I'll be the first to call Ahmedinejad a wackjob...

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

...but re: his apochryphal "Israel must be wiped off the map" quote... isn't that exactly why the religious right SUPPORTS Israel? So during the rapture Jesus can make all their heads blow up and Pat Robertson can finally turn it into his theme park, aka the Happiest Kool-Aid Stand on Earth? I don't wanna debate Israeli policies in relation to the region, but I thought that was an interesting hypocrisy (Wow, Republicans Have Never, Ever Done That, What With the Hypocrisy and All.)

[Kutjara]

1. I'm not sure Ahmedinejad is a whackjob.

He's just a political operator, astute in the ways of whipping up his base. Making inflammatory statements against the US and Israel is a sure-fire way to rally popular support in many places, and makes Ahmedinejad appear to be strong, decisive, and, most importantly, not a puppet of "The West."

During those times when America is led by sane and rational people, grandstanders like Ahmedinejad are rightly regarded as little more than annoyances whose time in the Sun will be brief. Unfortunately, there's nobody sane within fifty miles of Pennsylvania Avenue these days. We have our own band of raving mouth-frothers, intent on magnifying everything out of all proportion. No one's in charge of the asylum and the patients have managed to get ahold of the keys.

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

2. I view him as

the Middle-Eastern counterpart to a lot of the worst aspects of the Republican party, i.e. cheerful bigotry, theocratic sensibilities and just a general attitude of "Fuck the masses, I can't please everyone."

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

3. I view him as

the Middle-Eastern counterpart to a lot of the worst aspects of the Republican party, i.e. cheerful bigotry, theocratic sensibilities and just a general attitude of "Fuck the masses, I can't please everyone."

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

4. I view him as

the Middle-Eastern counterpart to a lot of the worst aspects of the Republican party, i.e. cheerful bigotry, theocratic sensibilities and just a general attitude of "Fuck the masses, I can't please everyone."