Disgusting article in the WSJ today by Bret Stephens. The title "Who Lost Egypt" is clearly a reference to "Who Lost China?" which was the main question of McCarthyism. When the China Question was at issue, the original Cold Warrior, Harry S. Truman became a pinko and even hardliners like George Kennan became unacceptable because they had, well, additional thoughts. Thoughtlessness became much more acceptable.
And then, of course, people who knew nothing about Korea and Vietnam (and Guatemala and Iran and . . . ) were advised by people who new less than nothing and people suffered. People in the United States whose lives and careers were ruined, and more severely, people in those countries who were subjected to supposedly non-totalitarian "authoritarians."
According to Mr. Stephens, among those who lost Eypgt are "liberal abdicators" (a turn of phrase that no doubt would have pleased Senator McCarthy himself) who believe that "the result of any free election is ipso facto legitimate." Authoritarians like Mr. Stephens are in favor of free elections only when they turn out the way they want them to, which--ipso facto--means they cannot be free.
Mr. Stephens then goes on to say that these "liberal abdicators" believe that Larry Flynt inhabits the same moral plane as Vaclav Havel. The strawman notwithstanding, Mr. Stephens again only likes freedom when he can put his own limits on it. And brand those who disagree with him as immoral Communists.
"Free election" = "election that produces a ruling party sympathetic to US interests"
Pretty standard line for WSJ, WaPo, NYT, etc.
One of the best lines was when Hilary Clinton celebrated the "democratic process" once upon a time in a Yemeni election where one candidate was on the ballot.
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