He who's been vindicated by events gets to stipulate the premises for future debate.

Unless you're not interested in real debate. Which you can signal by going into angry denial about the abovementioned events and their implications. In which case, no future debate, because you're not worthy of my debating you.

Democracy beginning to operate in some places. Hope for the future. How very telling that all this means nothing to you.

The people who matter are buying it, and not your desperate spin based on nitpicking and exaggeration. At least so say the opinion polls, and I must say Payback Tuesday was quite encouraging. You're preaching to the converted. At least I don't waste my time doing that.

And the unhappy people here who aren't "buying" it know full well what I say is true. They just haven't the courage to face it.

More to the point, my interpretation is by far the truer one. What's happening is very good news, net, not just gross. The good far outweighs the bad, and you guys can't deal with that, because you were on the wrong side. So now you're in a bad place, while everyone who matters is celebrating a new age of hope and progress in world politics. Why, you didn't even get the massive body counts and quagmire you were all hoping for. You've got nothing but scraps, and in time you won't even have the scraps.

Things are getting better in Iraq, and Afghanistan, too. Eight years of wasted time under Clinton, while things got worse, and now we're finally doing what makes things better. You weren't on board, so now you're all oozing sour grapes. That's your problem, not mine. Get over yourselves.

Still on the list: Iran, where there's already a pro-democracy movement, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Syria, the PLA/Hamas, Nigeria, the United Nations and every other brutal murderous oligarchy who can do no wrong in some peoples' eyes, so long as they oppose the United States.

Oh, and when France's latest republic falls to the Algerians, we can put that one on the list, too. Not very high on the list, though. Some people don't deserve to be rescued from themselves. Charles Martel wasted his time, I say.

I predict that a lot of other evil dictators will fall in the years ahead. A lot of oppressed people will be freed to make their own mistakes, or to prosper on their own merits. And a certain group of people will get all snarky and unhappy each time one of these thugs fall.

Then they'll carp about how the US gave them some piddling aid some time in the distant past. Well, guess what. You hypocrites are supporting them *now*, with your hearts and what passes for your souls. You're trying desperately to run interference for them, and failing utterly.

Rarely in history has a group of losers ever more richly deserved to lose.

I think I know [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=98083|what you really mean].