The Iraq election in one paragraph

The brilliant Charles Pierce at Altercation (scroll down), on the Iraqi elections:

Some people are going to vote even though they've been told they will be killed if they do. Nobody in this 40-percent turnout, sucker-for-the-cheap-wedge-issue, talk-show-babbling country of ours has a right to do anything but admire that, and make sure that the undeniable courage on display doesn't get sold down the river for a three-point bump in some future Gallup Poll. This war isn't just a monumental blunder. It's also an ongoing act of betrayal by a bunch of second-rate thinkers who never in their lives have displayed an ounce of the courage that some anonymous woman in Baghdad will evince today.

Oh, and Pierce also wins this week's prize for best description of the wrecking crew we call our government, this "Festival of Fruitcakes."