Iran, and the Media's Disconnect from Reality

The Washington Post today has a story by Karl Vick extolling the charismatic leadership of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and how his people just love him so! Hmmm...I might add something here about how charismatic one Mr. Adolf Hitler was, and how beloved he was by the German Volk at one point, but I digress....anyway, from the article:

The ordinary Iranians who poured into the local soccer stadium to hear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad one day last month arrived carrying high hopes and handwritten letters. They left with just the hopes. The letters were collected in oversize cardboard boxes, then hoisted into the postal van Ahmadinejad has taken to parking prominently when he barnstorms the provinces, in an audacious campaign to make every Iranian's wish come true.
"I asked for a proper house," Vaziolla Rezaei, 57, said of the appeal he addressed to His Excellency the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. "And I also told him about my financial situation."
I mainly wrote about my husband's lack of work," said Kobra Hedyatti, 30. "And also about our poor house and how far the children have to walk to school."
"I actually wrote him two letters," said Reza Karimi, 41. "One was about the problems we have in this neighborhood. The other was about my problems.

If his image in the West is that of a banty radical dangerously out of touch with reality -- "a psychopath of the worst kind," in the words of Israel's prime minister -- the prevailing impression in Iran is precisely the opposite.
Here, ordinary people marvel at how their president comes across as someone in touch, as populist candidate turned caring incumbent

Ordinary people marvel at their president, huh? OK, now let's see what Gateway Pundit is reporting form Iran at this moment:

Despite repression and undeclared martial law over 10,000 Iranians took to the streets to protest the regime on Wednesday in Tabriz, Iran:
People took to the streets of central Tabriz chanting anti-regime slogans, NCRI informs. Special guards intervened to disperse the crowd but they faced stiff resistance which led to clashes in many parts. According to eye witness accounts the sound of fire arms did not stop throughout the demonstration which lasted for hours. People attacked banks and other government buildings and broke their windows. To neutralize the effect of tear gas, the young people set fire to tires on streets and clashed with the suppressive forces. Similar protests were reported in Orumieh, Naghadeh and Ardabil, major cities in Azeri speaking provinces in northwestern Iran. Security forces have been going door to door in Naghadeh in search for young people. Those found have been transferred to unknown locations. The regime is refusing to hand back corpses of those killed in Naghdadeh during riots over the past week and the lives of many wounded are threatened as they do not receive medical attention.

The Iranian regime sent in 3,000 suppressive forces to contain the continuing protests against the regime in the Tabriz region:
Up to 3,000 reinforcements had to be brought in from other parts of the country, NCRI reports. Reports from Tabriz indicate that dozens of banks and government buildings have been attacked and their windows shattered by young people in total defiance of the repressive measures enforced in the city. In one incident a woman protesting against the regime was attacked and badly beaten up by the suppressive forces before the eyes of her husband and passers-by. The government forces are taking away mobile phones with cameras in a bid to stop reports and photos leak out. Even so some pictures have been sent out with great risks.

Hey, Karl Vick! These are "ordinary Iranians" too!

Notice the woman on the right with the cellphone camera? No wonder the "charismatic followers" of the Iranian President were confiscating them!
Ah, the beating of female protesters...the sign of a loving regime! But hey, they are allowed to attend soccer games now! What could they be complaining about?

I wonder if Mr Vick has a true grasp of what is going on in Iran, or if he is only speaking with people that his government-approved handlers permit him to.

Or is it all part of an agenda, trying to create a perception within Americans that Ahmadinejad is not really dangerous, but a good liberal (like Hugo Chavez!) with the full support of his people? A man whom it would be morally wrong to ever use military force against, no matter how insane and belligerent his speech may be, and no matter how many nuclear weapons he intends to build?

The final kicker, the coda, the last laugh line, especially when considering the pictures above and the reporting from Gateway Pundit, is the title of Vick's story in the WaPost:

"A Man of the People's Needs and Wants"