Karl Rove is continuing to use Wall Street Journal column to blatantly advance his own financial interests.

Rove is the co-founder of Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads, two outside groups devoted to defeating President Obama in the November election. And in his August 8 Journal column, Rove touted the efforts of outside groups working against Obama without any disclosure of his own involvement in such groups.

Rove advised Mitt Romney to run positive ads while leaving the dirty work of negative advertising to outside groups:

Mr. Romney also began running more positive ads. The election will not be won just by highlighting Mr. Obama's failures, a job better left (mostly) to outside groups. Because it can put the candidate on camera, the Romney campaign is better positioned to reassure voters that he has a plan to create jobs, reduce spending, and make America more prosperous.

Rove's outside groups plan to raise at least $240 million ahead of Election Day in order to fund ad buys.

And Rove's groups are indeed busy smearing Obama just as Rove suggested they should in his Journal column. Last week, Rove's group unveiled a new ad that falsely claimed that the 2009 stimulus bill failed.

Rove's group previously produced an anti-Obama attack ad that deceptively edited comments the president has made. Rove subsequently hyped the same distortion in his Journal column.

The Journal has a Rove problem. It allows Rove to hype distortions promoted by his political groups, it allows him to promote the role of his groups in this election cycle, and it refuses to acknowledge Rove's conflict of interest.