'Voting For Ahmadinejad Was A Political Mistake’

Conservative blogger and journalist Mohammad Mohajeri, who used to write for the ultra-hard-line "Kayhan" daily, seems to believe it was wrong to vote for Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. He says those who made that "mistake" should now admit it:

These days answering the question ‘Was voting for Ahmadinejad a mistake?’ has turned into a nightmare for [some] conservatives. They think that if they admit that voting for Ahmadinejad was a mistake, it means that if they had voted for Ahmadinejad’s rivals they would had done the right thing, while this is not at all the case.

In the world of politics, making mistakes is normal and it is inevitable. Didn’t 11 million of Iran’s people vote for Abol Hassan Bani sadr [eds. Islamic Republic’s first president who was dismissed and had to flee the country]? Did they make the right choice? The same people voted for [Iran’s former reformist President Mohammad Khatami]. Did we the conservatives think that their vote was right? There is a difference between respecting something and considering it right.

If we accept that voting for Ahmadinejad was a political mistake, [the world will not end]. The only thing that will happen is that the conservatives will demonstrate their courage by admitting their mistake.

Courage is not a bad quality, is it?

Source: RFE/RL