Questions of Timing?

Three high-profile books critical of President Bush have come out recently and all have been media and chattering-class sensations: O'Neill's, Clarke's and Woodward's books. All three have had the same publisher: Simon & Schuster. They also published Hillary Clinton's memoir last year.

Even the publishing industry has commented on the trend.

Charlotte Abbott, news editor of Publishers Weekly. “No one in the industry of publishing can remember a time since Watergate when so many political books have come out and the public has been interested – and a lot of those Watergate titles came out after.”

In short: the books have had great influence on Washington politicians and reporters yet it remains to be seen if they will have a lasting influence on the public perception of President Bush.

"The impact of the books is not produced by people who read it, it is by people who watch television," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on presidential politics.

"I don't think you've ever had three books coming out in sequence and moving onto the bestseller list, all of which had a focus on the current administration and had insider information in them."

Makes you think....