That is Diana West's apt term for the response of too many of the world's leaders to the Palestinians' vote to make Hamas their governing faction. It is the polar opposite of "realpolitik."

There comes a point, sometimes, when logic is denied, reason is abandoned, and that vital connection to reality is severed. Once upon a time, we called this a nervous breakdown and prescribed a rest cure. Now, we call it a press conference and take notes.

The fact is, with the Hamas victory —— the democratic election by Palestinian Arabs of a Nazi—like terrorist organization dedicated to annihilating Israel and replacing it with a Sharia state —— something in the common culture of world elites has snapped. From the White House to the European Union, the Hamas victory, with its disastrous implications for peace and democracy, is more than any one powerful person seems able to accept. So they don't. They are, as the therapeutic community might say, in denial. 

Take President Bush's analysis of the PA election results. "The people are demanding honest government," he said."Thepeople want services. They want to be able to raise their children in an environment in which they can get a decent education and they can find health care."

Honestgovernment? Services? Hamas is "honest," all right, when it comes to its blood—lust for Jews, and maybe it can deliver to its constituents "services" related to Israel's destruction, but I doubt that's what the president had in mind. But neither did he have in mind anything connected to the reality that Palestinians have voted for terror with no "peace process" (Hamas), not a "peace process" with terror (Fatah). Not much actually separates Hamas from Fatah, but it's enough to send the global—erati over the edge.

Read the whole thing.

Ed Lasky  2 03 06