of Attack’ essentially covered Sept. 11, 2001, to March 2003. The new book picks up from there.”

One of Mr. Woodward’s chief discoveries was that Donald H. Rumsfeld was not the asset that he first described him as. In “Bush at War” in 2002, Mr. Rumsfeld was described as “handsome, intense, well educated with an intellectual bend, witty with an infectious smile.” In “Plan of Attack” in 2004, he was a leader whose “way was clear, and he was precise about it.” In “State of Denial,” he is a turf-obsessed control freak whose “micromanaging was almost comic.”

Given Mr. Woodward’s tendency to fill his books with kitchen-sink detail, he maintained that the seeds of dysfunction were there to see in his previous two books. But Mr. Woodward’s time spent living in the treetops seems to have blinded him to the fact that the forest below was on fire.

But because Woodward's previous were so complimentary of this gang, this one -- Lord -- sure hits a nerve.

Asked if the president had expressed his support, Mr. Rumsfeld said, “Oh, my Lord, yes.”

Careful, Rummy. That's the kind of show of support the Rangers owner gave his manager last month.