Karl Rove, who still seems to believe he’s a credible prognosticator, insists the GOP field is making a mistake keeping Bush at arm’s length.

President Bush, down and all but counted out by friend and foe alike just three months ago, is rising like a bloodied but unbowed prizefighter, and Karl Rove predicts peril for Republicans and their presidential nominee if they shun the lame-duck president on the campaign trail. […]

“Nobody can risk looking disrespectful to the president without paying a price, and they need to understand that,” said Mr. Rove, Mr. Bush’s former top political adviser.

I appreciate the fact that Rove is too often detached from reality, but urging Republicans to embrace the least popular, least successful president in modern history is about as smart as assuring Republican candidates in 2006 that Dems couldn’t possibly win back both chambers of Congress. Oh wait, ol’ Karl did that, too — telling NPR before the midterms that he’d found a secret math that gives him insights that mere mortals can’t comprehend.

If Dems are really lucky, Republicans will forget the fact that Rove’s record on electoral predictions is surprisingly weak and they’ll take his advice.