Karl Rove Decries Iran Elections

Karl Rove weighed in yesterday to criticize the announced re-election for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad as a "sham". "Here we have a world leader who portrays himself as just a 'regular guy' while pandering to the worst nationalistic and militaristic elements in his country," noted the former political strategist for George W. Bush. "His party criticizes the opposition as unpatriotic while appealing to the most extreme religious conservative elements, and urging rural voters to be suspicious of the educated, urban electorate. When questions are raised about the fairness of the election, rather than supporting a full and complete recount of all the votes, he proposes that a council of judges, many handpicked by the very same party, can decide the election. Why, this is the biggest mockery of democracy since ... whoops, never mind. "

In a further sign that there may have been major irregularities in the Iranian election, BBC reported that in Tehran, a hotbed of support for the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi, a confusing ballot apparently led 15% of voters to cast their ballot for Ralph Nader.