I'd pay to see this: Bush debating Ahmadinejad

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Via digby, we find this:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad voiced defiance on Tuesday as a deadline neared for Iran to halt work the West fears is a step toward building nuclear bombs, and challenged US President George W. Bush to televized debate.

“I suggest holding a live TV debate with Mr. George W. Bush to talk about world affairs and the ways to solve those issues,” he said.

In a press conference, Ahmadinejad condemned the US and British role in the world since World War II but made no direct mention of the international nuclear confrontation.
I don't know a whole lot about Ahmadinejad: he's a hardliner who got elected on a platform of cleaner government, has taken harsh rhetorical stances against the US, talks about bringing about a post-Zionist era, and apparently has some pretty apocalyptic beliefs that are the Islamic equivalent of Christian rapturist and "end times" beliefs. From what I know, it sounds like he and Bush deserve each other. It's too bad we can't just lock the two in a room together so they can argue or blow each other up or compare notes on their batshit religious beliefs.

Frankly, I don't want Bush to debate the guy on TV, because I worry that Ahmadinejad, wack as some of his rhetoric has been, might make Bush look stupid, and I want to save my country any potential embarrassment. Let's impeach Bush, get someone reality-based in office, and have our new president debate the guy. I'll take American capitalist democracy with all its flaws over Iranian petro-theocracy any day. I just don't think Bush can represent it properly.
Still, I'd definitely watch the debate. It's the coolest sounding thing I've heard coming out of the Middle East in a while.

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