Ahmedinejad--a former Revolutionary Guardsman who has been described by one Iranian I know as "standing at the nexus of terrorism and ideological extremism"--is so "not ready for prime time" that he is probably unwittingly helping the cause of regime change in his country. His crazed rantings give the lie to the doubletalk on which the Islamic Republic has relied for some years now. And acting so nuts that you force even the Euro-weenies to stick up (at least verbally) for Israel is no mean feat.

The clerical Islamofascists who dominate the Iranian state were more comfortable with and would have been better off with the slick ex-president, Rafsanjani. Ahmedinejad blindsided them a bit during the campaign w/ his economic-populist appeals. Let us hope the regime soon rues the day this vicious clown took office.

So far (3PM on Thursday) everyone seems to be responding except the White House.