REALITY ALWAYS CATCHES STATE OFFGUARD:

Hamas strength seen in State Department poll (Jonathan S. Landay, 3/03/06, Knight Ridder Newspapers)

The poll found that Hamas had been gaining support in previous months and was running neck-and-neck with the secular Fatah party - 30 percent vs. 32 percent - among likely voters. It was distributed within the State Department on Jan. 19, six days before the elections.

The poll found that corruption in the Palestinian Authority was the leading issue among Palestinians, and that 52 percent believed that Hamas was more qualified to clean it up, compared with 35 percent who put their faith in Fatah, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' moderate faction.

The Realists may have been caught off guard, but one person wasn't surprised or perturbed by how real democracy played out.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 4, 2006 8:29 PM