Love Her, Hate HerAnne Applebaum takes readers' questions and comments about Benazir Bhutto.

Slate and Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum was online on Washingtonpost.com on Thursday, Jan. 3, to discuss the Western world's admiration for Benazir Bhutto and the opposite feelings she inspired in Pakistan. An unedited transcript of the chat follows.

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Anne Applebaum: Your assessment matches many that I've heard. As I'm not in Pakistan at the moment, I wouldn't want to comment on whether it would be better or worse to delay the elections—one can imagine quicksand in either direction.

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marknesop: Congratulations, Anne, this was a pretty good column. I expected brink-of-tears canonization of Bhutto as some other columns have done; you surprised me. I'm afraid I don't know Bhutto's history well enough to contradict you on specifics, but you absolutely are correct that many foreign leaders are adored by the West (Sarkozy springs to mind) while they are not necessarily viewed with such affection by their electorate. Margaret Thatcher personified that philosophy. I still think Bhutto would be an improvement over Musharraf, though. She might lack his tyrannical discipline, but Pakistan must make some kind of break from him soon.

Anne Applebaum: Many thanks, and glad you agree. As to an improvement—at some point, of course, anybody will be better than Musharraf: Nothing is more corrupting, intellectually, politically and financially, than holding power indefinitely. Any leader simply loses the motivation to do good.

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Ocala, Fla.: Why is it that the U.S. always seems to play personality politics when we get involved in the internal affairs of other countries? Pakistan is only the latest example. Why don't we invest in broader movements and grassroots outreach? Is it that we are simply looking for a shortcut, or that we don't really understand the cultures well enough to do the grassroots work?

Anne Applebaum: To some extent we do invest in broader movements and outreach—it's called "democracy promotion." But we tend not to do democracy promotion very well, even when we're fully focused on it, which isn't very often. After all, presidents are only in office for a few years, and these aren't policies that bring instant results, or even that necessarily bring any results. As I said, it must seem to most presidents so much simpler and more direct to do a deal with an actual person.

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Washington: Ms. Applebaum, thank you for your article pointing out Benazir's many huge (and, in the view of a lot of her countrymen) unforgivable mistakes. She painted herself as a fighter for democracy and women's rights, yet she cut deals with undemocratic elements in her own country and with repressive external regimes like the Taliban. Not to sound cold, but she reaped what she had sown.

Anne Applebaum: Yes—though of course no one deserves to be assassinated.

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Freising, Germany: Ms. Bhutto's husband is sometimes mentioned as having roguish tendencies, and in Pakistan he was known by his nickname, "Mr. 10 Percent." How much of his reputation is thought to be character damage by rivals, and how much is thought to be truthful?

Anne Applebaum: ah, I'm afraid that completely depends upon whom you ask. It's that kind of country.

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New York: Thanks for this piece. You mention in your article you would have preferred to see Bhutto leading Pakistan, rather than Gen. Musharraf. If you've heard Pakistanis say she was rather corrupt, do you think that if she had been elected, at the very best her rule only may have been a temporary solution for Pakistan? We'll never know now, unfortunately—though perhaps her son and husband will be able to carry a little of her legacy and support forward.

Anne Applebaum: Hard to say—as other questioners have pointed out, she wasn't necessarily a great prime minister the last time around. The principle that power can and should change hands peacefully is a good one to enforce in any country though.

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Anne Applebaum: Looks like time is up—many thanks to all of you, and apologies to the one or two whose questions I didn't have time to answer. Hope to hear from you all again, AA

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