June 13, 2009
Define Conservative...
From Reuters:
The state election commission said early Saturday that Ahmadinejad, a hardline conservative, was ahead with 66 percent of the votes in Friday's election after 21 million ballots were counted.
Iran
Posted by Harrison Bergeron at June 13, 2009 3:04 PM
Opposes Gay Marriage -- check!
Tough on Immigration -- check!
Supports prayer in schools -- check!
Seems fair to me...
Opposes Gay Marriage -- check!
Tough on Immigration -- check!
Supports prayer in schools -- check!
Seems fair to me...
Posted by: jk at June 13, 2009 5:22 PMThe real story here is Iran's popular revolt against the fundamentalist regime that is being quelched by election fraud. Just as in Zimbabwe, the imprimatur of democracy covers the tyranny of thugocracy.
With the growing influence of ACORN and Chicago style politics in major American cities one wonders if this might be a preview of the 2012 Presidential election, but that is pure pessimistic speculation. What we're seeing in Iran right now is blatant fraud. And yet nations like Iran, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Venezuela are permitted membership at the UN. What a farce.
Posted by: johngalt at June 14, 2009 6:11 PMWell, I'd put it more like:
Supports death penalty for homosexuality: check!
Tough on immigrants, tougher on emigrants: check!
Supports forced prayer in schools: check!
Posted by: Perry Eidelbus at June 15, 2009 2:15 AMjk should be awarded bonus points for his sublime use of irony! I duly applaud your wit.
But Harrison's post catches the essence of an importance of a principle: he who frames the argument has already stacked the deck in favor of winning it. It's happened before - as the Soviet Union was crumbling, it was the American media that labeled the leaders trying to keep the USSR under party rule as "conservatives" and the reformers trying to dissolve the USSR as "democrats." It was also the American media that popularized - very deliberately, I am convinced - the use of "red," the color of blood and anger, for Republicans, and the peaceful, unthreatening "blue" for Democrats.
Seems to be it wasn't that long ago we had a similar chat about the relative validity of labels carelessly bandied about...
Posted by: Keith at June 15, 2009 11:53 AMHa. "Hardline Conservative"-- in my dreams. As someone smarter than myself put it:
"Iranian politics thus do not fit the mold of left versus right as in the West, or even really reformist versus conservative. There is the establishment, and then there is the slightly less establishment.
What Ahmadinejad is is a populist anti-establishmentarian--he is taking on the old guard of the Revolution. He has replaced senior officials in all branches of the Executive with his own guys--the people he replaced mostly got their jobs due to political connections with the Old Guard. One of his most radical moves was to completely replace the senior diplomatic staff of the government. His constant refrain is to argue against the "corruption" of the old Guard... He's a caudillo wanna-be, greatly limited by the Constitution's emphasis on the LOTR and various institutions designed to guarantee the Islamic nature of the government.
Mousavi is the old guard, a previous prime minister, tied in with the Revolutionary Guard, the bonyad system†, and backed by Rafsanjani--he is the establishment choice, which is why he might be the first presidential candidate to unseat the incumbent in the history of Iranian presidential elections."
Posted by: T. Greer at June 16, 2009 1:16 AM"... greatly limited by the Constitution's emphasis on the LOTR and various institutions..."
The Iranian Constitution places emphasis on Lord of the Rings? Then Khomeini was Morgoth, Khamenei is Sauron, and the country is modeled after Mordor? Ahmadinejad is about the right height to be Gollum, and about as good-natured. Well, then, our problems are solved! All we need to do is drop the One Ring into the nuclear reactor at the Fires of Orodruin, and...
Oh, "Leader of the Revolution." Guardian Council and all that. Sorry.
Posted by: Keith at June 16, 2009 11:48 AMYep, I had that same problem two weeks ago when the Iranian election became a hot topic.
Posted by: T. Greer at June 16, 2009 12:05 PM | What do you think? [7]