Thursday, April 13, 2006

The Pot And The Kettle

It seems our President had some harsh criticism today of Iranian President Mahmoud Achmadinejad.

From Dr. Atta J. Turk:


Reaching a diplomatic solution over Iran's nuclear ambitions will be difficult because Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is "not a rational human being," a senior White House adviser said on Wednesday.

[...]


"It's going to be difficult. It's going to be tough because they are led by ideologues who have a weird sense of history," he said.

[...]


"This guy (Ahmadinejad) had the sense that he was mystically empowered and as a result transfixed the audience -- that is not a rational human being to deal with," he said.

"Idealogues with a weird sense of history" eh? Unlike our President who has said:


I think we agree, the past is over.
-George W. Bush, On his meeting with John McCain, Dallas Morning News, May 10, 2000
and


We've seen freedom conquer evil and secure the peace before. In World War II, free nations came together to fight the ideology of fascism, and freedom prevailed. And today, Germany and Japan are democracies -- and they are allies in securing the peace.

Considering Stalinist Russia was a key ally, as well as considering that most of today's dictatorships had their beginning in the post-WWII era, Bush's sense of history is just a little bit too rose-tinted. Bush has also remarked numerous times that he cares little for how history views him, as he will be dead by then. These seem to be some odd ways to view history, given an American President's ability to make such.

The real howler, though, is his criticism that Ahmadenijad believes he's mystically empowered to be President of Iran, and may be a little irrational because of that belief. Oh, really?

"I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it."
--George W. Bush commenting to Texas evangelist James Robinson in the run-up to his presidential campaign


And there's this lovely bit of surrealism:


"God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam [Hussein], which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you help me I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."
--Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abu Mazen quoting Bush when they met in Aqaba; reported in The Haaretz Reporter by Arnon Regular

If only there was some sort of verse or something in the holy book of Bush's professed religion that warned against accusing others of your own failings. Something about a beam and a mote perhaps...

(For the record, I don't necessarily think ALL religious people are nuts. However, believing God wants you to invade nations or be President is a little quirky, to say the least. And if he said "The great feathered serpent-god Quetzelcoatl wants me to be President," we'd lock his deranged ass up!)

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