HOW DEVIOUS IS KARL ROVE? Just as democracy is spreading in the mideast, his agents provocateur are undercutting Howard Dean’s credibility in his home state:

[A] group of activists has gotten enough signatures here and in some 50 other Vermont communities to place resolutions about Iraq on the agendas of their Town Meetings, a New England ritual as local as tapped maple trees and as old as the American Revolution.

On Tuesday, one-fifth of Vermont towns will consider what role the Vermont National Guard should play in the war, and whether American troops should be withdrawn.

A year ago, this would have been bad for Bush. Now it’s bad for the Democrats. Really, you just have to shake your head in admiration for the guy’s skill.

UPDATE: On a more serious note, Austin Bay doesn’t think much of the anti-war group behind this exercise.