‘This Charles-Manson-with-a-turban’: Tom Friedman hails the Sunday vote in Iraq: “It's about time, because whatever you thought about this war, it's not about Mr. Bush any more. It's about the aspirations of the Iraqi majority to build an alternative to Saddamism. By voting the way they did, in the face of real danger, Iraqis have earned the right to ask everyone now to put aside their squabbles and focus on what is no longer just a pipe dream ...”

The realistic discussion about Iraq is now between those who were gung-ho from the start and gratified by Sunday’s vote and those who had legitimate criticisms and misgivings but are still gratified by Sunday’s vote. All those who simply carp at the president and the United States -- and ignore the reality of Sunday -- are irrelevant to the debate. ... How can you not be happy about Sunday's vote?



What hiatus?: Andrew Sullivan has written more in the last 48 hours than I’ve seen in months. Some hiatus. Sort of like John Ellis’ hiatus. ... The key is, methinks, to admit to any blogger exhaustion/addiction and withdraw in stages, without announcing it until the winding down is made obvious. Sort of like quietly going on a diet. I tend to signal to everyone I’m determined to lose weight, then get caught the next night wolfing down a Steak Bomb sub at Ninos. ... Glenn Reynolds has a great post on blogging. Like the sand-and-rocks comparison. ...   ¶ 8:08 AM