Bizarrely, the New York Times published a review today of Bob Shrum’s book No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner, which was released on June 5. I can understand late reviews of sleepers like The Kite Runner that take a while to gain recognition, but Shrum’s book got a lot of press attention from the beginning. So why review it now?

Postscript: I did learn from the review that “the networks declined to show footage of Kerry at an Iowa party jokingly miming a toke while Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary sang ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’” during the 2004 campaign. That’s great — who cares? — but it’s surprising given the media’s apparently endless appetite for trivia. We’re talking about a press corps that gave extensive coverage to the fact that Kerry ordered Swiss cheese on his cheesesteak during a campaign stop in Philadelphia. Is that “news” supposed to be more substantive than a joke about pot?