Chris Dodd, at the presidential debate earlier this week:
Be careful what you wish for. If there were totally free elections in many of the countries we’re talking about today, the Islamic Jihad or the Islamic Brotherhood would win 85 percent of the vote. That’s not a great outcome for us at this point either.
There are numerous problems with this assertion. Thankfully, Shadi Hamid systematically refutes Dodd’s response over at Democracy Arsenal. Money quote:
Maybe I’m being a bit nitpicky, but it’s a bit worrying that someone who’s spent three decades in Congress doesn’t even know the correct name of the most influential opposition movement in the Middle East today, one that spans not one but several countries, including Egypt and Jordan, two of our closest regional allies.