http://www.frumforum.com/the-dictators-handbook Building a conservatism that can win again Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:50:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.frumforum.com/the-dictators-handbook/comment-page-1#comment-50680 ottovbvs Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:12:36 +0000 #comment-50680 There's a million people on the streets of Tehran protesting the election results. Right at this moment Iran looks a lot more democratic that Saudia Arabia and Egypt who are US allies in the region. There’s a million people on the streets of Tehran protesting the election results. Right at this moment Iran looks a lot more democratic that Saudia Arabia and Egypt who are US allies in the region.

]]> http://www.frumforum.com/the-dictators-handbook/comment-page-1#comment-53601 A.B. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:45:17 +0000 #comment-53601 "Are you calling Bush a Dictator for the events of the 2000 election? Because it's the same thing. Just a different scale."(KRove) Very sloppy language on my part, using the word "Dictator." Ironically, the regime seems challenged partly because it lacks a Dictator. I think this situation is likely to evolve (this time), and disagree with those who would write off the protests as hapless (hopeless, sure). They aren't on the 24-hour news cycle, over there... “Are you calling Bush a Dictator for the events of the 2000 election? Because it’s the same thing. Just a different scale.”(KRove) Very sloppy language on my part, using the word “Dictator.” Ironically, the regime seems challenged partly because it lacks a Dictator. I think this situation is likely to evolve (this time), and disagree with those who would write off the protests as hapless (hopeless, sure). They aren’t on the 24-hour news cycle, over there…

]]> http://www.frumforum.com/the-dictators-handbook/comment-page-1#comment-43467 krove Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:45:06 +0000 #comment-43467 Are you calling Bush a Dictator for the events of the 2000 election? Because it's the same thing. Just a different scale. Are you calling Bush a Dictator for the events of the 2000 election? Because it’s the same thing. Just a different scale.

]]> http://www.frumforum.com/the-dictators-handbook/comment-page-1#comment-40750 A.B. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:34:43 +0000 #comment-40750 Delightful. "The dread shown by the Soviet authorities to any form of competitive election has confused us into thinking that achieving a competitive election is in itself the key triumph. The reality is that rigging elections is not daunting: Only the truly paranoid dictators avoid them anymore." (Collier) Of course, the upshot of this is that a rigged "landslide" proves them truly paranoid, to both the outside world and to the majority of their population. Amusingly short-sighted, no? They give away the legitimacy naturally accorded the clever (and presumably rational) dictator who artfully claims a "cliff-hanger." <br><br> Delightful. “The dread shown by the Soviet authorities to any form of competitive election has confused us into thinking that achieving a competitive election is in itself the key triumph. The reality is that rigging elections is not daunting: Only the truly paranoid dictators avoid them anymore.” (Collier) Of course, the upshot of this is that a rigged “landslide” proves them truly paranoid, to both the outside world and to the majority of their population. Amusingly short-sighted, no? They give away the legitimacy naturally accorded the clever (and presumably rational) dictator who artfully claims a “cliff-hanger.”

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