Bush on Pakistan and Democracy

I wanted to check the CNN transcript before writing about President Bush’s appearance with Wolf Blitzer yesterday on “Late Edition” just to make sure I heard him correctly. In their brief, but wide-ranging, discussion Bush said the following about Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf:

“I’ve also said that President Musharraf is the person who has done a lot for Pakistan democracy.”

Huh?

Musharraf has done a lot for democracy? How exactly? By ousting Pakistan’s democratically-elected government in a coup, installing himself as president, dismissing the country’s supreme court when it appeared they were about to rule his presidency unconstitutional, and then announcing a nationwide state of emergency to prevent presidential elections? Call me crazy, but these don’t exactly seem like the moves of someone promoting democracy.

And if you think that Wolf Blitzer would ask these obvious questions, well…

I do find it odd though that the same day the White House calls on Russia to investigate irregularities in their elections, the President would say that a military dictator “has done a lot for democracy.”