Of Pervs and Power

[UPDATE: Once again, our pals at the Huffington Post have come through. Post a comment there if you like, and let them know how you're living.]

Pervez Musharraf, a general who assumed power in a coup back in the 90s, has done it again. Rewind the rerun. Even better, we're cool with it. The country that bragged it was so kickass at democracy that it could export it to Iraq is down with a guy who just doesn't want to go gently into that good night. Who's willing to shut down the media, suspend the constitution, imprison whoever for whatever to make sure he lasts a few more minutes on the national channel.

Sure, he's battling an increasingly powerful, radicalizing populace who will get their hands on the nukes Musharraf spent much time stockpiling, with our help. But we've been down this apocalyptic road before, in Perv's initial airing in 1999. As far back as Kruschev, who once said he would bury us before we outlasted him. No one is going to nuke anyone here. And even if they do, we brought it on ourselves.

That said, the point of Perv's hostile takeover of Pakistan should not be lost on Americans who are so sick of Bush, he might as well be touring with Britney. Even if Musharraf is single-handedly holding Osama bin Laden down in a spider hole, he cannot be allowed to suspend the nation's reason for being so he can retain power no majority in the country wants him to have. Imagine if Bush decided to call bullshit on our Constitution and stick around for another term. You know, just to turn the knife a little.

One hopes we'd rebel, but that's another hyperreality: We've slept through this show before. This is Musharraf's second coup. We had another tool of a president with last name of Bush, who was then succeeded by a Clinton. Like the one who will probably succeed this burning Bush we can't seem to douse. Spot the pattern?

When I asked Seymour Hersh about an extended Bush sleepover at the expense of the 2008 elections, even he wasn't about to go that dark.

"God knows, Bush has demonstrated the total fragility of the Constitution and the democratic process," he clarified. "But I don't think that we’re at the stage where we're not going to have an election. That's not going to happen. He’s had a pretty good run."

And yeah, he said run, but I think he means rerun. From Musharraf and Saddam to Bush and Clinton, we're suckers for reruns. We can't get enough of them. And the fact that we can't short-circuit the feedback loop even as the machinery is more transparently dangerous than ever isn't funny. It's freaking scary.