A very minor nit to pick:

It's Mark Latham

And not Louis "Time Traveller" Lapham.

:-)

Hooray for the Aussies. I hope I'll be as happy on November 3d.

Heard Grant hart or Larry sahagian lately?

No

What's nup with The Urban Guerilla?

Mitch, I don't know about your strawman "lefties," but I for one desperately want both Afghanistan and Iraq to succeed. I've said it dozens of times, and I mean it: I would much rather Iraq and Afghanistan were stable and Bush were reelected than vice versa.

I'm not cheering for us to lose. However, I'm not going to stick my head in the sand and ignore failure, either.

As for Afghanistan: things seem to be stabilizing there. I hope that stability continues.

Now Iraq, on the other hand...but it's like talking to a fencepost with the righties. I'll just stop now.

"I don't know about your strawman "lefties,""

I've been forcing myself to read Oliver Willis and Atrios lately. Nothing straw about 'em. They call Allawi and Karzai mindless puppets, and essentially poo-pooh the notion of freedom in both nations.

The funnest part about watching a Bush victory will be seeing Ollie's head explode.

What do you suggest we call the leader of Iraq when he is giving speeches written by the Bush/Cheney campaign team? America and Iraq can do better, and that begins with Kerry. I don't want to see these endeavors fail, but as Jeff rightly pointed out... we won't turn a blind eye.

"What do you suggest we call the leader of Iraq when he is giving speeches written by the Bush/Cheney campaign team?"

Leave aside whether that was the case - as if having actual speechwriters write speeches before speaking to Congress is some sort of sin; I don't suspect Allawi had access to many English-language speechwriters to help with this, the biggest speech in his career.

He's an appointed, *interim* president. As in, *interim* between direct US military rule and an elected president. He has to manage a transition from Stalinism through military government to appointed government to democracy, all the while being shot at by terrorists. What do I suggest you call him? A very courageous man doing a difficult job. Until you see actual evidence that he's handing Iraq physically over to H*******ton, that should suffice.

" America and Iraq can do better,"

We are.

" and that begins with Kerry. I don't want to see these endeavors fail, but as Jeff rightly pointed out... we won't turn a blind eye."

Jeff wrongly pointed that out. Kerry is talking baked wind as re the war on terror AND Iraq. He wants to get out, damn the consequences. Fearless prediction; if (heaven forfend) he's elected, the first time we get a bloody set back, Kerry will set a departure date, and scamper away like some worthless Frenchman.

Kerry wants to return to the nineties' era of fat, happy, blissful ignorance. The Matt Bai article in the Times yesterday should have shown you that, if you were approaching this with a remotely open mind.

Allawi has been in office for about three and a half months.

If he's still in office in five years and no elections have happened, then you can call him a puppet.

Right now, he's just a man doing what has to be the most difficult job in the world.