Last week, Iranian students were burning pictures of their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and cursing him as a fascist. This week, election returns are being seen as a major setback for the hard-line leader.
Is this the start of a movement toward moderation in Tehran? Let’s hope so. But there’s always room for pessimism: The Guardian reports that those same student protesters are now in hiding in fear for their lives.
Still, as the New York Times reported, the fact that the student protest was featured on the evening news on state television — which is controlled by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — signals that “someone fairly senior is less than enchanted with Mr. Ahmadinejad.”
Posted by Dave Knadler
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50 Comments
Sounds like the Iran president is experiencing the same type of revolt by his people as George W. Bush is experiencing here in the US.
People will only tolerate a hard-line president for so long. It is a fact of life that people want to be free and will revolt when those in power are corrupt and abuse their office.
If Bush were smart (and that’s a BIG if), we could capitalize on this movement and get in there and have those talks with Iran moderate leaders about Iraq.
Link to a decidedly less optimistic and more realistic (IMO) story on the Iranian election. BTW, so long as the Grand Ayatollah K rules, he’s going to call the shots; note that the “conservative reformers” are still in his camp.
http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1244
Whose spinning whom?
Don’t know. Who?
Interesting quandry: I would like to see the “reformers” win but, if we covertly support them do we actually strenghthen the other sides. They can be branded ‘collaborators’ if they are identified with us.
Good! They are rejecting the Leftist regime. This is a great sign of hope.
Joe?
For crying out loud! EVERYTHING that is not you is not “leftist”. You know you come across as a real headcase with your obsession with that word.
“Good! They are rejecting the Leftist regime. This is a great sign of hope.”
If anything, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a far-right conservative.
Leftist usually means that someone tends towards socialism, like me.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is more like a fundamentalist, like say Falwell or Dobson.
Good, they are rejecting the religious fundamentalist regime. This is a great hope.
In JoeWilliamsWorld everything he disagrees with is leftist. Even those who prefer capitalism to communism are ‘leftist’ in JoeWilliamsWorld (see Arena and WaterWalk – government ownership of the means of production)
Cheney called to testify at Libby’s trial.
This is where we get him. He tells the truth, he hangs himself. He doesn’t tell the truth, he hangs himself.
Go Cheney yourself, Cheney.
Thanks, Ben, you are correct.
And the corollary of that is that when real leftists, like Martin Luther King (espoused an end to Vietnam war, embraced affirmative action, and asked for socialistic government intervention to reduce poverty), do something that Joe W. likes, then they’re not leftists any more even though they are.
“Last week, Iranian students were burning pictures of their president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and cursing him as a fascist.”
I wonder if they have the equivalence of RushBag there: “these liberal Ahmadinejad-hating students and their Marxist professors . . . they should respect the office of the Presidency. Instead they’re GODLESS TRAITORS who embolden our enemies” etc etc
You burn the President’s picture and call him a facist here, and the Right-wing is all over you.
Actually Capn, you can burn as many effigies of Bush and American flags as you wish, and the government wont send assassins after you. How is that an example of the “Right-Wing being all over you?”
Joe Williams sees a “leftist” behind every rock and tree.Joe, is there any history of mental illness in your family or is it just you?
Gosh Joe; XXX must have struck a nerve!
A good reference to the Islamic Revolution and its ties to liberals and leftist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
yes Ben! A deep nerve. You don’t make statements like that to people. Making a mockary of a mental illness.
Choose and debate on the political front, not on somebodies family’s medicial condition.
Isn’t wikipedia the resource that anyone can add to it? Why is this being cited as a true accurate reference?
XXX – don’t make a mockery of mental illness just because Joe Williams sees a leftie behind every tree. (and behind every troll)
Wiki is an OK source; just becareful with it. And yes, it is true that many liberals were happy to see the Fascist dictatorship in Iran overthrown; it is too bad the revolution was betrayed and became a religious type of fascism. I hope the true liberals prevail over the religious fundies in Tehran.
Uh Joe?
The Shah was a dictator! ANYONE against him would be considered to the “left” of him. That does not make them your catchall concept of “leftist”.
Really Joe you are SO simplistic and narrow in your analysis of ……..everything!
You’re almost as wild eyed about your politics as Fred Phelps is about his religion!
Suza! If it suits you for reference, you use it. But when it goes against your aurgument of your ideology, you discredit it.
It’s so typical and predictable. I knew your response was coming.
Actually Wikipedia is one of the most highly peer reviewed sources ever derived. It regulates its self to be a very accurate and credible source.
Unless it doesn’t suit your close-mind ideology.
People who see only black and white are rarely the ones that will solve any problems or govern.
Umm! JR! Fred Phelps is a registared Democrats.
He’s on your team.
You’re so simple to crush in debate. Next!
There is only black and white Suza!
Whoever said I was one of those lefties as you call them? I only think for myself and I question everything I read or hear. If that makes me a ‘leftie’ in your book – then so be it.
But the problem for you is, there are more voters becoming like me. They are questioning everything and not just believing everything they are told. Pretty scary, huh?
I feel sorry for you Joe – a black and white world is not real. You really do need to get out more and experience life.
Look! I have no problems with liberals, moderates and conservatives. Republicans or Democrats.
I do however believe that leftist socialist, communist, Nazis, Facist and Neocons are extreme varients of political groups that do awful damage to our society and economy. And I call them out! Because I believe they should be called out of the woodwork and revealed for what they are and what their agenda is. And it’s not good for the individual.
“You’re so simple to crush in debate. Next!”
C’mon, Joe! I won’t challenge your family on mental illness, since I am mentally ill myself, but let’s go with the left v. right.
Democrat does not equal leftist – see Joe Lieberman.
Republican does not equal right wing – see Olympia Snowe.
Phred Phellps is not one of us Lefties, since he is a gay hating fundamentalist.
Everyone knows that lefties love gays and their agenda.
So, crush me, Joe!
And you think the Bush Administration has not done damage to our country? Do you really believe that our country is based on a true democracy and not for the almighty dollar? Look around you, my boy, the global corporations are in control and they only want money at all costs.
And when Joe is calling them out he then lumps anyone who disagrees with him with them. By the way Joe, I was a registered epublican for a long time. That does not mean I wrote the GOP platform. ANYONE can register in a Party; even Pharisee Phred.
I”m sorry you feel that way. I haven’t called you personally nor do I see any problem whatsoever.
I believe you are making me out to be a boogy man, just because I called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a leftist. Then some of you are trying to defend that. Why?
I didn’t call him a liberal or a Democrat. He’s far from that. He would slit a liberals throat as much as he would slit a conservative Republican. He a danger for both you and me. Why defend him? Just because Democrats are considered left-wing, you guys associate leftist as one of you?
You guys are left-wing, because you believe in more government programs and more socalisim. Many of the radical side are staunch anti-capitalist. But you’re far from dangerous or considered a full fledge leftist. However there are people who are and there are people who post on this blog that are.
Actually, I am registered as an independent. I’m just hoping that whoever gets into the White House won’t do me too much damage. And I find it a total waste of time to think that either party is totally corruption-free. That just isn’t going to happen – we are talking about politicians after all. But when the GOP tries to paint the Democrats with a broad brush, then I usually can find just as many Republians who are doing the exact same thing they are accusing the Democrats of doing. I just hate hypocrisy – in anyone.
If you want to stifle free speech. If you want to nationalize all companies and industries. If you want to initiate collectisim. If you want to “politically correct” (a term coined by Lenin himself) the populas to curtail any opposition, then you are a leftist.
Did I call Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a Democrat? No!
Because he’s not!
And Yes! Bush has done some damage to our country. I don’t like him and never voted him.
I don’t believe in Family Dynasties because they are bad for our society. You are initiating a return to Monarchy and that removes any checks and balances we have on the executive, because one can get away with so much and be elected based on their family name.
And for those who will vote for Hillary Clinton. Remember this. If she gets elected, that will be at least 14 years that America will be under a family dynasty. It’s time to end it. No more!
That is why I like Barak Obama.
“But you’re far from dangerous or considered a full fledge leftist.”
Jesus was a Jewish rebel that wanted to make fundamental changes to the Jewish faith and to society in general. He as His disciples and most early Christians were socialist, i.e., they shared all their worldly posessions for the benefit of all within the group. The pre – 1492 Native Americans were also primarily socialistic.
By that definition, I am a socialist, because I believe that as a society, we should take care of our own. The rich earn their living with the consent of the poor.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is no more a danger to America than was Saddam.
This is America – 230 years of a spirit that cannot be defeated. It will never happen.
Saddam, Hitler, Hirohito, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Nixon, bin Laden, Jefferson Davis – it doesn’t matter, the American spirit will always win.
I disagree with you WSClark. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saddam were and are a danger to America.
I believe in the individual and competition. The free market as you were. It’s a natural instinct as it is in all animals. It’s brutal, but it’s our world.
I don’t think socalism works very well, because it breeds discontent and laziness. For every time a country tries extreme forms of socalism it fails miserablly or become very mediocre. It drastically lowers the standard of living and it prelongs ressession and depressions.
I’m not saying don’t help your fellow man. But the collective ownership of the whole is not good policy. Ownership, self determination and individualism is the human spirit.
Plus! I’m an athiest, so religion doesn’t work for me.
Joe there you go waving Fred Phelps again.
Hey genius? What in the wide world of sports would Phelps get out of being a Democrat? Have you ever stopped to think that he uses his stained name to HURT the Democrat party?
Joe what in the world did your Dad tell you that set you on this very narrow path?
Joe, I don’t consider two married people who have an obvious passion and knack for politics as a dynasty. Bush having many sons in politics, IS. You know who I’d like to see jump into politics? Ron Reagan Jr.
Joe your above posted definition of “leftist” does not match any poster or even any person I have ever encountered.
“I disagree with you WSClark. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Saddam were and are a danger to America.”
How are these two morons a danger to the USA?
Saddam couldn’t even control all of his own country. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can’t even afford to replace his windbreaker with a sport coat from Goodwill.
Two morons……
DING DING DING!
The “Joe Williams is an idiot who talks out of his ass” bell ringeth!
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a ‘leftist’–only in Joe Williams word salad land.
By your definition, Joe Williams, Adolf Hitler was three quarters of the way to being a ‘leftist.’
How does your ‘definition’ square Ahmadinejad’s committment to fundamentalist Islam with the secularism of the left?
As a leftist, take it from me, Joe Williams: anybody who wants to displace republican government with control of the Ayatollah and conservative clerics is no leftist.
DING DING DING!
“C’mon, Joe! I won’t challenge your family on mental illness, since I am mentally ill myself, but let’s go with the left v. right.”
Thanks you, WS.
I was about to go off BIG TIME on some folks on “my side.”
You kept that from happening.
Good thing.
P.S. In case anyone is scratching their heads–yes, I have mental illness in my family (what, you too?).
I think Joe is “nuts” because the shit he says is “nuts”–and should be judged on that basis.
Below the belt, folks.
Would agree with Rage on the last post.
Following Joe’s use of his approximation of the English language has always been one of my guilty pleasures.
“If you want to initiate collectisim [sic]“. If my credit card company does this, does that mean they are “leftists”?
“…it prelongs [sic] ressession [sic] and depressions.” Does socialism shorten repeat meetings? Isn’t it difficult to not favor that?
Seriously, I knew exactly what you meant and I am not free of interesting neologisms myself – and neither is our great president GW Bush. I am surprised to hear that you didn’t vote for Bush, Joe.
You go, Joe! I been followerin yer true, blue American . . . I’m talkin “AMERICAN” . . . writin’s fer along time now, and I’m thinkin’ we need more folk just like you around here. With them stinkin’ liberal Ragin-XXXen-JRen type heathen America-hatin’ scum, we need all the true, blue Americans we can git aholt of.
“Hey, baby, you seen that million-dollar bill I got rolled up fer some serious snortin’? I got to call rush and get me some more of that stuff. He can give me that great advice he always does while we’re at it.”
PS: Tell Cheney I got me another lawyer for him.
“JRen”?
Cool I’ve become a verb!
Knowing him as I do, I am quite sure the poster who brought mental health into question did not mean any cruelty by it.
But damn Joe! It’s not like there aren’t a whole buncha people ringing the Joe bell.
I’ve a sporting challenge for you Joe. I want you to go for at least 10 posts without using the words “leftist” or “liberal”. You may find that it will make you a more creative and thoughtful poster.
J R,
CF wants in on this challenge!
Joe Williams,
If you expunge ‘leftist’ from your vocabulary, CF will expunge ‘fascist’ from his.
Almost everything that our so-called newsmedia reports about Iran is a lie. Ask yourselves why?
Viva La Raza Blanco!!