Iran like Chicago

Looking back to the Al Gore/George Bush contest I remember the chaos and bloodshed that followed. Now if you want to see how to steal an election badly I simply encourage you to look to Iran.

Today candidates and clerics requested an annulment of the election, but Mr. Ahmadinejad hinted that his challenger risks punishment for questioning the result.

Ah, the 'free' elections in 'democratic' Iran.

There is no actual transparency or accountability in Iran. However, if it looks like fraud, smells like fraud, well my guess is fraud. Transparency by default. And given the government’s even more than usually thuggish reaction, it certainly points to fraud. As long as you remember that the religious Mullahs run everything behind the curtain, you know that the election is meaningless, and is simply a fun activity to give the folks something to pretend means something. I'm getting pretty cynical, and I'm sure you're waiting for me to say that 'Hey, just like the States, right?' No, more like Chicago....

What Iran hasn't figured out is that they need to emulate Chicago - Don't get me wrong, they're extremely close. They have the first part down perfectly. Iran is close as they have the policy of giving back to one class of people and having them vote. It's the other class, the middle class who are having to deal with huge taxation and inflation because of those bribes - er - government assistance programs to the under served - and the middle class has no chance of relief.

So when they bring it up for a vote, there's a chance for 'Change'. But there isn't any real chance for opposition. Iran is Chicago.

But let's review what happened with the election...

Many Iranians found that impossible to believe. Mr. Moussavi had drawn hugely enthusiastic crowds to his campaign rallies, and opposition polls suggested that he, not Mr. Ahmadinejad, was the one with the commanding lead. Even more improbably, and cynically, authorities claimed that Mr. Ahmadinejad carried all of his opponents’ hometowns — including Mr. Moussavi’s — by large margins. My guess is that the polling data was incorrect. Imagine, for a second, if the Conservatives hadn't thrown in the towel and showed up to elect McCain. Impossible! Well, Mock-Mood Im'aDinnerJacket contends that's exactly what happened. Can you imagine how pissed the Obama crowd would have been?

When protesters took to the streets in the fiercest demonstrations in a decade, the police beat them with batons. The government also closed universities in Tehran, blocked cellphones and text messaging and cut access to Web sites. That's not totalitarian or draconian, is it? Again, imagine an Obama fanatic without their Facebook or Twitter for an hour, let alone a couple days?

As the protests continued, authorities detained more than 100 prominent opposition members and ordered some foreign journalists to leave the country. According to news reports, Mr. Moussavi remained in his home but was being closely watched. In a triumphalist press conference, Mr. Ahmadinejad seemed to threaten his rival, declaring that the former prime minister “ran a red light, and he got a traffic ticket.”

Look, if the election were truly “real and free” as Mr. Ahmadinejad insisted, the results would be accepted by the voters and the government would not have to resort to threats, detentions and baton wielding skull crushers.

So - they dropped the ball at the ballot box phase. What Richie and the Toddler know, is that you keep it closer, or just have no opponents. I am not suggesting the Richie and Todd would lock down the city or county and have Chicago police beating the hell out of the mobs of Republicans or folks who want to get rid of the 10.25% sales tax -- what I'm suggesting is that they won't ever have to.

Oh, and the best part, the Nation elected Chicago.

One final note - at least the Iranian people are standing up to their tyranny. I wish them a prayer and the best of luck.