Friedman: Smirking Ahmadinejad Suckers U.S. Media

MarketWatch:

Politicians, pundits, journalists, diplomats, talk-show bookers, historians and social scientists all paid rapt attention to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the U.S. this week. I suspect some shrewd crisis-management experts were watching the proceedings, too.

The despot gave an enlightening lesson in how to manage the U.S. media: Be vague. Obfuscate. Smile mindlessly -- a lot. Be friendly. Nod wisely instead of speaking foolishly. Say absolutely
nothing threatening or menacing. Turn their image of you on its head. And, for God's sake, man, say nothing of substance.

Maybe, instead, the lesson was how to sucker the U.S. media. The man played us for suckers -- just like any PR-hungry celebrity who spins reporters and editors. The bottom line was that he knew more about how the American media works than they knew about him.

Read the whole story: MarketWatch

Comments

[LastDaysCafe]

Friedman can't help being a Vicious,Hate Monger/Propagandist because he was dumped out of the exact same defective mold as every other hysterical,Pro Israel Zionist!

[sneezeguard]

OHIOMARK-- Kool-Aid truck is here. Time for your fill up!

[WorkingClass]

Cheer up Jon. Soon the American military will begin murdering the Persians. Men, women, and children. Then they wont think their so smart.

[Purple Girl]

Well my impression is that he didn't do so well inspite of the stupidity of Bollinger and the protestors. We should hav eplayed our own media- remaining the free speech country that we proport to be. When he finally did speak he showed his own ignorance when he said ther were no gays in Iran. Give an idiot enough rope ad they'll hang themselves.Lynch mob maentality was unnecessary and counterproductive. thankfully, he couldn't outsmart himself.

[leftLibertarian]

smirking despot? You mean Bush - no?

[Gary47]

"The despot gave an enlightening lesson in how to manage the U.S. media: Be vague. Obfuscate. Smile mindlessly -- a lot. Be friendly. Nod wisely instead of speaking foolishly. Say absolutely nothing threatening or menacing. Turn their image of you on its head. And, for God's sake, man, say nothing of substance."

Sounds like you're talking about Bush.

[totalliberal]

["Sure it sounds crazy to us infidels, but he is serious about being fanatical. This is way to bring Islamic rule to the entire world.']





The man is but a pimple on a rats ass. Yet you conservatives are scared shit-less of him.

Grow the fuck up and get a set of balls you gutless retarded cowards.

[Iownpeterbilt]

A visiting head of state should at the very least be treated with a little CIVILITY..
The treatment he received at his speech says volumes about the class [or lack thereof] in what should be a civil society. It well may be that that some of our cold war adverseries are backing him, and the impending attack well could be a grevious error!!!!!!

[realitytrumpsbull]

Well, maybe that's a really good statement,
maybe, unwittingly, the media has just become
a tool for those with an axe to grind with
the United States. Still, it's a fairly
peaceful way, all things considered, I guess...

But, until the peeps in D.C. say 'pop', pull
their heads out of their back pockets, and
start investing more in ending oil dependency
instead of tanks, guns, and bombs, the
outcome of this entire charade is kind of
predictable...the middle east has oil, Bush
and friends want the oil, even old 'moneybags'
Greenspan finally copped to that, but stay
tuned, for the next exciting chapter of Operation Goat Blow...

[Ginzaman]

The leader of a sovereign state is invited to come to a world famous U.S. university. Instead of showing some respect and making the most of this opportunity, the president of Columbia gives into neocon pressure and insults hime even before he has a chance to speak. Other than Chavez, would he do that to any other Western head of state? Probably not. Instead he embarasses both himself and his school.

Ahmadinejad actually did make some good points. Yes, the cheap shot about no homosexuals in Iran was stupid. And yes, saying that world leaders who want nuclear weapons are "retarded" was clumsy humor. But f**k people, what do you want? What did the crowd ask about? What did the neocon pundits rant on about? Neocon talking points. He wants to destroy Israel. Wrong. Iran (a sovereign state that has the right to defend itself) doesn't deserve nuclear weapons. Oh really? We cant' even keep track of our own weapons. Who the hell are we to tell them what to do? He's a terrorist. Bush is for torture and started an illegal war based on lies. If that's not being a terrorist then what the f**k is it?

Instead of using a great opportunity for positive change, all it was was neocon hysteria for war, money and more neocon power. Nice job.

[Podewumun]

That photo of Imadinnajacket really needed a thought balloon:

"No, we have no homosezals in Iran, but am very much enjoying some of thez soothing massaging devices they uz...where can buy?"

[Sumocat]

Wow, a smirking jackass of a President who offers nothing of substance. That's so unlike any President we currently have.

[Podewumun]

HUZZAH!

[Gary47]

Kudos for slicing right to the heart of the mater.

[greenmoon]

The first commenter made a claim that wrongly gives Ahmadinejad too much credibility. He really has no power. He is a figurehead. As several Iranian-Americans said in today's Washington Post, "I agree that Ahmadinejad is a despicable human being, but he is not a dictator. He cannot dictate anything." And, Technically, he is a nobody in Iran's system, but he likes to make inflammatory comments."

That's about it -- all bark, no bite. Yet by people protesting his speech at Columbia University, they engaged in the same type of censorship that they accuse the Iranian government of doing.

As today's Tom Toles cartoon shows, give Ahmadinejad enough rope and he will hang himself.

[greenmoon]

Here's a link to the Post article I referred to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/25/AR2007092502448.html

[clintonius]

I hope Friedman doesn't get paid for this crap.
"The despot gave an enlightening lesson in how to manage the U.S. media." What? Ahmadinejad has virtually zero power. A minor prerequisite to fulfill the role of a "despot". Furthermore, one can't really "sucker" the US media. The corporations control the content...the only suckers are those that think we have freedom of the press. Jon shouldn't quit his day job...God forbid writing uninsightful articles is his day job.

[waiguoren]

Absolutely right.
How absurd to call, as Katie Couric would say, I'm a dinner jacket, a despot & a dictator. He's much more of a figurehead, with no control of the military or any important decisions.
Why on earth do so many ( most ) of our "commenters" simply parrot this dreck?

[herronsmith]

I rather think Mr. Friedman is right on. Let me explain and try to shelve your egos for a minute. Americans think they can outwit, outlast, and outplay (to borrow a Survivor term) any country and any leader in the world. Got news for them. We aren't the great and powerful Oz as was once the case. We have frittered that respect away. We are so fractionated in this country let alone trying to outwit anyone else. We aren't stupid, don't get me wrong but we have the most pompous, arrogant "leader" who has done nothing to bring this country together, much less endeared us to any other country. He is delusional to think you can play the game alone and the other world leaders know it. Most people here are too lazy or self-rightgeous to even attempt to understand another culture but you can be sure other cultures are learning our every move and it isn't so they can emulate us. Get over yourselves. Ahmadinejad could have thumbed the whole room and the media would have been none the wiser. We are playing a dangerous game and if we don't get off our high horses we will lose.

[Podewumun]

And vis avi, WHY DID SO MANY OF OUR SORRY MEDIA 'GIANTS' GO ON AND ON ABOUT WHAT AN EVIL MAN AND A THREAT TO HUMANITY SADDAM HUSSEIN POSED BETWEEN FEBRUARY, 2002 AND JANUARY 2003?

Sorry, kids, but sometimes your "People Magazine" article length memory spans justs PISSES ME OFF. Cut back on the sugar, get yer brains back.

[tao53nyc]

Seems to me Bush, Cheney, et al, do the same thing every day. Who's more dangerous, a fatuous, smiling despot with little in the way of harmful substance, or a smirking, arrogant despot sitting on 10,000 nukes?

[eaglecapri]

I totally agree. Ahmadinejad could care less what we think of him. As I stated before, he's going to keep lying, misleading us, pushing his agenda and cares less what we think of it, or him. Sounds like the good 'ole boys in Washington to me.

[wadenelson1]

Hey Ohiomark, who has killed more civilians in the past 5 years?

Hezbollah?

Al-Quaeda?

Iran / Ahmadinejad?

George W. Bush / US Armed Services?

With AT LEAST 650,000 civilian casualties in Iraq, you have the stones to call Ahmadinejad "dangerous?"

George W. Bush is a war criminal, plain and simple. He declared unprovoked war on Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11.

Do some reading. Khameini (sp) is the ruling force in Iran, not President Ahmadinejad. He has about as much say-so as Prince Charles.

We complain about Iran selling weapons to insurgents in Iraq? Hmm. Didn't we supply weapons to insurgents in Afghanistan when the USSR was there?

Case of pot calling the kettle black?

It seems to me that Ahmadinejad is probably doing every thing he can to prevent weapons from flowing to Iraq, (allowing the US using it as a pretext for war) but like Musharref, can't control every religious nutcase and military fanatic in his country.

I'm glad you're up early, maybe today is the day you'll post something that makes sense.

[ohiomark]

The figure of 650,000 dead civilians has already been proven false months ago. Please move on to your next made up "fact".

And if you believe that Ahmadinejad is trying to STOP weapons from going into Iraq, then you are more naive than I thought. Members of the Iran's Republican Guard have been caught and killed in Iraq. They wouldn't be there if Ahmadinejad or the mullahs didn't know about it.