Yes.

AP = (A)ll (P)ropaganda, all the time

The AP and Al - Reuters are propaganda arms of the left wing. Feel free to totally ignore them.

It's gettin' pathetic. I just heard 'em saying stuff like, "Well even though the vote went ok and there was significantly less terrorist attacking going on and the Constitution looks like it'll be ratified -- there sill be controversy and political strife!"

Yeah, Lady -- completely unlike any other country I can think of offhand. Sterling insight.

Check out this Wapo article:

For the Bush administration, the apparent approval of Iraq's constitution is less of a victory than yet another chance to possibly fashion a political solution that does not result in the bloody division of Iraq.

Publicly, administration officials hailed the result but privately some officials acknowledged that the road ahead is still very difficult, especially because Sunni Arab voters appeared to have rejected the constitution by wide margins. As one official put it, every time the administration appears on the edge of a precipice, it manages to cobble together a result that allows it to move on to the next precipice.

etc. etc. etc.

In other words, it's not good news, it's just that the Bush administration escaped catastrophe again by the skin of its teeth.

It's interesting that so many of the 'internationalists' manning (and womaning) the press in this country filter the news through a very provincial lens, namely "everything is bad or bogus, it's America's fault, and specifically that of George Bush".

Good for Iraq, no matter how the vote comes out. I hope the constitution is approved, but even if it isn't, the fact that Iraqis decided, in a real, uncoerced vote, is a triumph. A pain in the ass if it doesn't pass, but still a triumph. Sneers and jeers from the stupidigensia can't undo the fact that people can vote in Iraq now, and have done so enthusiastically twice in the past year under threat of serious violence.

Notice how opponents of the Constitution are equated with "Sunnis" as if they are one and the same. Apparently no Sunnis voted yes by the AP's reckoning; instead, "the Sunnis" tried to defeat it, and failed.

Notice also how it is taken as a given that the Constitution passing is a defeat for "Sunnis". Since the Constitution was (apparently) approved, the Sunnis "fell short", or lost. It is not even left open to the reader as a possibility that this Constitution passing might be a good thing for Sunnis, or at least some of them.

Finally notice how the entire Iraq situation is now filtered through a template of What's happening to the Sunnis? They're, like, the left's mascots now. Who gives a rat's ass about the majority of Iraqis? We wanna know what's happening to *the Sunnis*! Are they happy? Are they satisfied? It's enough to make you wonder whether the left thinks we should just bring back Baathist minority rule and be done with it. The irony of the "left" being effectively in a position of favoring minority-rule fascism and religious-based caste dominance would be astounding... if the reason for it weren't so bloody obvious.

Check this out: A former MSM talking head has stepped forward and commented on the obvious.

We're making progress!!!

Minority=victim
Victim=news
Notice how the Palestinians have fallen from the print now that they are (mostly) killing themselves. No more victim status=no more coverage.
Add to the mix: ANYTHING to make Bush look bad, whether it's true or not.
Plus, to rearrange an old saw, Good news is no news.
We gotta sell papers here, people!!

The A in AP stands for AWFUL and thats what most of the liberal news meia is its just plain AWFUL

The AP tells us that their reporter was killed in a concentration camp. It fails to mention that he died after he fell out of a guard tower.
Pricks.

Steven Den Beste wrote:
"In other words, it's not good news, it's just that the Bush administration escaped catastrophe again by the skin of its teeth."

Again. Or maybe not. Lots of the catastrophes the Bush administration is supposed to suffer from look a bit... not-as-catastrophic-as-some-wish-it-to-be.

Egads. I think I'm getting bored with the claims.

On Saturday night (at the normal gathering of friends for beer-swilling and grilling during this sweet spot of weather before Winter kicks in) one of my friends got very very angry (red in the face angry) about my bringing up the topic of the iraqi vote, the apparent lack of violence, and how I was encouraged by this.

He sputtered that the vote was a 'farce' , that the Sunnies voting against it proved that the insurgency was winning, nothing has changed, and only a fool would take heart that the voting happend. He seemed most upset and, well, pissed off that the voting went well.

I quickly changed the topic to Bush's 'staged' event & let him mock Bush for a while (he did not know the details for example claiming that the troops were fed questions as opposed to Bush asking quesitons but hey, except he was certain that it showed that Bush lied again). He calmed down and was able to laugh at the canoe story from the Today show. We then wisely dropped all political conversation.

Still, I was quite shocked at his reaction to my pleasure with the lack of violence during the vote. If I did not know my friend, I would have assumed he would have wanted more violence--which he does not. So I don't understand his postion at all...maybe it is simply not logical. Just anti-Bush, all the time regardless of the subject or the cost.

Oh well, he does not vote so no big deal.

This&That

this&that, BDS is often an invisible disease. It can be difficult to recognize BDS sufferers. I'm sorry about your friend.

.."But with your support, we'll find the cure. Already, real progress is being made, and minds are being saved. Send your contribution today, won't you? Together, we'll win the fight".

Actually, BDS will go in sudden remission in November '08.
Though afterwards there will be flareups from time to time.

Wouldn't that have to mean that a surprisingly high percentage of Sunnis voted yes? Did those Sunnis fail as well?

I also like the part where the AP suggests that people would vote yes just to hasten the departure of the US (i.e., they all turned out to vote in order to make Kos happy); that it's not about self-determination or anything like that.

"whether the left thinks we should just bring back Baathist minority rule and be done with it."

You have to ask?

Leftists, and more specifically academics, will gravitate towards the Sunni for a host of related reasons. Although the Shia are the majority in Iraq, in "The Arab World" (an abstraction that Sunnis are big, big into, and which MESA types like Cole tend to adopt wholesale as it makes their jobs simpler) they are seen as an eerie fifth column, sort of like a cross between the Waffen SS and Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel.

Leftists have always had this problem, although to them it's not really a problem since they transcend it mentally. So what if, in this particular instantiation of "socialism as it exists," in this one shitpot country, a minority is in charge? They're in tune with the worldwide vibes of the proletariat (or, alternatively, the heartbeat of the Arab psyche, or whatever bullshit you want to place here), or the Third World (Mugabe, Chavez), or whatever - and so they speak for the true majority. The transnational majority. Arguing about a few ethnic cleansings here and there is, to them, besides the point.

Discussion Question: Why was there never a Fascist International along the lines of the Comintern, the "Nonaligned" movement, the Warsaw Pact, NATO, etc.?

Extra points for using the modifier "sac-tightening".

Is this for real?
Fine journalism, courtesy of AP.
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/17/D8D9UP0G0.html

Knemon squeezes out this lie: "Leftists, and more specifically academics, will gravitate towards the Sunni for a host of related reasons. Although the Shia are the majority in Iraq, in "The Arab World" (an abstraction that Sunnis are big, big into, and which MESA types like Cole tend to adopt wholesale as it makes their jobs simpler) they are seen as an eerie fifth column, sort of like a cross between the Waffen SS and Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel."

Juan Cole never said anything like that. On Cole's blog you can read the transcript from a recent TV appearance, where he said it was certainly better the constitution passed rather than failed.

But it is seriously flawed, and empowers the forces working against a central govt.

The constitution practically legitimizes the partition (civil war) of the country, after formation of confederacies.

The point is that there were plenty of reasons to be dissatisfied with the Constitution. How about, "My father died fighting infidels but all I got was this lousy constitution that codifies the worst of the ethnic divisions."

It's great to see that we have managed to spread American-style emocracy to the Middle East. As Drudge reports:

Iraqis Probe 'Unusually High' Yes Tally

I would swear that the Dems sent advisers over to consult with the Sunnis about how to handle an election loss.

I'm sorry, tubino, where did I lie?

What would your ideal Iraqi charter look like?

How would you deal with the Sunni insurgency?

Yes yes, I know, Juan Cole's 10 point (or was it 12?) plan. Anything to say other than that?

""Leftists, and more specifically academics, will gravitate towards the Sunni for a host of related reasons."

Was this the lie? Cuz sitting 100 yards from Berkeley's MES center, it sure looks and feels like the truth to me.