IF ONLY HE WEREN'T A MORON...:

Backing Bush's Mideast Vision (Jackson Diehl, June 21, 2004, Washington Post)

Though Bush's mismanagement of Iraq has put his democracy advocates on the defensive, there nevertheless now exists the beginning of a broad pro-reform coalition in and outside the region. It includes a handful of people in Arab governments, but many more outside, in rapidly growing civic and human rights movements. There are European parliamentarians and policymakers in expanding numbers, especially in Germany. And in Washington, there are not only Bush's neocons but an important group of Democrats.

A lot of these people don't think much of George Bush, which is one reason why the coalition hasn't entirely coalesced. But almost all of them say that Bush's preaching on democracy over the past year, and the modest action that has come with it, has changed the terms of debate about the future of the Middle East, both in and outside the region. Bush's campaign "frightened people," King Abdullah of Jordan said in an interview here last week. "But it also allowed some of us to say that if we don't come up with our own initiative, something will be forced on us. And once you say you are going to reform, you trigger a process that you can't turn back."

So his rhetoric and the fear generated by his regime change policy has forced a wide-scale reform movement but it's despite him? Kind of reminds one of how Ronald Reagan just happened to preside over a moral confrontation with the Soviets, an arms build-up and a policy of regime change at the exact moment the Bolsheviks realized their system was falling apart. If nothing else we should elect dim-witted conservative Christians just because of the coincidences that happen during their administrations.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 21, 2004 9:50 AM