Pen-Elayne on the Web

Free and Fair

Well, to their credit, the current administration hasn't been entirely hypocritical when discussing Saddam Hussein's legitimate claim to the presidency of Iraq. I mean, honestly, the Florida results and Supreme Court appointment being what they were (and Gore winning the nationwide popular vote anyway above and beyond all that), it's not like Bush has a leg to stand on with that kind of criticism. It's a matter of record that Hussein has been duly elected for, I believe, two 7-year terms now. Thing is, as noted independently, he's run unopposed, and is slated to do so later this month for another 7-year term. So that should certainly send up a red flag; even the Iraqi Communist party notes that unopposed candidates aren't really conducive to democracy, no matter who gets to vote for them (including women). So it stands to reason people should be equally pissed when incumbent Congresscritters run unopposed. But even though this year we have 46 candidates - so far - doing just that in next month's elections, I've heard nary a peep, have you? Maybe everyone's just glad it isn't 64 incumbents (like in 2000) or 95 incumbents (like in 1998). Or maybe they've concluded there's really not that much diff between the Dems and Repubs anyway, so what's the point?