Karl Rove isn't the shadowy henchman we always thought he was! That's the takeaway from more analysis on his Fox News punditry, which goes along with his Newsweek and WSJ columns, and, perhaps, a new radio show (or maybe not). Rove is dutifully handing out analysis and political advice, the kind you can imagine he dished out in Bush's Oval Office, or his tiny quarters down some hall, except … there are skeptics!

Maybe the advice Rove is giving to the Democratic candidates is exactly the opposite of what they should actually be doing.

"Any move by Mr. Obama to declare victory before the last of the Democratic primaries in June, Mr. Rove said, would alienate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wing of the party. 'That’s a mistake,' he said. 'That just is rubbing the loser’s nose in it. And a lot of those supporters will remember it by November.'" To which Obama's press secretary Bill Burton replied: "Wouldn’t taking his advice be a little like getting health tips from a funeral home director?" [NYT]

YES! But Rove doesn't actually think Obama's campaign is going to follow the talking points he delivers on cable news' most-watched and most-intolerable network. So maybe he's handing out good advice that Obama should follow, knowing Obama's camp won't trust it.

Or maybe Rove expects Obama's team to go through that thought process, so he's moving his chess piece one step further, and recommending stupid moves.

Or maybe … eh, this is exhausting.