Es las mentiras, estúpido!

Appeasement is an ugly word, and it's especially ugly when it's an undeserved accusation. There are a lot of apologies due the Spanish people, starting with Dennis Hastert, and working down through his minions and up through the Administration. While the neo-McCarthyites in the Republican Party may think that any disagreement with the current US regime borders on treasonous, it's still permissable for voters in a democracy to pick any leader they choose, for any reason they choose.

In fact, it seems that the Spanish elections didn't turn on any particular fear of terrorism, or capitulation to terrorists, but on massive resentment among Spanish voters toward a government that tried to manipulate their grief in the aftermath of a tragedy with a pattern of lies.

According to the New York Times, "In interviews, they said they did so not so much out of fear of terror as out of anger against a government they saw as increasingly authoritarian, arrogant and stubborn. The government, they said, mishandled the crisis in the emotional days after the attacks."

"Voters said they were enraged not only by the government's insistence that the Basque separatist group ETA was responsible, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, but they also resented its clumsy attempts to quell antigovernment sentiment."

Gee, a government turned out for clinging to lies "despite mounting evidence to the contrary" while it pursues "clumsy attempts to quell antigovernment sentiment." No wonder Bushco is upset.

Paul Krugman follows up today with a must read column on the subject, which makes a similar point.

"So there you have it." Krugman writes. "A country's ruling party leads the nation into a war fought on false pretenses, fails to protect the nation from terrorists and engages in a cover-up when a terrorist attack does occur. But its electoral defeat isn't democracy at work; it's a victory for the terrorists."

Well, if you believe that, the terrorists have already won.