And for exhibit "B" see this Jonathan Steele op-ed in the UK "Guardian" insisting that the Hamas victory "was a more impressive display of democracy than any other in the region, outstripping last year's votes in Lebanon and Iraq both in turnout and the range of views that candidates represented".
[External Link]
Steele also insists that Europe should "maintain continuity" and continue to fund the Palestinian authority because if "Europe, weak though its power may currently be, wants to have an independent role in the Middle East, clearly different from the manipulative US approach, it is vital to go on funding the PA regardless of the Hamas presence in government."
After all, says Steele, Europe should not get hung up on the wrong issues, like armed resistance and the "war on terror". Murdering a Palestinian politician by a long-range attack that is bound also to kill innocent civilians is morally and legally no better than a suicide bomb on a bus.
Expect no rationality from the European and American Left as Hamas gears up to renew the Intifada, regardless of consequences to the Palestinian people themselves.
I've played football, lacrosse (when we used wooden sticks) and done some judo.
I see Bush as a judoka. Domestically or internationally, he lets people throw themselves into the briar patch. Uses their energy against them.
Now that Hamas has triumphed, they lose. No cover as the nutty younger brother that Fatah or the PA can't control (unless they get more money). No more hiding in a warren run by the UN, pretending they aren't even there. Possibly no more money. No more excuse for condemning the Israeli wall.
I'm sort of reminded of the White House's response to the RatherMapes forgeries. "Huh? What? Don't know. Maybe we'll look at them. Um. Need more rope?"