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McCain: For Musharraf Before He Was Against Him
Matthew Yglesias — ... that McCain was “outspoken in defense of Musharraf,” saying “I continue to believe Musharraf has done a pretty good job” whereas “Benazir Bhutto and [former prime minister Nawaz] Sharif presided over failed states, there was corruption, there was a failed state in Pakistan when Musharraf took charge.” By contrast, as Jason Zengerle points out, Barack Obama issued a clear call for Pakistani democracy. ...

Pakistan and presidential judgment
Political Animal — ... And while both agreed that Musharraf’s departure is a positive development, it’s worth noting that one of them took a circuitous route to get to this point. Yglesias argued that McCain was “for Musharraf before he was against him,” and noted McCain, even in the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, took “a much more pro-Musharraf line than most other prominent U.S. politicians.” Jason Zengerle fleshed this out in more detail. McCain has put out an utterly banal and perfectly appropriate ...

Questions About McCain
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — Frank Rich asks all the right ones: Is a man who is just discovering the Internet qualified to lead a restoration of America’s economic and educational infrastructures? Is the leader of a virtually all-white political party America’s best salesman and moral avatar in the age of globalization? Does a bellicose Vietnam veteran who rushed to hitch his star to the self-immolating overreaches of Ahmad Chalabi, Pervez Musharraf and Mikheil Saakashvili have the judgment to keep America safe? A bridge to the more polarizing ...