The editors of the Wall Street Journal and Marshall Wittmann of the Democratic Leadership Council are of one mind on what to make of Ahmadinejad's missive to President Bush. The Journal observes,
The letter also contains repeated references to what Mr. Ahmadinejad imagines, with some justification, are the main concerns of the Western left. It's all here: the exploitation of Africa's mineral resources; homelessness and unemployment in the U.S.; the budgetary wastefulness of the war in Iraq and U.S. fiscal imbalances. The concern is almost touching, though perhaps Mr. Ahmadinejad needs to broaden his daily media sources beyond the BBC.
And from Wittmann's Bull Moose blog:
Our President is severely weakened and our enemies are emboldened. Yesterday, the Iranian tyrant issued a propaganda missive that was Hitlerian in its content and intent. His rant masqueraded as a diplomatic overture will no doubt cause some to welcome it as an extended olive branch. In the 1930's, Hitler similarly attempted to encourage appeasement with hints of reconciliation. History repeats itself as a farce. The New York Times, "Mr. Ahmadinejad, who has said that Israel should be wiped off the map, again questioned the Holocaust and the basis upon which Israel was created, asking whether support for such a "regime" by the United States government was in line with Christian teachings." No doubt, Ahmadinejad is getting advice from Teheran's Jihad Communications Strategies Group on how to persuade and influence the new "useful idiots" of the West. Focus groups of gullible Westeners might have been surveyed. For instance, this line could be embraced by the Move On crowd, "If billions of dollars spent on security, military campaigns and troop movement were instead spent on issues including health and aid to the poor, he wrote, "would there have been an ever increasing global hatred of the American governments?" Yes, all we are saying is give peace a chance and annihilate a few million more Jews....