BOOK TIME! . . . The books they are a comin' out. Now comes Woodward with fixation story. Cheney "fixated" on Iraq, says S-T head 4/17. Look for more of that in the next few days, until it peaks. It's more proof that Clever Sigmund, that investigator of upper-class Jewish women's minds (whatever did they want?) in pre-WW1 Vienna, did one big thing if nothing else: He gave a new, sophisticated passive-aggressive ways to say "Your father's mustache" or "Up yours" or "asshole." Thanks to him, we can easily avoid something like "firm intent" to do this or that (vs. fixation on same) or "longstanding conviction" and instead chalk it up to something really crazy.

COMPARED TO WHAT PRESIDENT? . . . An interesting question is, were Bushies more fixated on Iraq (and is it news that Wolfowitz et al. were for radical solution of the world's Middle East problem?) than FDR was on Nazi Germany and the Axis (of evil) of his day? To the exclusion of worrying about Stalinist Russkies, for instance? Get lost, FD heatedly told normally trusted advisor-with-access Adolf Berle when B. came to him with W. Chambers's damning and credible accusations of Alger Hiss as Commie agent -- which he was, we know now, thanks to Venona papers, not to mention what came out of two trials as excellently anatomized by Allen Weinstein in Perjury: the Hiss-Chambers Case (Knopf, 1978). There he went again, FDR and his fixations.

Bottom line regarding new books a'comin': This be partisan politics, folks. Libs at it again, big time. Fixated.

LET THE PRESSES ROLL . . . As for mainstream newsies, hey, the latest Woodward book is a peg wherewith to keep ball rolling, from here not to eternity but to the 1st Tuesday in November.

GW deceived us, they say. FDR didn't? New book coming out comparing the two as to deception quotient? Not that we know of, though Right Wing Conspiracy Publishers might find it a good idea.

As for deception, what about supposed newsie Woodward sitting on all those good quotes while helping to put out a daily newspaper, his Wash Post? I'm trying to imagine how daily paper editors I knew would have liked that.