A Whale of a Thought

"Oh! Ahab," cried Starbuck, "not too late is it ... to desist. See! Moby-Dick seeks thee not. It is thou, thou, that madly seekest him!" --Starbuck, during the climactic scene of Moby Dick

Karl Rove, who is reputed to be clever, perhaps outdid himself in this parting swipe at the Democratic bow:

I noticed the other day some Democratic staffers were quoted calling me the big fish. Well, I'm Moby Dick and they're after me.

Of course, it is possible that Mr. Rove meant nothing more than that some Democrats see him as the biggest fish in the sea -- a thought which will probably cause some on the left who are afflicted with a penchant for taking all things literally to cite this as an example of the Bush administration's assault on science. However, Rove could have meant something more. Readers of Melville's classic know that things did not go well for those who made the mistake of hunting Moby Dick and that Ahab's obsession ultimately did him in.