Thomas Friedman Can Not Count

June 10, 2009

[A] a solid majority of all Lebanese — Muslims, Christians and Druse — voted for the March 14 coalition led by Saad Hariri, the son of the slain Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
Ballots Over Bullets, Thomas L. Friedman, NYT

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These are the official numbers of the June 2009' Elections. […] The aggregate averages of voters in each district in Lebanon, shows that the 'losers' got 54.8% of the total votes (839,371 votes) and the 'winners' racked 45.2% of the votes (692,285 votes)

Aah, that damned Popular Vote … , Friday Lunch Club

Posted by b on June 10, 2009 at 13:20 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Al Manar, Hezbollah’s network has reported these results:
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=89269&language=en
But no Western news service seems interested in covering this aspect of the election. Like it or not, it is an important part of the story.

Posted by: Arnold Evans | Jun 10 2009 13:52 utc | 1

Interesting. I stopped reading or ever looking at anything Friedman writes years ago. And as for the corporate and, sorry to say, public (BBC, CBC, ABC, NPR) media they seem only to report some massive victory in Lebanon for the West, whereas, from what I can gather, not much has really changed. A disappointing aside – even Juan Cole seems to be hyperventilating over at Salon with a breathless headline and at best an impressionistic analyse of the election in this time of self-satisfaction – aka the Obamian Age.

Posted by: pangloss | Jun 10 2009 16:44 utc | 2

There is an Arabic report on Aljazeera says that the American media are trying to connect Obama’s speech with the pro-west Lebanese winning side saying:
Obama’s speech boosted the pro-West (Hariri … Geagea) win.

Posted by: Ladybird | Jun 10 2009 16:59 utc | 3

yes the media seems to see its role as cheerleaders. business as usual probably suits everybody in Lebanon just fine.

Posted by: outsider | Jun 10 2009 17:02 utc | 4

Well Cole could be right, if indeed Obama really pushes on with the project to settle Israeli/Palestine. Which of course is up in the air.
Personally, I don’t think Obama has much choice about tackling Israel in one way or another, at one time or another. The Israelis are getting too far out of line, and I would think things will come to a head within the time of his presidency.
It’s very hard for those nutters in Israel to pull back, and the Gaza invasion seems to have been the turning point in attitudes – a completely gratuitous pointless and destructive aggression. Individual Israelis have become extremely defensive since then. Even regular old-style Zionists – even if I don’t like what they say – have become aggressively defensive of Israel – as though they’re unhappy themselves with what is happening.
It’s a question of Obama’s personal reputation. Is he ready to let things go and be openly humiliated by Israel in his first year? Somehow I don’t see that.
Anyway, I know you guys don’t agree with me, but there we are.

Posted by: alex_no | Jun 10 2009 18:46 utc | 5

Did the title of this headline change since this morning or was I imaginatively associating lying with Friedman in my own mind?

Posted by: Juannie | Jun 10 2009 19:48 utc | 6

not being able to count is most probably the least of his sins. friedman is really a sinister figure in the swamp they call journalism. the destruction of a people & their culture can be direcly linked to ‘thinkers’ such as him who posses not one ounce fo humanity in their bodies – it has been replaced with a vulgar vanity – that like his sister-in-blood judith miller – has had real consequences for real people
to say that he is scum it to understate his venality

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jun 10 2009 23:00 utc | 7

Juan Cole should stick to analyzing Iraq and not Lebanon. When I read his posts about Lebanon, I find them totally lacking and superficial. I can tell you that because I have lived in Lebanon for much of my adult life. The best analysis on Lebanon comes from As’ad Abu Khalil.
Lebanese politics can best be encapsulated by the phease “they are ALL sectarian” and the Lebanese are just itching to re-start their civil war. The Lebanese are very adept at killing each other. Lebanese civil wars never end, they simply go into remission. The Lebanese have fought the same civil war over and over again. They have fought one in the 1840s, the 1850s, 1950s, 1975 to 1990 and just recently they almost killed each other again. Had it not been for Qatari intervention and mediation, they would have killed each other. They will continue to fight these civil wars well into the future in large part due to the sectarian political/feudal system that the country operates under.
Until there is a time when the sectarianism is eliminated from politics, the Lebanese civil wars will keep on going. The first step is to scrap the electoral system and make Lebanon one large district and base the elections on Proportional Representation. The second step is to institute civil marriage so Muslims and Christians can inter-marry. This will NEVER happen because the sects have all the power and the secularists, like myself, eventually get disgusted and leave Lebanon to greener pastures.
Lebanon is a worthless country with worthless people and this is coming from someone who is half Lebanese. My better half is Syrian 🙂

Posted by: ndahi | Jun 11 2009 0:31 utc | 8

Lebanon is a worthless country with worthless people and this is coming from someone who is half Lebanese. My better half is Syrian 🙂
You are really too harsh there, ndahi, but it’s true the Syrians are also very nice.

Posted by: alex_no | Jun 11 2009 3:21 utc | 9

Friedman is beyond the Pale. As to Juan Cole he seems to have decided that Obama needs , and deserves all the support that can be provided. He might be right, in US terms but I’m no longer among his regular readers.
Felicitations to our host b.

Posted by: ellis | Jun 11 2009 5:21 utc | 10

yeah to hail Lebanon as a western democratic is a sick joke. Nasrallah laid down the gauntlet with his “popular choice”.
the huge elephant in the room is not just the unproportional representation of Shiites, the overproportional representation of Christians, but the disenfranchisement of Lebanese Palestinians. compare that to US law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_nationality_law
though Europe’s nationality laws tend to be worse, this kind of discrimination in naturalization has not been held up over three generations in any European country I know of.
yes I know – the right of return. talking about ghosts in the room.

Posted by: outsider | Jun 11 2009 12:15 utc | 11

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