Regular Joe: 2008 Race still wide open

Today on Morning Joe, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said America's leaders should demand the removal of Pakistan's leader, General Pervez Musharraf.

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Senator Chris Dodd could not have disagreed more.

The interparty debate underlines the bigger question facing U.S. policy makers as they chart their way through choppy waters in Pakistan: Do we force an election in the name of democracy even if that election destabilizes the country?

Simply put, what is more important to America? A democratic Pakistan or a stable Pakistan?

The answer is a no-brainer for Dodd. The Connecticut senator believes America must promote stability in a country that possesses nuclear weapons and tens of millions of radicals who see Osama bin Laden as a hero. That may not be consistent with George Bush's agenda of promoting democracy across the world, but we have learned the hard way that free elections do not always guarantee a more stable world.

I cast my vote with Dodd on this issue.

Thoughts? Leave your comment here.

• Dec. 28, 2007 | 4:01 p.m. ET

Pakistan crisis can only help GOP, Giuliani and McCain (Joe Scarborough)

The instability unleashed in Pakistan this week may not ultimately help Republicans hold the White House in 2008, but it will put a sharper focus on international affairs in the early presidential contests. That's good news for Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. It's may also be bad news for GOP candidates who have distanced themselves from George W. Bush's foreign policy record.

While Democratic candidates and the New York Times editorial board might collectively groan at the suggestion, Republican candidates can gain points with a beleaguered GOP base by defiantly suggesting that Mr. Bush's policies are beginning to yield tangible results across the world.

In Iraq, the situation on the ground is improving for the first time since the Golden Mosque was blown up in Sumarra almost two years ago.

Zarqawi is dead. Al-Qaida in Iraq is losing strength by the day. Osama bin Laden and his No. 2 man spend their days cursing their Muslim brothers across the region. And for all the talk of Bush misreading the Iraqi street, it has been al-Qaida leaders who have spent the past few years blowing up wedding receptions, killing grandmothers in public markets and gunning down students walking to school.

Osama bin Laden may be the one who has overplayed his hand by such actions, and as a result al-Qaida is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

Republicans can also credit George Bush's surge with stabilizing the military situation in Iraq (for now.)

Moving east to Iran, Americans learned this month that the Iranians decided to suspend their nuclear weapons program in 2003. GOP candidates should ask their audiences whether they think it was a coincidence that Iran decided to dump their nuke program the same year Libya's madman stopped developing WMDs — which also happened to be the same year George Bush decided to invade Iraq.

How many Republican primary voters in Iowa will really believe that was just a coincidence? Not many.

North Korea has also taken positive steps toward dismantling their nuclear program. Why? In part because Mr. Bush stubbornly refused to deal with that rogue regime unless five other nations got involved.

Bush got his way and the world got North Korea to the table.

GOP candidates should also remind their audiences that all three members of Bush's "Axis of Evil" have defanged to varying degrees.

Praising Mr. Bush on the primary campaign trail makes sense, especially while making a pitch to party members that still see their president in a favorable light. Whether that strategy holds water this summer depends on whether the situation on Iraq continues to improve.

Betting on that troubled country over the past few years has proven to be a risky proposition. We will see if the president's luck continues to improve over the next six months.

Thoughts? Leave your comment here.

Watch 'Morning Joe' on MSNBC TV, 6-9 a.m. ET weekdays on MSNBC.

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