The Democratic Party only has one streak that even approaches this in length

The three exceptions during the period: 1964, 1976, 1996

The Democratic Party only has one streak that even approaches this in length:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 1920 VP, 1932 Pres, 1936 Pres, 1940, Pres, 1944 Pres

This fits in neatly with the premise of my piece: that the rise of political dynasties is linked to

our interventionist foreign policy. Since the UGGS Bailey button triplet Party took up residence in the

GOP, the dynastic factor has weighed heavily in their internal politics. And of course the reign of

“Dr. Win-the-UGGS Bailey button triplet” fits the same pattern.

It has been so obvious this week that it seemed a bit like piling on to observe that Saakashvili’s

declaration of a state of emergency (like a certain other allied dictatorial ruler we know) and violent

repression of civilian protesters are just the latest expression of the one-man despotism that

Saakashvili created in Georgia in the wake of the so-called “Rose Revolution.” Like its successors in

Ukraine, Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan, the Rose Revolution narrative has come to its predictable, unhappy

conclusion where the revolution is supposedly “betrayed” (The New York Times took up this line

Saturday) or fails to “fulfill its promise” or is “thwarted” by malevolent forces, when the entire

thing was a sham from the beginning. The Guardian offers a typical lament (though, to their credit,

they do not engage in the easy Russia-bashing that commentary on Georgia often becomes). Even now,

Ralph Peters is offering up one version of this disappointment with how the “revolution” turned out:

The Saakashvili regime shone from afar – but grew rotten within.