We are all Georgians now, so being wrong about Pakistan may not matter...

My guess is that in November, neither Georgia nor Pakistan will swing a single vote in Ohio.

Neil  

That's just evidence that Obama lacks moral clarity, does not understand the world, is incapable of - oops, ignore that.

McCain demonstrates a "nuanced" and contextual global understanding of a very complex matter, and Obama's knee jerk reaction at- oops, ignore that too.

OK, so, Tep, what is the McCain-justifying narrative here?  Am all ears.

Okay, tep. How was Obama's response here inappropriate?

McCain called Musharraf "personally scrupulously honest"?! As late as when Bhutto was assassinated? Boy, I missed that. That's a stunning error of judgement - and as you write, against consensus opinion.

Man, that would make great fodder for an Obama attack ad ... if American voters cared a iota.

So Obama's rap against Musharraf is that he's "acted in an anti-democratic fashion"? Won't a more democratic Pakistan be a far more _pro-Taliban_, anti-US Pakistan? This is wisdom? You guys are joking, right?

I support democracy in Europe because it not only has  real chance there but also will result in the expansion of a normal and pro-western bloc in that theatre. In Pakistan, it's the reverse. We have nothing but bad choices there, and Musharraf was probably the least bad choice.

Tep, you are joking right, the radical Islamists polled around 5% in the last election for parliment. The only real sticking point there isn't Afghanistan, it is Kashmir. Musharraf was ineffective and had to cave into radicals regarding Kashmir.

Tep, the problem is that Musharaff's anti-democratic approach has actually STRENGTHENED the hand of the Taliban, who have always been more unpopular than Musharaf, although he's worked very hard to catch up to them in unpopularity. Musharaf had a pretty good racket going, presenting himself as our only protection against the Talibanization of Pakistan, while he made side deals with the Taliban and had public policy that made people lose faith in the secular government.

Obama's been consistent about him. McCain hasn't.

Blackton and Mice:  In Tep's procrustean framework, the facts will never speak for themselves.

Tep, just because someone ostensibly is pro-Western doesn't mean it suits our interests in the long run. Musharraf took our aid money and spent it weaponizing the border with India instead of Afghanistan. He struck down a secular and totally justified protest against his firing of judges not favorable to him. Our strong support of his rule even as he cracked down lost us huge amounts of credibility in Pakistan (we did have some), and this may come back to bite us later on down the road.

But who am I kidding. Had Obama said what you wanted, you would have found something wrong with that, too.

Fair enough, score half a point for Obama.

Maybe McCain can adapt tep's line of reasoning into a campaign slogan:

"John McCain: Keeping the World Safe from Democracy"

"...score half a point for Obama."  I stand corrected. The facts will sometimes speak for themselves within tep's framework, but only at half volume.

He would have scored a point if he had anything remotely resembling a solution for the Pakistani mess. I doubt the Pakistani democratic opposition is either democratic or at all capable of improving substantially on Musharraf. Pinky was a world-class bandit in her own right, and unreliable.

Where is McCain's "anything remotely resembling a solution" for the Russia/Georgia mess?

Never mind,  I do see it -- pound chest, blow hot air making threats we can't back up. In a word: bluster.

Bluster, and some very  very intelligent people with bias-induced blinders would guzzle it up.

Tep, you're right, a solution would be better. The opposition is indeed corrupt, but that doesn't mean undemocratic, necessarily. Still, as others have noted, McCain, for all his putative knowledge about Georgia (and for that matter Pakistan) is pretty short on actual solutions as well, aside from his usual puffery.

Following up on Mike's item from yesterday about McCain's vaunted "judgment," I hadn't