Automatic Bob Herbert

"As the situation in Iraq moves from bad to worse, the president, based on his public comments, seems to be edging further and further from reality. The president continues to behave as if he's in denial about the war.

"Condoleezza Rice went on television to say with a straight face, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

"Back in March 2004 President Bush had a great time displaying what he felt was a hilarious set of photos showing him searching the Oval Office for the weapons of mass destruction that hadn't been found in Iraq. It was a spoof he performed at the annual dinner of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association."

Classic, eh? More of the work of hack columnist Bob Herbert, who skulks behind the pay-to-read wall of Times Select.

But not so.

While Herbert's columns (like Krugman's, and Dowd's, and so on, and so forth) have long since cooked themselves down into a malicious stew of misinformation, selective reporting, and frequent manifestations of Bush Derangement Syndrome, this particular passage was created by the Automatic Bob Herbert Column Generator.

Try it yourself. Amaze your friends. Become depressed at the realization that Herbert gets paid way more than you do, and yet you really can't tell the difference!