BLINDED BY DEMOCRACY By Georgie Anne Geyer

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BLINDED BY DEMOCRACY
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucgg/20060130/cm_ucgg/blindedbydemocracy;_ylt=ArlaJZy8nHTHHLMvojFWAPP9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

By Georgie Anne Geyer 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- SecreteryCondoleezza Rice's frank words after the gigantic Hamas electoral victory in Gaza last weekend should be engraved in bronze in a prominently displayed plaque in the lobby of the State Department.

No, I take that back. Identical plaques should be hung in the lobby of the Pentagon, over the secretary of Defense's desk, at the entrance to the Oval Office in the White House and in the vice president's office In her own words, the plaques would read: "I've asked why nobody saw it coming. It does say something about us not having a good enough pulse." Then it would be signed "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who for some inexplicable reason did not foresee the Hamas victory in 2006."

So, here we are again. We didn't know, we didn't suspect, we didn't dream -- mostly, we didn't THINK! But virtually everyone who thinks seriously about the Middle East, including this observer, knew that Hamas was going to win. The papers were filled with this prediction. But the administration, in its ingrown, arrogant, self-deceiving "wisdom" about "democratizing the world," deliberately chose to ignore it, believing despite all evidence to the contrary in its utopian dream that elections will solve everything "because all people want the same things" (except, of course, when they don't).