Stay classy, Ari

The fires haven't stopped smoldering and the riots, demonstrations aren't even finished in Iran, and the results of all this action is as of yet unknown. But that hasn't stopped Ari Fleischer from popping up to make sure credit is properly assigned (providing things end well) to the one man who deserves it most: Hossein Mousavi the Iranian people George W. Bush.

“A big push for reform is because of the desire of Iranians to get out from sanctions, to put an end to the country’s international ostracism,” Fleischer wrote and, most interestingly, “because Shiites in particular see Shiites in Iraq having more freedoms than they do. Bush’s tough policies have helped give rise to the reformists and I think we’re witnessing that today.” [...]

So “I think it’s fair to say the George Bush’s Freedom Agenda planted seeds that have started to grow in the Middle East,” Fleischer concluded.

Some assholes would try to point out that our little Iraq fiasco actually made Iran stronger, more influential, more prosperous, and gave credibility to people like Khamenei and Ahmadinejad, but then they'd be wrong. Bush only gets credit for the good stuff that happens in the Middle East, not the bad stuff. I'd just like to thank Ari Fleischer for taking time off from whatever it is he's doing now to remind us of that incontrovertible fact.