Bloodless Coup

"Washington's Nightmare"

Have you ever had a really busy time in your life, where nothing but your own problems have concerned you? And you live in a nice place, and you have good neighbors, for the most part. But the ones who used to know you really well and who gave you the benefit of the doubt when you were kind of a jerk and didn't mow your lawn and stuff like that, well, those folks took jobs in another city. And then, one day, even though you haven't really been doing much to help out the block lately, you didn't pick up the trash that blew into your front yard, or you left your grass clippings in the street, and maybe just maybe you got in a fight with your neighbor one day over who gets to park in front of your house even though the street belongs to everyone, then, one day, you find that one of your neighbors is running for the leadership position in his block of the neighborhood association? And the neighbor who is running doesn't like your ass one bit? And suddenly you realize that he's not the only one? And he's probably going to win? And even though there's not much he can really do to make you change the way you live your life, he's going to bandwagon with all the other neighborhood assholes (from your perspective at least) to give you a hard time?

Well then, this makes total sense to you.

Evo Morales, who has promised to become Washington's "nightmare," held an unexpectedly strong lead over his conservative rival in Sunday's election, according to two independent exit polls.

The wide margin means Morales, a coca farmer who has said he will end a U.S.-backed anti-drug campaign aimed at eradicating the crop used to make cocaine, will likely be declared president in January.

snip

Morales counts Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez among his friends, along with leftists in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay who have gained power at the ballot box this decade. After the exit polls were released, an AP reporter at Morales' home in Cochabamba said he immediately received a phone call from Chavez.

And on a personal alma mater cheer, check out the quote from Eduardo Gamarra: