MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Nicaraguans waited in long lines Sunday to vote in an election that will decide whether Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega returns to power, 16 years after the end of his leftist rule and a U.S.-backed war to topple him. The U.S. has warned against an Ortega win, with Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez saying that aid and trade "will be endangered" if "anti-democratic forces prevail." The race is also watched closely by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a U.S. foe who is hoping to find a new ally in Ortega.

How badly would the neocons freak out if some country, any country warned the United States against voting Republican? And not just warn, threaten economic retaliation? They'd huff and puff about sovereignty, threaten to bomb the country responsible and blame Democrats for being unpatriotic if they didn't go along with the whole ridiculous, hypocritical pile of bullshit.

Here the Bush administration is, doing precisely that and nobody bats an eye. That's because there is a rich American tradition of what's good for the rest of the world isn't necessarily good for us. And yet I still hear the O'Reilly zombies on the public commute wondering why "they" hate "us."

No newspaper will point out this double standard. This factoid, this split ruleset either isn't printable by the so-called "liberal" or "independent" media or it is, but it hasn't occurred to the reporters.

I, being optimistic about the nature of man, can't figure out which of these possibilities sucks least so I can root for it.