Ozzie Myers in Iran

Reading about the "election" results in Iran, I can't help but marvel at the inexperience (or incompetence) of whoever was put in charge of fixing the results. Facing what was believed to be a close election, you don't report a 64-35 landslide, and certainly not before the ballots could have been counted.

A better role model would have been Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, who in 1960 waited until the rest of Illinois had reported its results before announcing the votes from Cook County, which gave John F. Kennedy a margin of victory large enough to carry the state and the Electoral College. That shows a certain amount of subtlety.

The results from Iran remind me of south Philadelphia (and Democratic) politician Michael "Ozzie" Myers who, early in his career and before he was allowed to be elected to Congress (where he got ensnared in the "Abscam" sting and was sent to prison), was entrusted with the job of getting signatures on a nominating petition for a Democratic candidate. When the petition was challenged, it was learned that one of the "signatures" on the petition belonged to a voter who had no fingers.

Maybe after a few more years of democracy, Iran will learn how to fix an election the right way.