Iran Update: Mahmoud's Road Show and the "Dazzled" US Media

If the Iranian President was less than successful today in the first of his talks at the United Nations, he could console himself that he got his talking points out through the US and "Western" media. 

I guess The New York Times should at least get credit for recognising what was going on: 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran ran through his standard talking points at his annual gathering with American journalists on Tuesday — denying that dissidents languish in jail or that economic sanctions were biting, and rejecting the idea that Tehran deserves anything less than a gold star for its nuclear inspection record. 

This does not mean, however, that the Times interrogated the talking points, you know, by offering any consideration of the political prisoners. It's happy to let Ahmadinejad's remark stand without reflection: “Whatever happened is done under the supervision on the judge, disciplinary forces and the intelligence. We do not have anybody in prison in Iran without the rule of the judge. The judiciary is independent.” There is no reference to the possible effects of the sanctions or the challenges to Ahmadinejad in Iran. 

Instead, the Times is carried away because Ahmadinejad "embroidered his remarks with a little fresh bluster". And what dazzled them?

Why, talk of war, war, war: “The United States has never entered a real war, not in Vietnam, nor in Afghanistan, nor even World War II. War is just not bombing someplace. When it starts it has no limits.”

The Times then dutifully --- with Ahmadinejad's help --- reassures us that being dazzled does not actually mean the Apocalypse, quoting the President, "We have always been prepared to talk.” 

AFP, in contrast, is still at the Apocalypse stage: "Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Tuesday that an attack on his country's nuclear facilities could spark a war with 'no limits'." 

The Los Angeles Times does not even get to the dazzling bit or anything else except Ahmadinejad's declaration of a "good chance" that talks will resume soon on nuclear issues because "there is no other alternative".

The Atlantic does offer a twist on being dazzled, relegating war to second place in its summary. First place? Holocaust denial.