Alert reader jessica took me to task last night for my review of Brandi Carlile's new record The Story (which I had written six or seven weeks ago). She wrote, "you're actually an idiot, chrisb. get some intuition and look a little bit further. turpentine is not about alcoholism. think outside the box, it's not hard to figure out." Fair enough- even if I still don't believe I'm wrong and wasn't told how I was, just that I'm, "actually an idiot."

I have to admit that it stung a little bit, but then I felt much better when I turned to Wonkette and saw a link to a story about Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard and a talking head on Fox News. Kristol wrote an editor for this morning's Washington Post called "Why Bush Will Be A Winner."

Kristol, a PhD from Harvard, performs some crazy intellectual gymnastics to reach his conclusion, including arguing that we're on track for a positive outcome in Iraq and makes no mention of last week's report that Al Qaeda is at its strongest point since 2001, or Hurricane Katrina, or the conviction of Scooter Libby, or the politicization of the Justice Department, or the countless other scandals — which Kristol presumably sweeps under the rug as "unnecessary mistakes" and "self-inflicted wounds."

Kristol says Bush's accomplishments are Iraq (huh?), no terrorists attacks on US soil since Sept. 11, and a strong economy. By that standard, President Clinton should be on Mt. Rushmore.

The moral of this story? I'm not sure (I'm an idiot, remember?), but Mr. Kristol, if you're ever in Seattle, let me buy you a drink. You made my morning.