Mr Allawi goes to Washington. (Sue Niederer gets the gallows.)
Rumsfeld on a perfect world:

"Let's say you tried to have an election, and you could have it in three-quarters or four-fifths of the country, but some places you couldn't because the violence was too great," Mr. Rumsfeld said at a hearing on Capitol Hill. "Well, that's so be it. Nothing's perfect in life."

Ayad Allawi thinks a few provinces short here or there is just dandy too:

In 15 out of 18 Iraqi provinces, the security situation is good for elections to be held tomorrow. (From the press conference with Bush.)

[Dr. Allawi's optimism was at odds with the private view of some of Mr. Bush's senior advisers, who have said in recent days that the American military's main problem is that it is not full control of Baghdad. NY Times.]

The Deptuy Secretary of State Armitage is pissing on the parade. Don't worry be happy!(Isn't the State Dept. running the show over there now, by the way? Where is Colin Powell anyway?)

The No. 2 official at the State Department said Friday that the elections planned for January in Iraq must be "open to all citizens," contradicting Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld who has suggested that voting might not be possible in the more-violent areas.

We're going to have an election that is free and open and that has to be open to all citizens. It's got to be our best effort to get it into troubled areas as well," Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told a House committee Friday, after being asked about Rumsfeld's words.

Armitage told reporters after the hearing that: "We absolutely want to hold them in all parts of Iraq." Asked if partial elections were under consideration, he said: "No. Not now. Not that I know of."

Don't be a spoiled sport says W:(See press conference link.)

"I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America," Mr. Bush said, chuckling. "It's pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future." [So, does that mean Americans are more pessimistic about their future than the Iraqis are. Oh Boy!]

Allawi Voting for Bush: (From the Boston Globe.)

WASHINGTON -- Apart from the heavy Iraqi accent, he sounded almost like a Republican official introducing President Bush at a campaign stop. But as interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq toured the diplomatic circuit in Washington yesterday, praising Bush for ''standing firm" in the war on terror and admonishing Senator John F. Kerry as a ''doubter," he took on a far more significant role in the presidential campaign than any American partisan ever could.

''When political leaders sound the sirens of defeatism in the face of terrorism," Allawi said, standing next to Bush in the White House Rose Garden, ''it only encourages more violence."

And if the Allawi speech was not actually written by the Bush team, it was soon incorporated into the Republican message. By the time Cheney appeared at a campaign rally in St. Joseph, Mo., yesterday afternoon, Allawi -- and the dispute with Kerry over conditions in Iraq -- had already become a part of the vice president's remarks.

''I must say I was appalled at the complete lack of respect Senator Kerry showed for this man of courage," Cheney said, drawing boos from the audience, ''when he rushed to hold a press conference and attack the prime minister, a man America must stand beside to defeat the terrorists.

''John Kerry is trying to tear down all the good that has been accomplished," he said. [That shouldn't take long, should it?]

[Traitor! Take him out and shoot him!]

Speaking of which...Sue Niederer

This from our crazy right wing friends at the Federal Review, always good for a laugh.

Liberals, and their willing allies in the media, were aghast when the "grieving mother" of a soldier killed in Iraq was arrested for disrupting a New Jersey appearance by First Lady Laura Bush last week.

For example, columnist Jimmy Breslin bemoaned, "they whisked her out of the place and arrested her for using free speech." CBS News, that bastion of accuracy, declared her a "Grieving Mom."

Now, however, it turns out that the woman, Sue Niederer of Hopewell, N.J., may have been more of a threat than the media portrayed her.

WNBC news is reporting that the Secret Service in investigating Niederer for threatening to shoot President Bush last May:

In portions an interview posted online in May on the Web site Counterpunch.org, Niederer said she wanted to "rip the president's head off" and "shoot him in the groined area."
As WNBC notes, "It is a federal crime to threaten to kill the president."

With the Secret Service involved, Niederer now claims that she did not mean it when she threatened the president.

However, given that threats to shoot the president were made, no one should be surprised, or disturbed, that Niederer was taken away from the First Lady as soon as possible.