Post hoc ergo propter hoc is a classic fallacy; do we know that Aznar's government failed because of the bombing? How did his party and issues stand in the polls the week before the bombing? Were they up, or slipping and ready to lose it anyway? If the latter, what were the issues? Foreign policy, or economic policy?
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I realize that Al-Q'aeda can benefit from a perception that the Spanish folded, and perhaps the Al-Q'aeda attack (I'm pretty sure it was theirs) was timed to achieve an El Foldo, but let's not hurry to help Al-Q'aeda get credit, and any benefit from, something that perhaps they didn't really achieve.
After all, we know from our own history that domestic prosperity is a key determinant of election outcomes; and if people were browned at Aznar over immigration issues, then they'd have been a lot more peeved with him after the bombing, because the immigrants are -- guess who? -- mostly North African Arabs. Moors -- Moros! Big scare-word in Spanish history, going back to Tariq and Ben Yusuf.
Not something that would settle easily in the mind of someone who'd just seen a train station blown up by.......Moros.
As for Bin Squattin' getting al-Andalus back for the Islamofascists.......don't hold your breath. You'll see that one when pigs fly. The Spanish would die to the last man, before they turned over Iberia to the Islamists. You are talking about their national pride now, their manhood. And remember that machismo is a Spanish word. Those people will turn Spain into a nuclear-armed garrison state and go out and roll up North Africa like a doormat, before they surrender the Escorial and the great cathedrals of their country, and the memory of so many of their "most Catholic" kings. Even the Mexicans would go to war, rather than see Iberia fall to Islam.
My guess as to the reason for all this is that Bin Squattin' still wants his big religious war between Islam and the West, and if America won't bite, if America keeps her cool.......well, what about the Spaniards? "Hey, we just killed a whole bunch of your people......infidel pigs! What are you weak-loined unbelievers gonna do about it, huh? Look here, I got yer sister's virginity right here!" And so on.
I hope you're right and I'm dead wrong. And you're right to talk me down from the ledge too. I feel like Rava in that Seinfeld skit.
However, do you really think that the ruling party's loss is because of immigration? The talk coming from Spain before the onset of the Iraq war convinced me of no such thing.
Besides any extranneous (sp?) issues, the real issue, as far as I can tell is that they voted to increase the numbers and power of those who would pull Spain out of the Coaltion/alliance of the willing.
But again, here's hoping you're right and I'm wrong!
"In one fell swoop, voters ousted Aznar, whose party was favored to win just days ago, even though he brought Spain eight straight years of economic growth, made it a founding member of the euro single currency, cut unemployment in half and brought a degree of prominence to a long-ignored country."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&e=2&u=/ap/20040315/ap_on_re _eu/spain_elections
Who says terroism doesn't pay? Al Qaeda held the Spanish elections hostage and the Spanish people paid the ransom with their votes.
The new socialist Spanish head already said in his victory speech that his first action would to bring home the 1300 Spanish troops deployed in Iraq.
The spanish people have validated terrorism. They have taught the terrorists that their tactics worked and worked very well. And if it worked this time in Spain, then it can work again in another country.
miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure war criminal
Just for some perspective on the guy who was voted out of office:
"In one fell swoop, voters ousted Aznar, whose party was favored to win just days ago, even though he brought Spain eight straight years of economic growth, made it a founding member of the euro single currency, cut unemployment in half and brought a degree of prominence to a long-ignored country."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&e=2&u=/ap/20040315/ap_on_re _eu/spain_elections
Who says terroism doesn't pay? Al Qaeda held the Spanish elections hostage and the Spanish people paid the ransom with their votes.
The new socialist Spanish head already said in his victory speech that his first action would to bring home the 1300 Spanish troops deployed in Iraq.
The spanish people have validated terrorism. They have taught the terrorists that their tactics worked and worked very well. And if it worked this time in Spain, then it can work again in another country.
miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure war criminal