Pakistan’s Musharraf Resigns

From the BBC

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, facing impeachment on charges drawn up by the governing coalition, has announced that he is resigning.

He went on national TV to say that while he was confident the charges would not stand, this was not the time for more confrontation.

Probably the smart thing to do, but I am sure there is some subtext to this that involves manipulation of the public…  Musharraf is a consummate politician.  I suspect he is actually leaving his status up to the people of Pakistan, he is calling for them to voice what they want him to do.

It is a common tactic in Pakistan and was a trick often employed by Benazir Bhutto’s father when he was in office.  Be self effacing, martyristic, and make the public love you and ask for a referendum of public opinion.

And then there is this from CNN

“I have not done anything for my personal gain. Whatever I have done, I have done it for Pakistan.”

And to be honest, with all the turbulence of the last 9 years of Musharraf’s reign, he is not a totally corrupt individual.  He most certainly not stripped the country of it’s assets or used his position to enrich himself unlike some of his political opponents.

Musharraf’s personal assets consist of a few undeveloped pieces of land around Islamabad, a modest house, a small apartment, and an old army jeep.  He has not even used his position to enrich his children.  His son, for instance, is a computer programmer in California making a couple hundred grand a year after an extended period of time struggling to move up within the company.

On the other hand, some of his political opponents are multi-billionaires, and have set up their children with business that earn them millions.

The Bhutto family, for instance, has been accused of laundering money, de-frauding the government, taking kickbacks, even trading information on how to make nuclear weapons.

Whatever Musharraf is, greedy certainly isn’t it.

He claims, as BBC reports, that:

An impeachment process would have plunged the country into more uncertainty, he said, and it was no time for “individual bravado”.

Perhaps this is true…  and we shall see how things work out in Pakistan.  The people seem happy, the lawyers seem happy, and I am sure the judges are happy….  I just hope it lasts.

Ohio: Obama Drops 8pts And Is Now Tied With McCain

In the lastest PPP poll, it shows that Obama has rapidly dropped 8pts in Ohio and is now tied with McCain.

The reason?  Clintonistas…

One factor causing Obama problems is that he’s not doing as good a job as McCain of getting folks in his party to vote for him. While McCain leads 89-7 among Republicans, Obama’s lead is a narrower 75-17 among Democrats. Obama has the 45-28 edge with independent voters.

The Democrats neglecting to choose Obama are disproportionately white, female, and middle aged, an indication that it could be former supporters of Hillary Clinton who are holding out.

And Ohio is one of the most important swing states there is…  this is really not good news for the Dems…

I hate to say “We told you so,” but…  yeah, we told you so.

Pakistan’s Musharraf Faces Impending Impeachment.

Basically, this is what’s happening…

Last year, Musharraf’s made a commitment that if his party lost the Parlimentary elections that he would leave office and resign as well.

So, predictably, his party lost the elections, and instead of leaving office he declared a state of emergency.  To be fair, there was a bit of turbulence and instability at the time, but it was convenient timing to say the least.

Regardless, the declaration of emergency allowed him to avoid calling for a “vote of confidence” and to continue to hold the office of the Presidency.

The “vote of confidence” is the system by which the government (the prime minister and his/her cabinet) in a parlimentary system is changed.

Well, an extended amount of time has gone by and Musharraf has still refused to request for a “vote of confidence,” so the Parliment is about to bring articles of impeachment against him.

From AFP

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf Sunday faced a countdown to possible impeachment after the coalition government said he had until the end of the weekend to stand down.

The coalition, led by the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, also said it had finalised impeachment charges against Musharraf and would lodge them in parliament early next week.

But Musharraf’s spokesman has repeatedly insisted that the former army chief, who seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999, has no intention of quitting.

Allies have said that he will defend himself against any charges.

Political instability in a country that is not only on the front of “the war on terror”  but is also a member of the nuclear club is really, really not good.

Pakistan has some serious issues it needs to address at the moment.  They need to deal with sovereignty issues vs the Taliban on the Afghani border, they are having some pretty serious inflationary issues, not to mention the ongoing border disputes with India, and internal religious persecution issues (the Ahmadiyya).

Lets hope this gets resolved quickly and peacefully.

Think The McCain’s Snark Is New? Check Out His 2006 Letter To Obama….

McCain has been showing an unusually high level of snark in his campaign so far.  It has been almost as if Saturday Night Live has been helping him write his advertizements.  You can trace the history of his snark campaign ads HERE.

Well, apparently, this level of snark is nothing new, and it has been directed at Obama before.

Check out this letter from 2006 from McCain to Obama….

From CBS

Dear Senator Obama:

I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership’s preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter to me dated February 2, 2006, which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions. I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again.

-SNIP-

The first paragraph sets the tone doesn’t it. The whole letter has “Ouch” written all over it.

Even then, even to the Republicans, it was obvious that Obama was an empty suit.

Thanks to Annie1 from AnnieNYC