Ahmadinejad Kiss 'N' Tell

.............................Above, the soon to be infamous kiss of Ahmadinejad and his school teacher.

With one kiss Ahmadinejad has shed light on political rumblings in Iran.

The Western press has picked up on yet another item that suits their needs by headlining the opinions of an obscure fundamentalist newspaper, Hezbollah, which as you can imagine is read by a tiny fraction of Iranians who still align themselves with ultraconservatives. Hezbollah (the newspaper) has expressed outrage and disgust at Ahmadinejad's indecency for kissing the gloved hand of an elderly woman who was once his schoolteacher at a public rally promoting education in Iran this week. Wednesday's article also bothered to mention Ahmadinejad's early presidential announcement that women should be allowed in football stadiums -- as yet further evidence of his unacceptable overtures toward women.

What's interesting here is that the Western press is obviously still on course toward indicating that Ahmadinejad is losing support from his conservative backers. But what Westerners do not realize is that Ahmadinejad's kiss actually helps his image amongst most Iranians. And, presumably amongst the Western public who, whether their governments or press likes it or not, have actually taken a liking to this charismatic fellow. Heck, even Mike Wallace couldn't help but wallow in Ahmadinejad's charm.