One can never be a Senator, a millionaire and a “regular guy”.  Senator, you’re no Joe Six-pack.  But where did these pitiful scenes of Sen. Obama bowling, Sen. Clinton downing shots, and Pres. Bush crashing his bike originate?  The Post clues us in:

Presidential candidates have strived relentlessly downward in social class ever since the 1840s, when William Henry Harrison created what historians now call the “common-man myth.” While most of his peers campaigned from their estates, Harrison traveled the country and spoke under a banner depicting a log cabin and a bottle of hard cider. He won the presidency by a landslide, and his campaign model became the new standard.

There’s the old polling questions of which candidate would you prefer to have a beer with.  Who cares?  Being a good drinking buddy and running the Executive Branch require completely different qualities.

Zimbabwe’s government jailed New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak under the charge of “committing journalism.” His lawyer, Zimbabwe’s top human rights activist, got him freed after pointing out to the court that “committing journalism” is not a crime.

Read it.

Robert Mugabe’s government has refused to admit defeat in the election three weeks ago and his government has not even bothered to release the total vote counts. While parking in front of the Zimbabwe Embassy in Washington today, I noticed one of the usual signs restricting a short strip of parking to embassy cars on weekdays. This sign restricted parking to the ‘Republic of Zimbabwe’, which I no long believe to be a true democratic republic. It is now dictator Robert Mugabe’s personal fiefdom, featuring a wrecked economy, 165,000% inflation (I kid you not), a refugee crisis, and one of Africa’s wealthiest populations reduced to penury. Equipped with some paper, a pen and some tape, I put together a revision to the sign so that it now reads

NO PARKING
7AM-6:30PM
DIPLOMATIC CARS
DICTATOR
ROBERT MUGABE’S
THUGS, GOONS
& APOLOGISTS
ONLY

Despite having robbed his people of both their livelihoods and the right to vote, Mr. Mugabe can still count on his defenders in the region. Shortly after it appeared that Mr. Mugabe stole the election, South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki, infamous for denying that HIV causes AIDS, met with Mr. Mugabe and, much to the world’s surprise, assured that Zimbabwe was not facing a crisis.

Fortunately, many South Africans, unlike Mr. Mbeki, do have a conscience.

The New York Times reports today that on Friday a ship carrying weapons and ammunition from a Chinese state-owned weapons foundry made a call into the port of Durban with goods destined for Zimbabwe’s military. News of the arrival quickly broke and the longshoremen’s union threatened to strike if forced to unload the ship.

The South African government, though, citing the absence of an official weapons ban on Zimbabwe, ruled that the shipment should be allowed to pass through South Africa. Not so fast, ruled South Africa’s High Court, after a South African activist and the Anglican archbishop petitioned for an embargo:

[Archbishop] Phillip, [human rights activist] Mr. Kearney and the lawyers argued that South Africa’s 2002 law on conventional arms included guidelines that directed the government to consider, in deciding whether to give permits for the transport of weapons, whether the government receiving the arms was committing human rights violations.

Late Friday afternoon, a judge in Durban granted their request. But on Friday evening, when the authorities drove out to the Chinese ship, An Yeu Jiang, to serve the court order, it pulled up anchor and moved off, according to a South African government official and Ms. Fritz.

What’s impressive is the reaction of South Africa’s civil society to represent the interests of human rights when its president fails to.

Even still, Mr. Mugabe is still holding onto his seat and the outcome of the election is still unknown. Will the State Department eventually eject Mr. Mugabe’s representatives in Washington? If he ends up stealing this election for sure, the State Department should consider it.