Cheney my father (updated)
Experts tell us the first stage of grief is denial:
… the first election returns were barely in Monday night when the U.S. government began pressing victorious opposition leaders not to impeach the former military strongman… U.S. diplomats pushed hard against any effort to dislodge the retired army general who had just suffered a public rejection, unprecedented in Pakistan’s 60 years… Only the State Department still takes him seriously…
Foggy Bottom’s stubborn policymakers are frozen in an irrelevant mind-set… The United States again guessed wrong in pinning its hopes on an authoritarian, anti-democratic foreign leader. Musharraf follows the pattern of South Korea’s Syngman Rhee, the shah of Iran and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines…Minimal Election Day fraud can be attributed to Musharraf’s weakness rather than his strength. The army refused to provide the cooperation needed to really steal votes. [Link]
The Bush administration was scrambling Tuesday to pick up the pieces of its shattered Pakistan policy… the Bush administration still has not given up on the idea that a democratically elected Parliament would share power with Mr. Musharraf… [NYT]
The results of Pakistan’s parliamentary vote are being billed as a repudiation not only of Pervez Musharraf, but also of President Bush, who has mostly supported the Pakistani strongman over the past seven years. We’re more inclined to see the elections as a vindication of both. [WSJ]
Pakistani voters awarded a plurality of seats to secular parties and roundly rejected fundamentalists — eviscerating Musharraf’s argument for why-we-need-him and Dubya’s argument for here’s-ten-billion-dollars. But don’t tell Dick Cheney or the Wall Street Journal. The Denial isn’t just a river in Pakistan, it also flows into the Potomac.
Updated: They’re still at it.
… the perception has grown among Pakistanis that the Bush administration would much prefer Mr. Zardari to join forces with the followers of Mr. Musharraf than with Mr. Sharif’s. The United States ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, met with Mr. Zardari on Wednesday at the American Embassy, an encounter that bolstered the belief among Pakistanis that Washington was in the thick of the political negotiations. Statements from the White House and the State Department encouraging a broad consensus in a new government also added to the sense that the administration was eager to try to preserve some power for Mr. Musharraf, an ally in the campaign against terrorism.
Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, confirmed Thursday that Mr. Bush took time during a tour of African states to telephone Mr. Musharraf on Tuesday after his party’s losses in the parliamentary elections. The call was made during Mr. Bush’s flight from Rwanda to Ghana… Aitzaz Ahsan, who has been under house arrest for more than three months but is now able to speak by telephone, said he had told a visiting American diplomat on Wednesday, “The guy is history; please don’t prop him up…” [Link]
on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008, 11:59 pm in Humor, Musharraf, Pakistan, Politics › 
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One more bit of proof that US admins have no real interest in democracy. If Musharraf had any love in the courts, I’m sure they’d encourage him have them appoint him president by fiat, much like Bush was.
As a matter of fact, he did rig the courts to approve his rigged ‘election,’ and several noted the similarities to Dubya in ‘00.
love the poster. it’s very intimate, very brokeback mountain
Love the photograph Manish and the title of this post..how did u get cheney to look like Gandhi.. very imaginative..
US was interested in Benazir getting back to pakistan and in having a democratic election..but then no one offered her protection..US govt payed pakistan under musharraf rule, millions of dollars to capture terrorists..they didnot manage to capture any terrorist on top of that pakistan is believed to be a breeding ground for extremist groups with a lot of those big people living somewhere in pakistan..so US govt should be disappointed and unhappy with musharrif . But that doesnot seem to be the case..what is happening.?.why are they still supporting him? US govt. sold weapons to pakistan, afghanistan for years while India kept complaning for years that terrorists are trained there…look at the foreign policy they keep on making mistakes..every country they sold weapons to is rebelling and attacking them..And their foreign policy seems to be nothing against north korea and Iran which have huge nuclear power and are accumulating it..They need to change the way they deal with the world…foreign policy is failing everywhere..
In less than a year, we will all hopefully be celebrating Cheney Kum.
Funny thing. You know what Cheney told the folks of NWFP as he and Mushy parted ways at the foothills of the Hindukush? “I can’t quit you”.
funny you say that. There is erotica. involving cheney and harry whittington [the person the Veep shot]
Shabash, khoof, shabash.
uh… if you need a vingman, you know who to call.
*deep sigh*
with local politicians drier than a week-old fly cadaver in a spider’s web, leKhoof would velcome becoming umreeki just for your elections.
You’re willing to spend 80 hours a week as an unpaid Obama volunteer until November? :)