World

Jewish Lesbians for Theocratic Midgets

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Via a DailyKos-reading reader comes this "diary" from one sallykohn, a self-identified Jewish lesbian with a "crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," a man, she acknowledges, that might very well have her killed were she Iranian, but who nevertheless "speaks some blunt truths about the Bush Administration that make me swoon… "

It's hard to choose which bits to excerpt, but here are some favorites:

I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor - locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can't help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding.

Ahmadinejad, it would appear, cares more about American troops than President Bush.

Again, Ahmadinejad, who has flagrantly trounced due process and the rule of law in his own nation is still way ahead of Bush on this point, too.

He then goes on to say that even if six million Jews perished in World War II (a point he concedes in this letter), that doesn't give Israel the right to displace and terrorize Palestinians. He doesn't call for violence against Israelis. He calls for ending violence against Palestinians.

He takes up the charge of other communities struggling for freedom and justice:

It striking when a leader with an abysmal human rights record is the one championing the rights of the poor and oppressed to the president of the United States who proclaims to be the world's savior. Dangerous, indeed --- certainly to the status quo he critiques.

Monday, when Ahmadinejad speaks at Columbia University in New York, I'll be listening. Maybe with a bottle of wine and some soft music playing in the background. If I can get past the fact that, as a Jewish lesbian, he'd probably have me killed, I'll try to listen for some truth.

Ms. Kohn's previous diary entries at Kos would suggest that this is, alas, not a joke.

Elsewhere in the lefty blogosphere, Glenn Greenwald and Ezra Klein are outraged by 60 Minutes' aggressive questioning of the Iranian president. "Ahmadinejad," Greenwald quips, "obviously does not watch much American news because he seemed genuinely surprised that someone he thought was a reporter was doing nothing other than reciting the script of the government." Klein complains that Scott Pelley "popped off aggressive statements as if he were a White House press release with a cardiovascular system."

Decide for yourself here.