Kitty, leave Chris Matthews alone. He's depressed.Democrats cry "Fraud."
the pakistani press played the margin of approval much higher in the story than the AP did. unsurprising.
Looks like Anbar needs to either accept the result peacefully or be brought into line by force. Win/win scenario, we either get what we want without fighting, or we get a good reason to put the hammer down on another fascist sect.
"how dangerously polarized Iraq had become." ?Iraq has been polarized since it was born after WWI ! It wascertainly polarized under Saddam, but all differences were concealed by the iron fist of the "unity" of his government. All we did was to take the lid off.
Kitty, leave Chris Matthews alone. He's depressed.Sunnis really have two choices:
1) Win assembly seats in December and make amends to constitution
2) Keep fighting
If they choose #2 at this juncture of the political process prior to December elections, the Shiites and Kurds won't be silent spectators any more. The hammer will come down.
So, either way, Sunnis will be brought back in line.
The MSM has lost it's mind by not thinking this is a huge story. I hate the MSM and pity any Conservative radio host who still has warm thoughts for anyone in the MSM.
When you lose a vote, declare it a fraud.
When you win and you win by a lot more than you expected, you do a recount and surprise... you really did win by that much.
But the losers still cry foul, and blow up buildings, and kill people who disagree with them.
We're so close to having Leftist extremists in our country taking that dangerous step toward terrorism. Two more failures in the elections and we'll probably start to see the first stirrings of home grown terrorists in opposition to Republicans. We've already had GOP offices shot at, personnel attacked, and get out the vote vehicles vandalized. And these by the Main Stream Left, of which there are at least 20% of the total voting population who qualify for that label.
And sadly, these are the people the Democrat leadership looks to as their base. Our conservative base, as odd as the further-out-there-right-wingers may be, is no where near that desperate or hate filled. I would entrust my life to a Far Right Christian American fundamentalist because I know that that person's creed includes my right to believe differently, so long as I don't strive to impose my differing opinions on them.
The Left has no such safety valve. There is no tolerance for conservatism. We view the Left with contempt. They view us with deep seated paranoia, suspicion, and hate. When they break the law in order to go after us, they justify their actions because they believe that we're doing the same things. When they register dead people to vote and try to fix votes, they believe that we're out there trying to do the same thing. We're not, but that's besides the point. It is what they believe and it is why the radical Left is such a big danger to our country. What they believe and reality differ so greatly that reason and rationality cannot penetrate their haze.
All we can do is continue to try and win elections and keep these people out of power, because if we don't... we risk ending up like Europe, but much worse. Over there the Radicals aren't in charge. Over there, they just think they are. In this country, the radicals are closer to power than ever before. They had a taste in Bill Clinton, and they want more.
Step lightly, carry a big stick... and pray to God that the swing voters see through the MSM.