Maybe you can judge a book by its cover . . .

I was wandering through my second office -Hartsfield International Airport - yesterday, and decided to grab some lunch between planes. (By the way, when did WH Smith sell out to Hudson News? I noticed that the B concourse deli/bookshop had been rebranded, and the food - which had always been pretty good for airport food - was mediocre. The focaccia bread was stale, the meat was tasteless, and the pesto salad - which used to be all vinegary and garlicky - was bland. Considering that the bookstore used to have the best quick between flights meal on B concourse, I'm really disappointed with the new owners.)

While I was in the bookstore browsing the titles (I bought Keegan's new book on intelligence in war - can't wait to read it) I saw the latest Michael Moore screed, The 911 Reader. On the cover is a picture of Michael Moore and George W. Bush sitting side by side in a movie theater, sharing a tub of popcorn. Now, obviously, that never really happened (I'm convinced that Moore has never shared his popcorn with anyone, for one thing), but it made me think. It seems to be a perfect example of the Michael Moore style. He needed something dramatic to illustrate a point he wanted to make, and it didn't exist, so he just made it up. Take a picture of Moore, a picture of Bush, do a little superimposition, and voila . . . his point is made. To me, that cover is indicative of Moore's whole style. Superimose one event on another, even with no causal connection, and let innuendo tell the story.