So what? The point is that as a simple mobster, he has only his henchmen to answer to. As a mobster with an actual democratic base, he’ll have other pressures that can only lead to good. I’m an optimist on democracy. Even if the elected leader is a thug, he has legitimacy, he can be dealt with, we can negotiate. All this handwringing from the usual suspects is overblown. Democracy works. And may always surprise us. Remember what some thought would happen in Nicaragua under free elections? Besides, by demanding elections, Bush puts the US back on a clear pro-democracy path. That will help with Iran. And China.
SIGN OF THE TIMES: An email from a Jewish Democrat:
Boy how about that Bush speech? A lot of People in the Arab World probably needed a few crates of Rolaids. Bush is the man and at my family’s barbeque on Sunday, we Jewish Democrats were pretty glad to have a Republican Pres. on deck after 9/11 and the Mid East mess, especially crazy ass Rumsfeld and Cheney(G-d Bless ‘Em). Who would have thought that?
Well I had an inkling, buddy.
The Dish 