Maybe he's floating an idea to stay in office past 2009.

There's a lot to be said for stability and measured change in a volatile country like Pakistan. I see nothing wrong with counseling caution and patience.

I don't know Steve, the developing politics of the situation would suggest the US starts looking for the new Musharraf and nail down whatever commitments can be made in relation to the continuing existence of Al Qaeda along their borders. Whether you consider Musharraf has been a friend to us or not, it looks like his time is up.

If "freedom" means anything, surely it means the freedom of American officials to tell Pakistanis who have won elections which dictator they should keep obeying.

The Washington Post ran a story yesterday to the effect that Bush would spend his last year in office focusing on foreign affairs. All I could think was "God help us."

The Devil you know.

Freedom is on the march!

Wow - each time I think I've seen a new low in conservative hypocrisy, they find another rock to dig under. Just as in Iraq, democracy's fine - as long as you elect the people we would have put in power over you anyway. There really is no significant difference between these thugs and the old Soviet Communists.

To run with cian's train of thought, a significant chunk of Pakistan's (and the entire region's) instability can be directly traced to Musharraf's weakness and corruption - keeping him in power is pretty much guaranteed to maintain the status quo of a resurgent Taliban and never seriously looking for OBL & AQ. But Bush is too stupid, short-sighted, and insulated from reality to grasp this.

Bush and company think election results are just "suggestions." There are no surprises in this story.

One Western diplomat said, however, that the strategy could backfire if Pakistanis feel betrayed after voting to kick Musharraf from office. “This is dangerous,” said the diplomat.

I would hope that most Western countries hire a better class of diplomat than this, someone smart enough to notice that Musharraf's presidency wasn't on the ballot.

What Aaron said: Musharraf wasn't running for re-election. It's like Bush stepping down on Nov. 5 become somebody won the election on Nov. 4.

That some Pakistanis believe that the vote kicked Musharraf out of office only shows that some Pakistanis don't understand their own political system very well.

The election in Pakistan was very much about removing Musharraf, and if the new government doesn't do it there will be hell to pay in Pakistan.

George Bush may have come to power via a coup, declared martial law, violated the constitution, and been an obstacle in the fight against al Qaeda, but in November Musharraf will urge the USA to keep Bush and jettison President-elect Obama.

No joke.

I guess Bush sees something he likes.