I have to agree with John Miller when he puts Seven Days in May in his top-five list of political thrillers. (Not only is it a great book, but the movie version starring Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, and Frederic March is outstanding.) There is a very amusing exchange at the end of the book. As General Scott, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is leaving the White House after the president forces his resignation, two of the president’s advisers, including Senator Clark, tell General Scott that he better not try to run against the president in the upcoming election, or else his affair with another woman will become public knowledge. Scott looks at them and says, “I have just met two plain, ordinary bastards.” Senator Clark laughs and says, “Hell, General, you’ve met worse than that. Roll both of us down the hill in a barrel and there’ll always be a son-of-a-bitch on top.” I can think of a lot of people in Washington who would fit into that barrel.