Political Wire questions why conservative bloggers aren't talking about this weekend's elections in Lebanon and the softening of the US stance on Hamas. The implication, is, of course, that the "noisy partisans on the Internet" are simply ignoring news they don't like. Nevermind that Little Green Footballs, probably the leading blog on the Middle East, covered both stories and was, in fact, quite critical of any US policy shifts on Hamas, calling it the "new century’s worst idea so far."

However, it is true that most conservative bloggers haven't given the latest round of Lebanese voting the attention they did to protestin' hotties. It's not surprising. Who wants to report on news they don't like? For example, our national media has consistently ignored reports of good news from Iraq, instead choosing to focus on Abu Ghraib and "insurgent" activities.

But, Hezbollah's victories in southern Lebanon are hardly surprising either. Last week the Sydney Morning Herald's correspondent in the region wrote "Next week voting is in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah will take all the seats it wants." In any case, Lebanon is going to be the first free Arab democracy. That's still the important thing here. And, since many of the opposing candidates were Commies, maybe this is still the best result for America. I think you can reform a terrorist, but a Commie is always a Commie.

Liberals may be bothered by the lack of conservative hand-wringing over this result, but frankly, I'm a bit bothered by this seeming liberal glee over it. They see everything through the lens of blessed anti-Americanism. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." To them, votes for Hezbollah are simply votes against Bush, rather than votes for a continuation of the hatred that has mired the entire region in conflict and disarray for the last 50+ years. Not everything is about us.