In a revealing comment on Bush's consistency (or lack thereof), Barnes tries to make his frequent flip-flopping seem like a virtue -- as proof that he is not rigid. Says Barnes of Bush: "He proposed school vouchers, then gave up on them at the first sign of resistance. He changed his mind famously in 2002, when he switched from opposing a new Department of Homeland Security to proposing one. He flipped on the planned path to democracy in Iraq. ... He disliked campaign finance reform legislation, then signed it into law."

Barnes also admits that Bush's governing philosophy, taken on its own terms, is incoherent. "Proposing to reduce Social Security's unfunded liability, as Bush has, just after ballooning Medicare's with a prescription drug benefit is hardly coherent," Barnes writes. "Nor does it make sense to sign a lavish farm subsidy bill, which Bush did, while advocating fiscal restraint."

Although Bush is said to be famously loyal to his staff, Barnes cannot explain the firing of National Economic Council Director Larry Lindsey in 2002. He was fired "merely for show," Barnes tells us, "a demonstration of White House concern over a struggling economy."

This is just B.S., and Barnes knows it. It hardly makes sense to fire your chief economic adviser when your official position is that the policies devised by that adviser are working perfectly. Indeed, according to Barnes, Bush greeted Lindsey after the 2004 election and said, "You're the guy whose tax cuts won the election for me. ... We call it the Lindsey recovery around here."

I still don't know the real reason for Lindsey's firing, but Barnes only makes it all the more confusing. He says Bush was simply indulging in the ways of Washington, which hardly fits in with his idea that Bush is a rebel who cares nothing about such things.

Toward the end of the book, Barnes more clearly states the fact that Bush is no conservative. "George W. Bush isn't one of them," Barnes says. On the contrary, he appeals to the "liberal instincts" of his supporters.

In his conclusion, Barnes compares Bush to Ronald Reagan on a three-point scale, with Reagan getting a full point on taxes, foreign policy and social values. Barnes gives Bush a full point only on values, with just half a point each for taxes and foreign policy. That makes Bush two-thirds of a real conservative, which sounds about right to me.