I'm very serious. This is a perfect example of how the media finds a story critical of Bush, then buries it.
Oh, there was a single AP story a few weeks ago. How Bush had mouthed off and helped advance the campaign of the Irani nutjob who's now their new leader. But now that the nutjob actually got the job, and now that it's looking like he may have been one of the leaders of the US Embassy takeover in Tehran 30 years ago, suddenly the media is silent about how Bush helped this nutjob become the leader of Iran in the first place.
I take you back to the Associated Press of June 19, only 11 days ago, to an article entitled "Bush Remarks May Have Spurred Iran Voters":
Iran's spy chief used just two words to respond to White House ridicule of last week's presidential election: "Thank you." His sarcasm was barely hidden. The backfire on Washington was more evident.
The sharp barbs from President Bush were widely seen in Iran as damaging to pro-reform groups because the comments appeared to have boosted turnout among hard-liners in Friday's election Â? with the result being that an ultraconservative now is in a two-way showdown for the presidency.
"I say to Bush: `Thank you,'" quipped Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi. "He motivated people to vote in retaliation."
Bush's comments Â? blasting the ruling clerics for blocking "basic requirements of democracy" Â? became a lively sideshow in Iran's closest election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. And they highlighted again the United States' often crossed-wire efforts to isolate Iran....
But the harder the United States pushes, even with the best of intentions, the more ground it has seems to lose among mainstream Iranians, who represent possible key allies against the Islamic establishment, say some analysts of Iranian politics.
"Unknowingly, (Bush) pushed Iranians to vote so that they can prove their loyalty to the regime Â? even if they are in disagreement with it," said Hamed al-Abdullah, a political science professor at Kuwait University.
In 2002, most Iranians were indignant when Bush placed their nation in an "axis of evil" with North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Since then, U.S.-led pressure over Iran's nuclear program has put even liberal Iranians on the defensive.
Bush's pre-election denunciations seemed to do the same. Iranian authorities claim Bush energized undecided voters to go to the polls and undercut a boycott drive led by liberal dissidents opposed to the Islamic system.
The unexpectedly strong turnout Â? nearly 63 percent Â? produced a true surprise in the No. 2 finish of hard-line Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, He will face the top finisher, moderate statesman Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, in a Friday runoff....
The president's words sounded too much like the pre-war rhetoric against Saddam, and many on-the-fence voters were shocked into action, said Abdollah Momeni, a political affairs expert at Tehran University.
"People faced a dilemma," Momeni said. "In people's minds it became a choice between voting or giving Bush an excuse to attack."
Another political commentator, Davoud Hermidas Bavand, believed the fallout from Bush's statements went beyond the election by destroying lingering hopes that Washington policy-makers finally would accept Iran's regime....
At a news conference Sunday, Iran's foreign minister, Kamel Kharrazi, said Bush "should apologize to the people of Iran for his comments." He also extended another wry "thank you." "Bush's statements brought out voters who didn't want to participate in the elections," Kharrazi said. "We have to thank him for this."....
The Bush comments are an example of "the kind of American intervention" that often boomerangs in the region, said Egyptian political analyst Salama Ahmed Salama.
"Bush meant to discourage the hard-liners," he said, "but instead he mobilized their supporters."
Funny. I 've seen this fact mentioned NOWHERE in all the news reports about how the hardliner has now won, and how he may now be one of the student leaders who kidnapped our embassy officials decades ago. Ask the White House about THAT, boys.
