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Memo to Howard Dean, John f'in Kerry, et al.: Read it and weep

The constitutional loya jirga that concluded in Kabul Sunday was a milestone on the Afghan people's path to democracy. Afghans have seized the opportunity provided by the United States and its international partners to lay the foundation for democratic institutions and provide a framework for national elections in 2004.

The Afghan people manifested this remarkable commitment to democracy in two ways. They defied the enemies of Afghanistan's progress -- remnants of the extremist Taliban and al Qaeda forces -- by participating in elections for the delegates to the constitutional loya jirga. The extremists sought to intimidate candidates and voters. They failed.

Women especially were not intimidated. There was a powerful reversal of symbolism when the Kabul soccer stadium -- used less than three years ago by the Taliban to execute women accused of adultery -- was used by thousands of women to choose their representatives to the constitutional loya jirga. Of the voting delegates, 102 were women -- more than 20 percent of the total delegates. ...

Afghanistan's Milestone, WashPost commentary by Zalmay Khalilzad.

I just caught a barf-inducing interview by Katie Couric with "imminent historian" Douglas Brinkley. He has a new book called "Tour of Duty---John F. Kerry and Vietnam"....notably coming out now, 2 weeks before the first Dim caucus. Asked if he's working for Kerry, he slid past it and praised how much Kerry's like John McCain...never answered the question.

But the gag-me part was this: "I didn't know whether to call it Tour of Duty. Because, unlike other vets, Kerry's tour never ended. First he fought valiantly in the war, then he came home and distinguished himself poiting out the follies of that war...THEN he continued the fight by joining up with John McCain in the search for POW/MIA's. So much has been said of 'the greatest generation'. I wanted Americans to know that Kerry has carried on that fine tradition."

In discussing Kerry's anti-war activities, Brinkley went into detail about a Nixon "smear" campaign aimed at Kerry...because Nixon feared him, of course. The smear? Nixon's campaign actually hired an imminent author (name??) who went around offering reporters opinions the opposite of what Kerry was saying...oh, the horror!

He pointedly told Katie that Kerry's vote for the Iraq war was "because he listened to people in the Bush administration and was led to believe Saddam had WMD".

I'm embarassed to say I've always liked Brinkley despite occasional glimpses into his liberal leanings. I even came very close to buying one of his audio books for a Christmas gift. But he's now totally out of the closet as just another liberal hack. [Is he David Brinkley's son?]