And Now Reality Sets in

No one has a better record at reading the situation in Iraq, or predicting its course, than Juan Cole. The righties from time-to-time whine about his prose, because frankly they do not like reality continually bopping them on the nose while they are selling shinola to the disinterested or ignorant American populace (and yes Mr. and Ms. America for the most part you are one or the other).

As I've stated before, as others smarter than me have stated before, the pattern of the Bush Administration is to trumpet the thin veneer of its victories so loudly and early, that most of the public is back following American Idol and Fear Factor while the ugly truth emerges underneath.

But back to Professor Smooth and Debonair, today he points out the reality of what Iraq's election results actually mean:

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim claimed victory in the Sunday elections for the United Iraqi Alliance, the coalition of religious Shiite parties he leads. And this is what the winners, if they are winners, think of the US:

' "No one welcomes the foreign troops in Iraq. We believe in the ability of Iraqis to run their own issues, including the security issue," Mr Hakim said. "Of course this issue could be brought up by the new government."

The idea that the revolutionary Shiite al-Dawa Party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Badr Organization (trained by the Iranian revolutionary guards), all of them with close ties to Tehran, would welcome a permanent US military presence in Iraq was always a chimera. Most Shiites who voted on Sunday thought they were voting for an end to US hegemony in their country. This is why it is so bizarre that the US Right is interpreting the elections as a victory for the Bush administration.

Professor Cole, of course, knows the actual answer to his last statement, the right interprets the election the way they do because (1) the are delusional and (2) they have coopted the press into buying their delusion (3) the press continually demonstrate that either they are suckers or are on board with the delusion and (4) paraphrasing H.L. Mencken, no one ever went down by underestimating the american people. When they yell loudly at the beginning of any news event, the Bush Administration and its enablers create a meta-reality the manages to drown out actual reality.

Eventually this will catch up to them, the question is whether they go down themselves or drag the rest of us with them.