While I'm heartened by the images of Iraqis risking life and limb to vote, it seems weird to trumpet the day as a glorious success when 50+ people were slaughtered. If 50 Americans were blown up trying to vote, it would be a national tragedy. And how easily the hooting loons of the right overlook the tens of thousands of innocents -- possibly 100,000+ -- who've died so far. Can you even IMAGINE how those people would respond if that kind of carnage occurred on American soil? As the Onion headline from last year put it, "Iraqi Man Would Have Loved Democracy Had He Lived to See it."