Election Day In Washington

It's primary election day in the state of Washington today. So if you live in Washington, be sure to get to the polls, or be sure to mail in your ballots.

If you live in the Eighth Congressional district, Darcy Burner could use your support.

If you live in the First Congressional district, Jay Inslee could use your support.

These are people worth voting for.

For that and many reasons, today's going to be a busy day...

Meanwhile, Juan Cole, via Pakistan's newspaper Dawn, provides some insight into why it has taken so long for former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to leave the scene, even though it was blindingly obvious that it was his time:

Meanwhile, Dawn (Karachi) explains how George W. Bush was convinced to let Musharraf go. The article says:

* Bush was the last holdout supporting Musharraf in Washington, long after Rice and Cheney had concluded he was not viable

* PM Yousef Raza Gilani's recent trip to Washington was in large part aimed at convincing Bush and others that the dictator had to go. "The prime minister took a team of 'Musharraf experts' with him to the luncheon and they played a key role in persuading Mr Bush to stop supporting the Pakistani leader."

Cole in Salon: The Fall of Bush's Man in Pakistan; Dawn: Bush was Last Holdout

He concludes with this thought:

I am a little surprised to discover that Bush was the last holdout, not Cheney. If the man really does have no common sense and is the ultimate decision-maker, that would clarify what has gone wrong for the last 7 years!

Cole in Salon: The Fall of Bush's Man in Pakistan; Dawn: Bush was Last Holdout

There are only two things I've ever figured out about Cheney:

* He's smarter than Bush

* He's ruthless

Both of these traits would tend to make him the one who figured this out sooner. Ruthlessness is certainly a quality the Bush possesses as well, but he clearly doesn't have the mental wherewithal to figure out things like this. Cole's right that this is the reason our foreign policy has been so disastrous the last few years.

UPDATE: Corrected Inslee's congressional district number. I had wrongly labeled it the Fourth District. That's Doc Hastings' district, and I don't care if he needs help or not.