At last -- someone at the New York Times talks some sense over the reasons for last weekend's Spanish election upset.

Paul Krugman echoes exactly what I said yesterday:

"The Aznar government had taken the country into Iraq against the wishes of 90 percent of the public.

"Spanish voters weren't intimidated by the terrorist bombings — they turned on a ruling party they didn't trust. When the government rushed to blame the wrong people for the attack, tried to suppress growing evidence to the contrary and used its control over state television and radio both to push its false accusation and to play down antigovernment protests, it reminded people of the broader lies about the war.

"By voting for a new government, in other words, the Spaniards were enforcing the accountability that is the essence of democracy. But in the world according to Mr. Bush's supporters, anyone who demands accountability is on the side of the evildoers."

The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland also makes a similar point.