The petty left

I have to admit, for the last 24 hours I have been a happy guy. Stupid happy. Just won the lottery happy. Last night I watched the Iraqi election unfold with a mixture of apprehension and hope. I was switching between CNN, Fox and MSNBC when the fissure between the "liberal media" and those Fox News reactionaries became very apparent. On Fox, Geraldo was crying with joy and the anchors looked ready to do backflips as polling stations filled and dancing broke out among Iraqis. On CNN, dour faces and grim predictions ruled, even as Iraqis danced and sang in their midst. MSNBC seemed to be the cynical analysis channel as one talking head after another appeared to tell us that this was far less meaningful then we were led to believe and that it could all blow up in our faces any second. I turned back to Fox and set down the remote. Sometimes you just want to smile and live in the moment. Even more predictable then the roles of the cable networks was the circular firing squad that the Democratic Party seems to insist on continuing to engage in. Between Ted Kennedy saying, three days before the election, that America is loosing and should get out and John Kerry and others going on the Sunday shows to tell us that the election isn't that meaningful and repeating their tired lines about Bush, Iraq and the need to involve the "international community," the Democrats look more like petulant children then noble statesmen. To borrow from P.J. O'Rourke, "My name is Legion. I will be your server. Tonight's special is worms." My question is how exactly does grabbing defeat from the clutches of victory advance either the Democrats interest or the countries. Aren't the Dems supposed to be the ones who blather on about nation building and democratization? The only conclusion that one can draw is that they hate George Bush so much that they are willing to shelve their own values and interests. As I have stated before, I want a strong opposition party in this country. Republicans are perfectly capable of stunningly bad ideas and if the the Dems can't offer anything better then negativity and cynicism then they will not be able to counter them. Today has been a good day, no matter what Ted Kennedy says.

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I heard an analysis from a frontline commander in Iraq about why this election matters. He said that terrorism is useless when it fails to terrorize. 8 million Iraqis took the insurgents power away from them today and emboldened a nation. Good stuff.