Well, I was hoping my mouthpiece would blog on this first, because I'm seriously torn and I'd like to have the benefit of some clear thinking. But he hasn't, and the mundane exigencies of schedule say that I have to do this now or much later tonight, so I'm doin' it.

My problem is: I think the right guys -- meaning, the left guys -- got elected in Spain. But what troubles me is it wasn't about to happen until Al Qaeda attacked them. So now the goverment that put Spanish citizens in danger is being punished and a goverment installed that represents what Spaniards arguably wanted all along: no involvement in Iraq. And maybe this is a good thing, but I keep thinking about Neville Chamberlain and Hitler. Sometimes you really can reach an accommodation, I'll leave you alone and you leave me alone. Chamberlain thought Hitler represented one of those times and he was wrong, and I think Spain is wrong about Al Qaeda.

I don't know what I want here. I think the reaction Bush et al had to 9/11 -- Let's go over there and kick some Arab ass! -- is a bad one. But letting a terrorist attack determine the outcome of an election isn't a good idea, either.