An Election Weekend to be Proud of
Take a look at this Associated Press headline: "Afghan election falters."
First, take a look at just who was primarily responsible for the problems that did take place:
"The U.N. was supposed to be monitoring and assuring the validity of the Afghan election in which Hamid Karzai and about seventeen others were vying for the presidency of this war-ravaged nation. The U.N. failed. Not because of violence in the polling places, though there surely was some. Not because hundreds of thousands of Afghanis quailed at the terrorists' threats of murder if they tried to vote, because they didn't. The U.N. failed because its infallible, impartial, and professional election monitors planned to mark the cuticle of one thumb of each voter with ink to show they'd voted and thus prevent them from voting again, and couldn't manage to get even that right. You'd think they'd have arranged for pens with ink that wouldn't wash off immediately, rendering the result in doubt of massive Chicago-like vote fraud. But they didn't. It's as if the U.N. election monitors had been trained by former Louisiana gov Edwin Edwards. In truth, that would probably have been an improvement."
Now take a look at this post on Instapundit:
Robert Tagorda has a roundup on the Afghan elections, and notes a number of positive reports, including this one from the BBC reporters' blog:
"It was a celebration today. There was a tremendous buzz of excitement at the polling stations.
"I genuinely got the feeling that this was the people's opportunity and that's why in Kandahar the problem with the ink is being laughed out of town."
Good. Even Reuters agrees:
"Afghan Polls Fair Despite Ink Fiasco -Monitors"
There's also a positive report from ABC News:
"The Taliban vowed to turn the Afghan election into a day of bloodshed, but the rebels mounted only a smattering of small-scale attacks on police and civilians and a larger clash that left many of their own dead.
"After months of what proved to be empty threats, military commanders and ordinary Afghans said Sunday the vote was a serious setback for the holdouts of the hard-line Islamic regime that was driven from power by U.S. bombs almost three years ago for harboring Osama bin Laden.
"'Yesterday was a big defeat for the Taliban and a huge defeat for al-Qaida,' Lieutenant-General David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press. 'It shows that the political process is overwhelming any influence they may have.'
Voters also said the Taliban had been exposed as weak.
As I mentioned earlier, thing seem to have gone much better than the critics feared. This certainly sets a good precedent.
I am really, REALLY, REALLY getting tired of Big Media defeatism and jeerleading. As the above quotes indicate, the only thing "faltering" about the Afghan election is the American Left's willlingness to acknowledge that this is a very, very good thing, and that President George W. Bush is the man who made it possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of triumphant elections, how about the collective thumb Australians jammed in the eye of John Kerry by re-electing Prime Minister and steadfast Coalition partner John Howard to a fourth term in Australia?
"With 70% of the votes counted in Saturday's election, results indicate Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition has won an easy majority over Labor.
"While the election was largely fought on domestic issues, it was also watched abroad because of divisions over Iraq.
"Mr Howard supported the war, but his rival Mark Latham had pledged to bring Australian troops home if he won.
"In the United States, President Bush congratulated 'my good friend Prime Minister John Howard, who won a great victory.'
"In claiming victory, a beaming Mr Howard told his supporters: 'I am truly humbled by this extraordinary expression of confidence in the leadership of this great nation by the coalition.'"
Congratulations indeed to PM Howard, and heartfelt thanks to the Australian electorate. May we, their American counterparts, show similar wisdom, and prove ourselves worthy of their alliance.
Powerline sums up yesterday photographically - proving that a picture really is worth a thousand words.
First, take a look at just who was primarily responsible for the problems that did take place:
"The U.N. was supposed to be monitoring and assuring the validity of the Afghan election in which Hamid Karzai and about seventeen others were vying for the presidency of this war-ravaged nation. The U.N. failed. Not because of violence in the polling places, though there surely was some. Not because hundreds of thousands of Afghanis quailed at the terrorists' threats of murder if they tried to vote, because they didn't. The U.N. failed because its infallible, impartial, and professional election monitors planned to mark the cuticle of one thumb of each voter with ink to show they'd voted and thus prevent them from voting again, and couldn't manage to get even that right. You'd think they'd have arranged for pens with ink that wouldn't wash off immediately, rendering the result in doubt of massive Chicago-like vote fraud. But they didn't. It's as if the U.N. election monitors had been trained by former Louisiana gov Edwin Edwards. In truth, that would probably have been an improvement."
Now take a look at this post on Instapundit:
Robert Tagorda has a roundup on the Afghan elections, and notes a number of positive reports, including this one from the BBC reporters' blog:
"It was a celebration today. There was a tremendous buzz of excitement at the polling stations.
"I genuinely got the feeling that this was the people's opportunity and that's why in Kandahar the problem with the ink is being laughed out of town."
Good. Even Reuters agrees:
"Afghan Polls Fair Despite Ink Fiasco -Monitors"
There's also a positive report from ABC News:
"The Taliban vowed to turn the Afghan election into a day of bloodshed, but the rebels mounted only a smattering of small-scale attacks on police and civilians and a larger clash that left many of their own dead.
"After months of what proved to be empty threats, military commanders and ordinary Afghans said Sunday the vote was a serious setback for the holdouts of the hard-line Islamic regime that was driven from power by U.S. bombs almost three years ago for harboring Osama bin Laden.
"'Yesterday was a big defeat for the Taliban and a huge defeat for al-Qaida,' Lieutenant-General David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, told The Associated Press. 'It shows that the political process is overwhelming any influence they may have.'
Voters also said the Taliban had been exposed as weak.
As I mentioned earlier, thing seem to have gone much better than the critics feared. This certainly sets a good precedent.
I am really, REALLY, REALLY getting tired of Big Media defeatism and jeerleading. As the above quotes indicate, the only thing "faltering" about the Afghan election is the American Left's willlingness to acknowledge that this is a very, very good thing, and that President George W. Bush is the man who made it possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And speaking of triumphant elections, how about the collective thumb Australians jammed in the eye of John Kerry by re-electing Prime Minister and steadfast Coalition partner John Howard to a fourth term in Australia?
"With 70% of the votes counted in Saturday's election, results indicate Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition has won an easy majority over Labor.
"While the election was largely fought on domestic issues, it was also watched abroad because of divisions over Iraq.
"Mr Howard supported the war, but his rival Mark Latham had pledged to bring Australian troops home if he won.
"In the United States, President Bush congratulated 'my good friend Prime Minister John Howard, who won a great victory.'
"In claiming victory, a beaming Mr Howard told his supporters: 'I am truly humbled by this extraordinary expression of confidence in the leadership of this great nation by the coalition.'"
Congratulations indeed to PM Howard, and heartfelt thanks to the Australian electorate. May we, their American counterparts, show similar wisdom, and prove ourselves worthy of their alliance.
Powerline sums up yesterday photographically - proving that a picture really is worth a thousand words.
posted by JASmius at 6:43 PM
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