Ahmadinejad in Iran

Contra Ezra, I sort of doubt that Iranian mullah's are going to watch a video showing hundreds of Americans dismissing with laughter the anti-gay pronouncements of the Iranian president and think to themselves, "my goodness he looks foolish!" I think it's more likely that they'll see it as evidence of western decadence or somesuch. But that's all fine. Nothing that happened yesterday was ever going to fundamentally alter the leadership in Iran, and if it had--if Ahmadinejad really did look so foolish to the Ayatollahs that they decided to replace him--it might well be with somebody who'd never embarrass them again. Somebody more thuggish and strident than Crazy Mahmoud.

What's less fine is the possibility that the United States Congress will turn this into a larger diplomatic disaster than it already has been. There was no need, as I see it, to "allow" Ahmadenijad to visit Ground Zero (though I imagine Saudi Prince Bandar can go--or perhaps has gone--whenever he wants). But there's even less need for the government to publicly shun the only institution that agreed, however inartfully, to host him.