Letters to the Editor
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McCain says...
"...but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know."
Is that how we determine who has power? Based on a survey of the American people, who only know the misinformation that people like McCain willfully feed them? How about basing it on reality?
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McCain't so sure about that
"...but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they'd know. Or anyone who's well-versed in the issue."
Interesting bit of panderspeak from McCain, there, spot-welding the idea of foreign policy expertise with folksy-folks everyday 'Murican opinion on Iran. I wonder if any average American could find Iran on a map, let alone know who the leader of that country is. But it plays nicely with McCain's grandfatherly campaign style, that folksy experience thing -- like horse sense crossed with high-level security clearance.
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Can't find Iran on a map?
Well, we know why! Ask Miss South Carolina Teen USA:
"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because, uh, some, people out there in our nation don't have maps and, uh, I believe that our, uh, education like such as, uh, South Africa and, uh, the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and, I believe that they should, our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S., uh, or, uh, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries, so we will be able to build up our future, for our children"
Unfortunately THAT is your average American, John. I forgive them. Public education has been bled to death by Republicans who know if you keep an entire population stupid, you can get them to believe anything.
I can't forgive those seeking the highest office in the world.
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It just means that McCain is as good at spin as Koppelman is
Calling McCain ignorant on the subject really doesn't do anyone any good here. What McCain is doing is stubbornly sticking to a theme for political advantage. McCain surely knows that there is a theocratic heirarchy in Iran as well as a political one. His insistance that the elected leader of Iran holds the real power does not stem from ignorance (as I am sure Koppelman is aware), but rather from an attempt to make Obama look naive or nutty. The media focused heavily on Ahmadinejad recently, so his name and views are in the minds of the American public. McCain knows he can use that more than he can use the vaguer notion of a less notworthy (at least to the American media) leader in Iran.
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"in his words"
MCCAIN: Oh I thin -- Again, I respectfully disagree. When he's the person that comes to the United Nations and declares his country's policy is the extermination of the state of Israel, quote, in his words, wipe them off of the map ...
Of course, those aren't Ahmadinejad's words. Those are the Bush Administration's loose translation of Ahmadinejad quoting Khomeini. And according to at least some experts in the language, it's a very loose translation.
Not that either Ahmadinejad or Khomeini are very nice people, or would miss Israel if it "vanish[ed] from the page of time" (a rather different translation). But either McCain is badly informed on the situation, or he doesn't care that he's perpetuating an conveniently inaccurate misunderstanding of the situation.
Either way, he's not presidential material.
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A spectacle for the ages
You boil down Obamas and McCains rhetoric and you get,
old and stupid vs young and stupid.
With the media and electorate taking turns cheering and booing from the sidelines.
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"Wiping Israel off the Map": Context is Everything
If I recall correctly, this statement -- or any better translation of it -- came in the context of Dick Cheney openly advocating that Israel launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities (clearly as a proxy for the US doing so). Iran's governmental response was, not surprisingly, if Israel did such a thing, Iran would "wipe them off the map."
Would any US government official -- including the current contenders for president, let alone the Bush admin -- say anything substantially different if America's nuclear capability was openly being targeted by the second in command of a foreign country?
Funny, though, how the US provokes a belligerent response from our Global Enemy #1, and then the context for it is completely lost, turning predictable posturing into "policy toward Israel."
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The right's misuse of "Dictator"
"I know that he is speaking for the Iranian government and articulating their policy and he was elected and is running for reelection as the leader of that country."
A dictator is generally considered a person who holds power by means of control over the population (be it militarily, dynastic or autocratic means.) One who can, and quite probably will, be voted out of office at the next election doesn't really qualify. Similarly, how quickly do people forget that Hugo Chavez forced a vote on changing Venezuela's constitution to allow for additional terms for a sitting president. He lost, overwhelmingly, and promised to step down at the end of this, his second, term. Now if Ahmedinejad or Chavez, seizes power, cancels elections or serves beyond their terms by other means, then MAYBE they would qualify as a dictator.
The righties should know that the only proper use of dictator is an individual to give money to supress by means of fear and murder all left-wing elements be they commies, unionists, Catholic Priests...
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With all due respect
If Zakaria imagines that every Iranian government is just like any other and it never changes thereby invalidating someone's claim that "X" is good to talk to while "B" is bad to talk to, then it's Zakaria who being an infantile dolt.
Otherwise there would be no reason for THEM to talk to us, ever. I mean after all Bush and Obama are both Americans. They must be the same, right?
Yeah I figured. Its amazing you people don't drown in the sink shaving every morning. You're that stupid.
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They're trying to make him into the new Saddam
They got rid of the old Saddam, so they need a new one to start their next war.
The only problem is, Ahmadinnerjacket is not Saddam. His craziness is not Saddam's, his aspirations are not Saddam's, his religion is not Saddam's, his politics are not Saddam's, and his control over his country doesn't even approach that of Saddam.
McCain is so stale and lacking in imagination, he's like Nikoloai Ceaucescu's parents, who had eleven sons and could only think up six names, so five of their sons had to share names with their older brothers.