Rumsfeld: Florida 2000 Election Model for Iraq

Donald Rumsfeld suggests that some Iraqis might not get to vote in the January election:

Nothing's perfect in life, so you have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not having an election? You bet," he said.

They should know.

I wonder if Katherine Harris and ChoicePoint will be summoned from their respective dungeon laboratories to assist in determining the eligibility of the electorate and/or vote totals...and, consider the following: if we can't keep car bombs from being detonated in Baghdad on almost a daily basis (check out Today in Iraq and Juan Cole for regular updates), then how on earth do we expect to secure what would have to be thousands of precincts, many in outlying areas?

Oh, by the way: the Coalition of the Willing lost another country: New Zealand. They're pulling out the 61 soldiers they had stationed near Basra. No word on whether or not the GOP attack machine will try to paint them as yellow (off topic, but: speaking of yellow, Needlenose linked to an article that suggests young Dubya was just that--he developed a crippling fear of flying--and that's why he gave up his wings in 1972).

On the subject of attack--well, TalkingPointsMemo has the best take on Cheney dissing John Kerry because the latter dared question Iyad Allawi--"democracy in America is harmful to building democracy in Iraq." (and it looks like Marshall posted about the Florida analogy before I could finish this...damn).

And on the subject of criticizing, dissing, or otherwise listening to the Iraqi Prime Minister--last night, just before I turned in, I watched the C-Span replay of the Bush/Allawi joint statement (no pun intended)/Q and A at the White House. I'm inclined to agree with Kevin Drum when he suggests that Bush is the ultimate bubble-boy. No one wants to deliver the harsh facts of reality. Several times in the course of the Potemkin display, Bush showed his fealty to faith-based policy, noting that he "spoke to this man," (gesturing towards Allawi), who assured him that things were fine. So fine, in fact, that his Baghdad residence is surrounded by twenty foot high walls.

When the shit finally hits the fan in regards to Iraq, it's gonna make an elephant sized mess.