Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers

[Hannibal]

BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.




Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any disaffected Iraqi minority groups left. Oh, wait, there's Ahmed at 37 Sword of the Infidel Slayer Gardens in Ramadi. Apparently, he's still rejecting the new constitution. Maybe, if we're lucky, he's got a brother who's mildly irked. Whoops, sorry, they just went off to vote, too.

Heigh-ho. The Iraq election's over, the media did their best to ignore it, and, judging from the rippling torsos I saw every time I switched on the TV, the press seem to reckon that that gay cowboy movie was the big geopolitical event of the last week, if not of all time. Yes, yes, I know: They're not, technically, cowboys, they're gay shepherds, but even Hollywood isn't crazy enough to think it can sell gay shepherds to the world. And the point is, even if I was in the mood for a story about two rugged insecure men who find themselves strangely attracted to each other in a dark transgressive relationship that breaks all the rules, who needs Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger when you've got Howard Dean and Abu Musad al-Zarqawi? Yee-haw! And, if that sounds unfair, pick almost any recent statement by a big-time Dem cowboy and tell me how exactly it would differ from the pep talks Zarqawi gives his dwindling band of head-hackers -- Dean arguing that America can't win in Iraq, Barbara Boxer demanding the troops begin withdrawing on Dec. 15, John Kerry accusing American soldiers of terrorizing Iraqi women and children, Jack Murtha declaring that the U.S. Army is utterly broken. Pepper 'em with a handful of "Praise be to Allahs" and any one of those statements could have been uttered by Zarqawi.

The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot -- even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble."

One day Iraq will be a G7 member hosting the Olympics in the world's No. 1 luxury vacation resort of Fallujah, and the Defeaticrat Party will still be running around screaming it's a quagmire. It's not just that Iraq is going better than expected, but that it's a huge success that's being very deftly managed: The timeframe imposed on the democratic process turns out to have worked very well -- the transfer of sovereignty, the vote on a constitutional assembly, the ratification of the constitution, the vote for a legislature -- and, with the benefit of hindsight, it now looks like an ingeniously constructed way to bring the various parties on board in the right order: first the Kurds, then the Shia, now the Sunni. That doesn't leave many folks over on the other side except Zarqawi and Dean. What do the two have in common? They're both foreigners, neither of whom have the slightest interest in the Iraqi people.

And no, I'm not questioning their patriotism. Honestly, who can be bothered questioning anything so footling as Howard Dean's patriotism? If you're a Democratic patriot and you're outraged by my linking your party to the "insurgents," take it up with your leaders: They're the ones who've over-invested the party in American failure. And instead of being angry at me you should be ashamed of them. Your party is regarded as unserious on national security because it got it wrong last time round, when Kerry spent the last half of the Cold War siding with every loser on the planet -- opposing the liberation of Grenada, supporting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And at least that little Sandinista guy looked awful cute in his fatigues, like a novelty houseboy Teresa picked up on vacation. It's hard to believe a bunch of crazy mullahs and suicide bombers are going to do much for the lefty T-shirt business.

George Clooney, the matinee idol, made an interesting point the other day. He said that "liberal" had become a dirty word and he'd like to change that. Fair enough. So I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion. The best way to reclaim "liberal" for the angels is to get on the right side of history -- the side the Iraqi people are on. The word "liberal" has no meaning if those who wear the label refuse to celebrate the birth of a new democracy after 40 years of tyranny. Yet, if you wandered the Internet on Thursday, you came across far too many "liberals" who watched the election, shrugged and went straight back to Valerie Plame, WMD, Bush lied.

Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers. That's what this is about: Millions of Kurds, Shia and Sunnis beaming as they emerge from polling stations and hold up their purple fingers after the freest, fairest election ever held in the Arab world. "Liberal" in the American sense is a dirty word because it's come to stand for a shriveled parochial obsolescent irrelevance, of which ''Good Night, and Good Luck,'' Clooney's dreary little retread of the McCarthy years, is merely the latest example. (Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.)
The Anglo-American political tradition is the most successful in the world in part because of the concept of "loyal opposition." Yes, the party out of office opposes the party in office and hopes to supplant it, but not at the expense of the broader political culture. A party that winds up cheerleading for a deranged loser death cult is the very definition of pointless self-defeating sour oppositionism. So, as Zarqawi flails, Dean and Murtha and Kerry flail ever more pathetically, too. Just wait till the WMD turn up.

[DocDiggs]

Politicized nonsense! I'm sure there are those out there that believe that the US should "cut and run" (rightist fantasy...wish fulfillment), but that is Rushbuttian propaganda, as opposed to reality. As a Centrist, I have yet to hear anyone among those despised "liberals" (well, there may be some out there out of the mainsteam, but there are also some rightists who believe Hillary is the Anti-Christ...personally I think the AC is Rush Limburger.). The simple reality, and one that should be obvious, is that we are stuck in Iraq for whatever reasons that I shall not go into here, and the current "reality" needs to be handled constructively. Bush got us in there, but regardless of the past, which is moot at this point, the problem needs to be dealt with constructively. Continuing to rag on politics, blame the Libs or the neo-cons, let's get the d**n job finished and get our people out of Iraq before it blows like VN did. We really do not want to get involved in some such nonsense in the middle of some freakin' desert. Fer ole Pete's sake! We fought WWII for 4 years, but here we are in Iraq for 3 already with no end in sight! One pissant little suburb of a country! (Shades of FDR!) I think the Libs, Dems, whatever...could do as good a job as the present admin. I do believe we need some fresh input however. When I can sit in front of my TV during any Bush speech (such as tonight's) and can mouth almost word for word what he says, perhaps he's said the same things too many times.

[Woodmonkey]

We differ on this one, Doc. The article is spot on. All the predictions of doom and gloom from the Dems and the mainstream media have come to naught and they (both) are downplaying the very real successes.

Originally Posted by DocDiggs

...and the current "reality" needs to be handled constructively.

I agree, Doc. The media has so twisted the reality there into something unrecognizable. They concentrate on anything negative, and ignore all the positives. They perseverate on sicko soldiers like that Lyndie England and ignore the heroes. etc.

We fought WWII for 4 years, but here we are in Iraq for 3 already with no end in sight!

A different war and different times. However, it took approximately 10 years after the war was over to get that country fully under control from the dissident leftover Nazi's and those who lost power when they were defeated. Yes, there were acts of sabotage. People forget that, but staying the course was a good investment.

I think the Libs, Dems, whatever...could do as good a job as the present admin.

Not with their defeatist, cut and run mentality.

When I can sit in front of my TV during any Bush speech (such as tonight's) and can mouth almost word for word what he says, perhaps he's said the same things too many times.

Perhaps he says those things over and over because they are true?

[MR Nasty]

Roger that Woody. I swear you are my hero. The true victor of this war will be the one that maintains the will the longest. The media and the political opposition have managed to formulate such rosy pictures just off a couple week long excursions into theater. Some have never set foot in Iraq yet have the whole thing figured out. Yes even my illustrious two senators. (k and k). Let them tell the true stories of the good and positive things accomplished there. God bless our Troops for helping the Iraqi people get on their feet. Nobody would have thought 60 years ago that Japan would be such a solid democracy as today. Back then it was said that they could not become a democracy because they never experienced it. Ha again wrong.

[Woodmonkey]

Originally Posted by MR Nasty

Roger that Woody. I swear you are my hero. The true victor of this war will be the one that maintains the will the longest. The media and the political opposition have managed to formulate such rosy pictures just off a couple week long excursions into theater. Some have never set foot in Iraq yet have the whole thing figured out. Yes even my illustrious two senators. (k and k). Let them tell the true stories of the good and positive things accomplished there. God bless our Troops for helping the Iraqi people get on their feet. Nobody would have thought 60 years ago that Japan would be such a solid democracy as today. Back then it was said that they could not become a democracy because they never experienced it. Ha again wrong.

Why thank you, Mr. Nasty!

I didn't realize that about Japan back then. Interesting.

[Snowden]

I wonder if the British or other Europeans of the 18th Century believed that this bunch of 13 colonies would ever be a Democracy. After all - we had never been a Democracy before.. we had only been a possession, and before that this had been a wilderness, hadn't it?

Somehow, it seems to me that the fact of people not having experienced freedom seems to be a stronger argument in favor of them becoming a Democracy than the opposite, judging from history. Something in the human psyche cries out for freedom and craves it.