Brilliant Gem
NYT UPDATE: Revolutionary Guards warn protestors of “revolutionary confrontation” if they take to the streets again. Odd choice of words. Be careful what you warn against, RG. … From the mouths of corrupt, violent oppressors.
NYT: Mullahs allow there may have been excessive electoral exuberance to the tune of 3 million votes, thanks to +100 percent turnout in 50 cities. It’s OK, it’s all legal. Iranians may not get to vote for whoever they want to, but actually have more democracy than we do. They get to vote all they want:
Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the spokesman for the 12-member Guardian Council denied claims by another losing candidate, Mohsen Rezai, that irregularities had occurred in up to 170 voting districts.
“Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100 percent of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80 to 170 cities are not accurate — the incident has happened in only 50 cities,” Mr. Kadkhodaei said.
But he said that a voter turnout in excess of the registered voting list was a “normal phenomenon” because people could legally vote in areas other than those in which they were registered. Nonetheless, some analysts in Tehran said, the number of people said to be traveling on election day seemed unusually high.
Meanwhile, a top mullah flack calls the election’s 85 percent, 40 million voter turnout a “brilliant gem which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation.”*
It’s a brilliant gem all right. The good news is, mullahs say, it doesn’t throw Ahmadinejad’s win into question, because his margin is 11 million votes. Hate to quibble, help me out if you’re good with statistics: If you have 7.5 percent double-dipping that you have to acknowledge due to that awkward +100 percent turnout in some locales, doesn’t that suggest you might have more excess voting that is slightly less glaringly obvious everywhere else? I dunno, but I’d suggest the opposition may want to check the rolls to see how many blessed martyrs voted. Also, whether ”Nahoul the Bee,” ”Farfour the Mouse“ or “Assud the Hamas Bunny” are registered anywhere. It’s starting to sound a little like AHCORN may have had a hand in this.
NYT looks at the battle of Islamic wits in this thing, notes Mousavi’s side demands Islamic justice, while Khamenei basically is saying he is Islam.
Faoud Ajami at WSJ calls BS on Obama’s change-hoping foreign policy. Turns out being charming is no substitute, overtures to the Iranians weren’t his idea and have been blown off before, and the mullahs don’t just want to get along. Who knew? Oh yeah, and that speech in Cairo where Obama saw George Bush’s ”not at war with Islam” and raised him a suckup: “The earth did not move.” Ouch. Ajami calls up the ghost of Carter past and suggests “President Obama’s Persian tutorial has just begun.”
Powerline with a historial tutorial: OK, one more time, this is evil, this is good …
Threatswatch: opposition gets down to brass tacks, signals an end to Supreme Leaderism. It is a revolutionary idea for the Islamic revolution. The fish does rot at the head, it’s true, but that fish is rotten through and through.
Gateway interviews a top Iranian activist who doesn’t appreciate the O tone. Ahmad Batebi:
“His (Obama) lack of response will not be regarded lightly. We will watch for how much his response will help the people or the regime. We will know more this week… Obama can hold talks with the regime in Iran if he wants. Is it morally correct for Obama to support the regime? Does he actually believe the people of Iran will appreciate that? The social movement requires support. If the world really wants the advent of terrorism to disappear in the Middle East, if they want peace with the Palestinians and Israel, if they want nuclear techhology to be developed for peaceful things and not nuclear weapons… They only need to support the people of Iran right now. This regime has the most dangerous of ideologies. They’re killing the opposition.”
Memeorandum’s got your news and commentary roundup, oddly a little light on Iran this morning so far.
Running news updates at HotAir, where Iranian official murder victim Neda is ID’d.
Surber sees the Obama-Iran link … it’s Chicago-style deep-dish voting! (Surber also notes ACORN has renamed itself, and quotes a member acknowledged that all the reporting on ACORN’s activities forced a quick name change. It’s a novel application of a standard ACORN electoral tactic. They’re ”Community Organizers International” now. Watch out, world. COItus, coming your way!)
Jammie-Wearing Fool smells an ACORN rat in it, too.
Ice cream and bullets, compare and contrast, via Malkin.
Reynolds, who is also making unkind ACORN comparisons this morning, channels some vid and some deep thot re the revolution/technology nexus.
* “Brilliant gem which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation” … damn, there may be something to that Axis of Evil thing after all. Never mind the missile and nuke technology swaps. Looks like Kim is supplying the mullahs with some of his most closely guarded rhetorical secrets. Note to CIA, IAEA: watch for Iranian references to “infidel aggressors,” “grateful shaheeds’ sincere expression of Islamic joyfulness” and “The Shiite Idea,” that kind of thing.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:31 am on Monday, June 22, 2009
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June 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Is anyone else sensing a spiritual connection between Barack Obama and Marie Antoinette?
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
[...] Jules Crittenden has a roundup. [...]