Of course, Andy Samberg is just joking. Others are more serious in their infatuation with Ahmadinejad. For instance, “sallykohn” recently wrote a diary entry on Daily Kos titled “Why I Have A Little Crush on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”

She wrote:

I want to be very clear. There are certainly many things about Ahmadinejad that I abhor — locking up dissidents, executing of gay folks, denying the fact of the Holocaust, potentially adding another dangerous nuclear power to the world and, in general, stifling democracy. Even still, I can’t help but be turned on by his frank rhetoric calling out the horrors of the Bush Administration and, for that matter, generations of US foreign policy preceding.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

And then she concluded:

Monday, when Ahmadinejad speaks at Columbia University in New York, I’ll be listening. Maybe with a bottle of wine and some soft music playing in the background. If I can get past the fact that, as a Jewish lesbian, he’d probably have me killed, I’ll try to listen for some truth.

Ugh.

Right-wing bloggers, of course, have made hay out of this and similar diaries on Daily Kos. What Kos’s critics usually fail to note is that the diarists are the equivalent of mere commenters on other sites and don’t necessarily represent the views of the Kos editors (and, in any case, left-wing blogs certainly have no monopoly on stupid rhetoric). Still, the number of Kos diarists last week who were making apologies for Ahmadinejad (or arguing he’s no worse than Bush) does suggest troubling currents swirling among the Netroots.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount