In the last couple of years I've heard predictions that there will be no election in 2008. That Bush will declare some emergency that will preempt anything under his Unitary Executive Prerogative. Well, it's happening in Pakistan. Is this a dry run of how it'd go over here? From the AP:
"ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) _ Police fired tear gas and clubbed thousands of lawyers protesting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's decision to impose emergency rule, as Western allies threatened to review aid to the troubled Muslim nation. More than 1,500 people have been arrested in 48 hours, and authorities put a stranglehold on independent media.
"Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and is also head of Pakistan's army, suspended the constitution on Saturday ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on whether his recent re-election as president was legal. He ousted independent-minded judges and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent.
"Though public anger was mounting in the nation of 160 million people, which has been under military rule for much of its 60-year history, demonstrations so far have been limited largely to activists, rights workers and lawyers. All have been quickly and sometimes brutally stamped out.
"President Bush's top national security aides said U.S. financial backing for Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts likely will go uninterrupted despite the administration's unhappiness with Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency.
"Pakistan has received billions of dollars in aid since Musharraf threw his support behind the U.S.-led war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that military aid may not be affected because the administration does not want to disrupt its partnership with Pakistan in fighting al-Qaida and other militants."
Smells funny to me. Following the money, and all. But f me, right? I'm just a leftie pinko commie malcontent.