Category: The Dish

McCain!

The exit polls show the critical distinction between Romney and McCain supporters. Romney’s are still pro-Bush. McCain’s aren’t. If you’re fighting a general election this fall, you’ll need those who disapprove of Flight_suit Bush’s record – not the kool-aid drinkers. McCain also won Hispanics by a big margin – another key advantage for November. For good measure, McCain won among those who put the economy as their major worry. He also won Catholics and liberal or moderate Republicans. Interestingly, though, Huckabee’s voters picked McCain second by a large margin. Romney doesn’t appeal to blue-collar Republicans. In fact, in a primary with far fewer independents, McCain drew even with Romney among Republicans.

With Giuliani’s endorsement now expected, this is surely McCain’s nomination. I expected Romney to win. Few foresaw a convincing McCain victory. But that’s what this is. The Republicans now have to decide whether to keep their front-runner, who is far and away their best hope in November, or junk him for ideological, anti-illegal immigrant purity. I’m betting they will stick with McCain, as they should.

One final point: a McCain nomination means one thing for sure. The era of legal, authorized torture in America is coming to a close. This is a critical moment. And it is more than fitting that a man who endured torture at the hands of America’s enemies should now be picked to restore American honor after the disgrace of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld.

Creating Islamic Democracies

Some sound advice:

Growing strong pluralist democracies in Pakistan and Bangladesh cannot be achieved by talking democracy up while giving tacit support to military backed autocrats. If you were to start a wish list you would ask for the building of institutional competencies framed by a rock-solid secular constitution. The role of the military in politics would have to be checked and it would have to be conditionally bound not to enter politics. Finally, Islamist parties would need to accept the role of sharia to cover only certain aspects of law, ethics and morality that are congruent with civil law. Divine law would be divested of its paramount position in regard to legislature. The last point is already in place; it is the pervasive role of the military that has been the greatest impediment to deal with. Made trickier since they get so much support from other powerful democracies in the west.

Democracies are inclusive by definition. In muslim-majority countries, this means it is not correct to deny the validity of Islamist parties which should be welcomed to operate as long as they demonstrate their willingness to play by the rules of the democratic process. Many of the mainstream Islamist parties already do: the AK in Turkey and Jamaati Islam in Bangladesh are adept political manouverers, playing the game as well the next secular party.

Imagining A Pro-Life America

Ross tries hard:

Over the long run, my assumption is that a ban on abortion, by changing the incentives of sexual behavior and family formation, would actually end up reducing out-of-wedlock births, welfare spending, and all the rest of it, and that a short-term investment in a pro-life welfare state (and an acceptance of the short term spike in illegitimacy, dependency and government spending that would presumably accompany it) would prove a boon to conservatism in the end. But that’s a long-term hope, not a short-term plan – and even if that assumption weren’t borne out, I still think that a higher illegitimacy rate and a more expensive and intrusive welfare state would be a small price to pay for a country where every human being enjoyed the protection of the laws.