The Horse is back this week, with an expose of right-wing books that appear on best seller lists--check it out. If you doubt them, go to the New York Times list of best-selling Hardcover Nonfiction. Check out Book Number 4 this week. Catch the symbol (+) next at the end of the book's description. Then, scroll down to bottom where the symbol, referred to as a "dagger," is explained:

A dagger (+) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders.

So it's not Jane Q. Public buying up the books, one by one, hungry for the content. It's right-wing activist groups and speakers' bureaus buying en masse and then offering the books free to those who ask for it. Even Drudge on occasion has offered the book for free . Here's another such ad, from NewsMax. Here's one from Human Events.

Credit goes to Sidney Blumenthal for speaking out about this (scroll down,) and to the Times for making the distinction.

According to Mr. Blumenthal, evidence of the "vast right-wing conspiracy" once proclaimed by Hillary Clinton can be found on The New York Times Book Review's best-seller list. "What I think the key question is for AC and all these other right-wing writers is, why is there a dagger in the New York Times best-seller list next to their books?" Mr. Blumenthal said in reference to the small symbol that appears next to Treason, which rocketed to the top of the Times list. According to the fine print at the bottom of the Times list, the dagger denotes "that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders."

"That means that someone is buying their book in bulk to put them on the best-seller list. These are bogus best-sellers," Mr. Blumenthal told The Transom. "I want to know why [AC] won't come clean and explain which rich right-wing sugar daddies are putting her on the best-seller list."

So who's buying up all these books?

"I don't know. I don't even know if she knows, but I know she's benefiting, and I know that all the other right-wing authors whose books have no merit in any way, on substance or as fact, are simply being put on there through a well-organized campaign involving vast resources of money of wealthy Republicans," Mr. Blumenthal said. "AC is a phony best-seller."

You can read Ms. C's response at the links above--we don't intend to reprint it.