The US government, and charges of election fraud

Americans like to brag about our love of democracy -- until democracy brings results we don't like.

That happened in 2006 when Hamas won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections. The so-called "quartet" (the US, Russia, the EU, and the UN) promptly invoked sanctions again the Palestinian National Authority, in an effort to overthrow the democratically elected Hamas government.

Now it's happened again.

Iran held elections for president, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won. Apparently by a landslide. And since Ahmadinejad was not the one anointed by the US government, the Obama administration promptly denounced the election, and called it into question.

In other words, democracy's swell -- as long as supposedly sovereign voters in other countries kowtow to US demands, and cast votes in accord with US government desires.

The shocking thing is that the US has had 2 questionable presidential elections in just the last 10 years.

Fraud, intimidation, and questionable results in the 2000 election are widely known. There are also many who question the outcome of the 2004 election.

In other words, before the Obama administration's poodle, Hillary Clinton, sets about condemning other countries' votes, we need to get our own house in order. And seeking to overturn legitimate elections in other countries because a current US government doesn't like the outcome is, well, about as far from "democracy" as we can get.