In a Q&A with The New York Times that was just posted, book-plugging political operative Karl Rove defends his former boss, telling Peter Baker that the biggest misconception about Bush is “that he needed a brain.”

“Bush is a very smart, able leader and people who didn't like his policies tried to diminish him by depicting me as his brain,” Rove says in the exchange. “The second thing is the myth that Bush got there by - he got there by running a campaign that was based around big ideas, running into a headwind and won, and then won reelection in a year with a lot of headwinds, again by emphasizing big things. This was not mini-ball.”

Rove later says: “Bush laid the foundation for victory in the Global War on Terrorism and the expansion of democracy abroad.” Okay, If he says so.