Michael Gerson, Bush’s former chief speechwriter, devoted his latest Washington Post column to praising the genius of Karl Rove. It's not exactly persuasive.

Rove’s main influence on the Republican Party has not been a series of tactical innovations but a series of strategic arguments. In this way, Rove is the opposite of a cynical political operator. He is not only a partisan for George W. Bush but the most serious, tireless advocate of Bushism.

First, Rove argues that Republicans win as activist reformers, in the tradition of Lincoln, McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. “We were founded as a reformist party,” he said in our conversation this week, “not to be against something, but to help the little guy get ahead.” The models he cites are 401(k)s and the mortgage interest deduction — government policies that encouraged individual wealth and ownership.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Rove is the opposite of a cynical political operator? He’s a champion of the little guy?

Kevin Drum tears Gerson's piece apart.