Nate Silver chimes in on the Iranian elections, sort of.

[homasse]

Statistical Report Purporting to Show Rigged Iranian Election Is FlawedLike most Americans, there are few things I would like to see more than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's hateful President, to be voted out of office. Elections in thuggish, authoritarian states like Iran need be treated with the utmost skepticism and scrutiny. I can't say I have any

Comments

[cindel]

Is anyone watching this press conf on cnn?

[screamingintune]

YES. What the fuck at him answering Christiane Amanpour's question about reformers arrested with that "traffic violations coming out of a soccer game" bullshit. Wow, he seriously has NO SHAME.

[cindel]

I KNOW!! They're "being fined for violating traffic rules". Give me a fucking break.

[leprofessional]

He is the Iranian Sarah Palin.

No fucking shame. Seriously... they both talk as if they know what they're talking about... hell he even sounds like her in Persian. Except he presumably has balls.

[hu_ku]

Anyone else feel like a perfect storm is brewing? Iran with it's election 'results', NK finding many different types of excuses to justify nukes, Bin Laden making an appearance again, the world being distracted by the economic crisis...

It feels like the chips are all coming down at the same time.

[leprofessional]

In the long term... nah... no one's invaded Poland yet. It's not over until the fat Polish lady sings.

[hu_ku]

Well as long as its not any of that 2012!!! END OF THE WORLD!!! nonsense.

~omg~

[leprofessional]

I'm excited about end of the world bb!!! I am adjusting all of my life around that particular date... buying myself a yacht and the mortgage payment starts at the end of 2012. Suckers.

[screamingintune]

Re: press conference. I didn't get to watch the whole thing, since I'm at work and I totally have shit to do so I have had to run back and forth to the TV, but was Christiane Amanpour the only one to challenge one of his answers? He seemed kinda pissy when she did. I totally love her, she's basically the only person on CNN worth a damn. Her documentaries are amazing.

[cindel]

I think she was. Most of them were kissing his ass and making speeches.

[screamingintune]

oh god, ikr. Like that one old guy who was all ~*LET ME READ SOME POETRY FOR YOU BB MAHMOUD*~

[leprofessional]

He is giving a speech in Vali Asr square (http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/tv/2009/01/000000_ptv_live_s.shtml)

He just said the liberal democracies do not represent people, and they destroy human values and moral values.

It's mother's day in Iran.

Motherfucker. I want to punch him in the face.

OH NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T

[leprofessional]

He just said: they pander to the votes of the dirtiest segments of society for values. The thieves, the gays, and other filthy people.

I WANT TO FUCKING PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE.

Re: OH NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T

[screamingintune]

.....wow.

Re: OH NO YOU FUCKING DIDN'T

[leprofessional]

He just said:
Some people believe in freedom (...) to the point where their victory is assured (...) western countries (...) believe if they didn't win that the results are wrong.

He proceeds to tell a stupid persian fable.

[screamingintune]

Joey the Shark has chimed in on the situation:

Biden says the U.S. and other countries need more time to analyze the results before making a better judgment about the vote. He says the administration's interests are the same as they were before the vote -- ending Iran's attempts to develop a nuclear weapon and its support for terrorism.

The vice president says he's disturbed by the way the Iranian government seems to be suppressing speech and cracking down on crowds protesting Ahmadinejad's re-election.

Biden says there are lots of questions about the election, but that the U.S. doesn't have enough facts to make a fair judgment. He wonders whether the outcome is an accurate response of the Iranian people.

[leprofessional]

Good. They need to stfu for now.

[screamingintune]

Yeah, they seem to be handling the response pretty well for now.

I'm trying to imagine what the response would have been if it had been Bush as president still, or McCain, and I really doubt it would be such cautious, quiet statements.

[mindrtist]

I know, we just cannot get involved. If ever there was a time to say we're not the world's policemen, this is it. If it turns into a nuke situation, all bets are off, but we've got to stay out of this.

it does make me wonder if this is affecting Iraq or Afghanistan at all. I'm guessing no.

I wish Lee & Ling were still front page news.