From Bloomberg, a less vitriolic but equally stupid version of Sullivan's increasingly deranged insistence that "neocons" are the only ones pressuring "Obama to say what the regime now falsely accuses him of saying." Which begs the question that I asked on Twitter: which of the 256 House Democrats do you think he means?

Republicans are demanding that Obama condemn more forcefully the Iranian government's crackdown on opposition protesters even as the administration and independent analysts warn that doing so risks making the U.S. a foil for Iran's rulers. "If we appear to be cheerleading for some sort of opposition movement on the streets, it intensifies the opposition of the hardliners," said Suzanne Maloney, an Iran analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The House and Senate voted overwhelmingly yesterday for a resolution condemning violence directed at supporters of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.

While it's true that the House vote was "overwhelming," a more pointed and accurate description would have been that it was "nearly unanimous, with every Democrat voting in favor and only neo-isolationist crank voting no." Although that would've gotten in the way of the article's "Republicans are bullheaded warmongers" frame, so I can see why the less descriptive but still true "overwhelming" was chosen.

For what it's worth, this is a complicated debate and it is difficult for the White House to strike a balance. On one hand the protesters are desperately seeking outside affirmation for their cause. On the other hand there's still a good deal of anti-American and anti-Western sentiment in Iran - so much so that a post-Khamenei regime might be functionally identical to the current one.

But hey, they found a foreign policy specialist who's spent the last half-decade saying we should engage Iranian hardliners. And now she insists that under no circumstances should we "engage" the protesters. So that's that.

References:
* Iran's Turmoil Creates Dilemma for Obama at Home and Overseas [Bloomberg]
* NeoCon Derangement Syndrome On Steroids [Hot Air]
* CNN producer: Iranian students say they're doomed if Obama accepts the election [Hot Air]
* Ya'alon: Iran heading for a revolution [JPost]

Previously:
* George Galloway: Iranian Vote Count Is Totally Legit
* Iran Kicks Around Britain For A While
* United Nations: Iran's Murder Of Peaceful Protesters Raises "Troubling Questions"