Power and Khamenei--things I think about.

How was this guy picked by Ayatollah Khomeini? Because he was, after all. He's kind of an Ayatollah by decision, really. I know I said I don't know much about Iranian politics, but I study and stuff. And this recent episode with all the protesting and cracking down and the transparent fake election and all makes me wonder--

Is he just--completely barking stupid? Completely out of touch?

I only ask because it seems like there were absolutely things he could have done to not look like an actual dictator and maybe kind of keep some nominal support.

Thing one--not call the election early and say it was a divine judgement.

You know, the ballots were hand-cast, and the turn-out was high. One of the contenders got very popular just before the election (Mousavi) and the polls that were calling it for Ahmaninejad were early. So, maybe if the election was going to be fake--at least it could have been plausably fake? Wait a couple days before calling it? Call it closer? Maybe 50% Ahmadi, 40% Mousavi, then ten % other? Really--keep it real. And don't have the districts all be consistent ratios--not plausible. Duh. Even in the hometowns of the candidates? If he was going to have the election fixed, he could at least not insult everyone's intelligence.

And the bringing God into it--whev. Seriously--nice way to lose moral authority. Lie out loud, and bring God into it to make God a liar, too. I'm sure the faithful were happy to hear that. Especially once he had to backpedal.

Thing two-- Be a b.s. negotiator. Fine--they called Khamenei out and said the vote was stolen--so he offers a partial "random" recount and thinks everyone should just be happy with that. The problem is--the whole count was b.s. in the first place. So a full recount was where he should have started. And left his options open--without going for--

Thing three--the crackdown. He's an old dude, maybe he hasn't heard of the Google, the Youtube, or the Twitter. Which is a serious deficit since he's presiding over a young country (where so many of his people are only in their 20's and 30's). He can shut down part of the reporting--cell phones might be down or journos might get ordered out or arrested--but he can't actually crack down on the whole world. And we want to know what's going on--so we will find out. And how nice of him to provide such grisly images for us to know where he stands. How thoughtful of him to show his dedication to the people of Iran by pretty much ordering them to be killed in the street for protesting,

and Thing Four--invoking the Revolution when he's pretty much screwed it up. Yeah, he calls himself the Leader or even identifies with the Father of the Revolution--but here's the problem--

If the Islamic revolution was about the faith and democracy--how can he stand for it when he's betrayed both?

He hasn't the moral authority as a ruling cleric because he's been caught out as a liar, and he's reinforced the hypocrisy by killing for the lie. And he's obviously betrayed democracy, because he's proven he doesn't care what the people want. If he had his way, it isn't the people who would dissolve an unjust government when it's faulty--it would be the government that dissolves the people when they get too uppity. That isn't what democracy should mean.

In pretty much all respects, he's made the wrong decision--to crack heads instead of cracking open a solution. To make things worse.

Have people really been dying because this one self-satisfied religiously-hypocritical lying bag of nonsense just decided he "liked" how much control he had with Ahmadinejad as his man? And it was worth perverting what the government allegedly stood for, the people's faith, and their very well-being to hold on to it?

I don't think he has any business being leader of anything at this point.