My sister watched it tonight, and said it was a bit nuts. She says the interviewer was appropriately tough, and Ahmadinejad was flustered to the point that at the end he asked "are you from the CIA? I'm the President of Iran!" etc. The interviewer was also troubled by his smiling even at extremely serious questions, questioning how he could sit there smiling when he was being asked about these subjects; the interviewer also pressed him on whether Iran was making nukes, noting that it was a very straightforward question and Ahmadinejad was avoiding giving a straight answer.
My sister also noted that while she knew that he was twisted and crazy, it's quite another level to watch him in an interview. (Twisted and crazy in that he is clearly smart and knows exactly what he's saying... and what he's saying is nuts.)
Isn't inappropriate smiling and laughing a sign of mental illness?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that he wasn't coddled.
Anyone know if the interview can be found online yet?
ReplyDeleteRabbi Ben:
ReplyDeletehere.
Ezzie,
Look at this, he pulled something similar with Mike Wallace last year.
soccer dad:
ReplyDeleteThanks!
The best description of him I've heard: he's a Bond villain. Smart, suave, well-dressed, crazy, and completely evil.
ReplyDeleteI think most Iranians realize he's crazy, but... he's their crazy s.o.b.
ReplyDeleteIf you're an Iranian - a Persian, proud of your country's long and illustrious history, wondering how you went from being the center of the world to a 3rd world country - then Ahmadinejad has done one thing you are secretly happy about: He has made Iran matter again.
We have to change the calculus... make it so that when Iranians think about whether to keep Ahmadinejad in power, they aren't choosing between Iran mattering or being irrelevant, but rather between Iran continuing on a path towards prosperous co-existence with the other nations, or utter economic ruin (or worse).
What a nut that guy is. I saw a bit of the interview repeated on CSPAN again tonight...you just want to reach into that TV and slap that smile right off his face!
ReplyDelete