DEMOCRACY DIES IN KOWTOWING: In an article headlined “Iran blocks Instagram and Telegram apps, warns protesters will ‘pay the price’ for unrest,” the Washington Post’s Erin Cunningham goes on to describe Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as “moderate:”

From the capital, Tehran, to Kermanshah in the west and the holy city of Qom in the north, Iranians defied police to vent frustration against a government that allows limited space for political dissent.

Rouhani called on protesters to refrain from violence and damaging government property. After a night of escalating unrest saw attacks on government buildings and violent confrontations with police, the moderate president, reelected to a second term in May, took a conciliatory tone.

In stunning scenes, Iranian protesters chanted “Death to the dictator!” as they tore down posters of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds absolute authority in Iran. Public criticism of Khamenei is generally taboo.

Omri Ceren of the Israel Project has screen shots of additional examples of such journalistic “moderation” and asks, “How many Iranians does the Iranian govt have to shoot in the streets before journalists stop calling that govt & president ‘moderate’?”

Just think of the media as still being Democratic activists with bylines who are still part of Ben Rhodes’ blob, and it all makes sense.