At least Pelley didn't talk about Bush's masculine odor

I don't know what to make of this exchange--is Pelley just revealing his man-crush on Bush? Or is he trying to corner Ahmadinejad into saying that he can't think of any admirable trait of Bush's, which is clearly unfathomable to anyone in the U.S. who loves their Fearless Leader? Or maybe he's hoping to be able to lump liberals and Iran together as knee-jerk "Bush-haters". Or maybe he's just crazy. At any rate, Ahmadinejad's response was perfect:

AHMADINEJAD: As an American citizen, tell me what trait do you admire?

PELLEY: Well, Mr. Bush is, without question, a very religious man, for example, as you are. I wonder if there's anything that you've seen in President Bush that you admire.

...

AHMADEINEJAD: What religion, please tell me, tells you as a follower of that religion to occupy another country and kill its people? Please tell me. Does Christianity tell its followers to do that? Judaism, for that matter? Islam, for that matter? What prophet tells you to send 160,000 troops to another country, kill men, women, and children? You just can't wear your religion on your sleeve or just go to church. You should be truthfully religious. Religion tells us all that you should respect the property, the life of different people. Respect human rights. Love your fellow man. And once you hear that a person has been killed, you should be saddened. You shouldn't sit in a room, a dark room, and hatch plots. And because of your plots, many thousands of people are killed. Having said that, we respect the American people. And because of our respect for the American people, we respectfully talk with President Bush. We have a respectful tone. But having said that, I don't think that that is a good definition of religion. Religion is love for your fellow man, brotherhood, telling the truth.

Some other interesting points from the interview:

• Ahmadinejad flatly denies that Iran is seeking a nuclear bomb:
  

  PELLEY: For the sake of clarity, because there is so much concern in the world about this next question, please give me the most direct answer you can. Is it your goal to build a nuclear bomb?
  
  ...
  
  AHMADINEJAD: It is a firm "no."



• Irony is dead:
  

  PELLEY: I asked President Bush what he would say to you if he were sitting in this chair. And he told me, quote, speaking to you, that you've made terrible choices for your people. You've isolated your nation. You've taken a nation of proud and honorable people and made your country the pariah of the world. These are President Bush's words to you.



• Per my previous thought, I imagine that someone is going to use this quote to say that liberals are on Iran's side with the terrorists:
  

  AHMADEINEJAD: I think Mr. Bush, if he wants his party to win the next election, there are cheaper ways and ways to go about this. I can very well give him a few ideas so that the people vote for him. He should respect the American people. They should not bug the telephone conversations of their citizens. They should not kill the sons and daughters of the American nation. They should not squander the taxpayers' money and give them to weapons companies. And also help the people, the victims of Katrina. People will vote for them if they do these things. But if they insist on what they are saying right now, this will not help them.