The Devil and Ahmadinejad

AP/NY Times:

Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Israel was the standard bearer of Satan and the Jewish state would soon fall apart, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Saturday.

The agency quoted Ahmadinejad as he spoke at a religious conference and did not elaborate on what he meant by Satan. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, however, Iran has regularly referred to the United States as ''the Great Satan.''

''The Zionist regime is the standard bearer of invasion, occupation and Satan,'' he said, predicting Israel's eventual demise. ''When the philosophy behind the establishment of a regime is in question, it is not unlikely that it will find itself on a course of decline and dissolution.''

Ahmadinejad has made anti-Israel comments in the past.

...

No kidding. This is what is accurately described as demonizing. It seems especially persuasive among religious bigots who are predisposed to ethnic and religious hatred. That pretty much fits his audience and his objective. Bigotry of this sort seems rampant among certain groups of Muslims who are trying to account for the failures of their past. It is much easier to blame others than to accept responsibility.