So everyone's in a dither about how we get Hamas from "democracy."
Yeah, it's nice (as pointed out by RenaRF) that Tucker Carlson is straying from the wingnut reservation, but he and the Prez, share a fundamental perspective.
Carlson, most in the press, many others, and maybe a few too many Kossaks have fallen prey to Bush's overly narrow definition of democracy.
More below ...
For Bush, democracy is little more than the mechanics of an election. Once the election's over, all power flows to the winner (even if that election is rigged).
For Bush what democracy is not about is individual rights, protection of the individual from the state, ongoing accountability, governmental transparency, give-and-take, compromise, recognition that the other side might win one of these days, recognition that the opposition is still a legitimate part of the body politic (rather than traitors), or as we see more every day, the rule of law.
When Bush said he'd had his "accountability moment" in the 2004 election, he was more serious than we knew or acknowledged. That's the limit of democracy to him and it appears that nothing else counts.
So the tradeoff shouldn't be between the democratically-elected government you abhor and the dictatorship you can tolerate. That framing is a dangerous trap.
When we recognize that the whole network of Washington Republicans and their cronies around the country are as corrupt and ineffectual as Fatah, we'll have a different form of accountability moment. Let's just hope it happens before we have our own version of Hamas.