Sdgrrl: Objectively speaking, don’t you see the trap here as far as partisanship goes?
While I would certainly be the first to castigate the Republicans for some really stupid actions and actors, I would also turn right around and do the same with the Democrats. Congress is enjoying horrible approval ratings and for very good reason: They’re doing an awful job.
What’s been created by very smart operators like Carville and Rove and Begala is a balkanized, polarized America. We’re riven by pointless wedge issues (gay marriage? Really?) and deflected from the issues of real substance (Education, Energy, Infrastructure, Economy… shall I go on?) that no politician, Dem or Repub, in his/her right mind wants to touch. We are sitting here fiddling while Rome burns and blaming “the other side” for all of the ills.
As far as an Iranian superpower goes: I’m no expert on the Middle East, but I think Iran is already done. The clerics and hardliners have discredited themselves as nothing more than a power-hungry group of radicals and they’ve shown a willingness to do anything to maintain that power, including rigging elections and siccing their brownshirts and Gestapo on those Iranians who were demanding nothing more than fairness and a right of franchise.
This is an educated, literate, pro-American/pro-Western populace, and one that’s fairly youthful. Watch out.
