Talk about dumb. A venerable foreign policy think tank in Washington, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has driven away its president, Robert Zoellick, because he's advising Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush. Zoellick is a brainy, politically astute veteran of the Reagan and Bush administrations and would seem to be perfect for the job of CSIS chief. Think tanks exist, after all, to influence administrations and their policies -- and Zoellick is helping shape the policy of what may be the next administration. Other Bush advisers include Condoleezza Rice, the provost of Stanford University, and Paul Wolfowitz, who heads Johns Hopkins's School of Advanced International Studies. Neither Stanford nor Hopkins has objected to their advisory roles. Nonetheless, Zoellick was forced to choose -- CSIS or Bush? He chose Bush. If Bush wins the presidency, Zoellick may well get a top job. Some think he would be a perfect deputy Treasury secretary or even White House chief of staff. And former senator Sam Nunn and others on the CSIS board will be eating their hearts out, though probably not at very many state dinners.