In an online discussion today, a reader pointed out to Howard Kurtz that Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer has ridiculed Barack Obama for referring to Khamenei as Iran's “Supreme Leader,” despite the fact that Krauthammer himself referred to Khamenei the same way just days earlier.

Kurtz's response? “Agree or disagree, he's making serious points about an explosive foreign policy question. There's not even a personal attack on Obama, just a strongly worded policy disagreement. That doesn't sound like derangement to me.”

Just to spell this out: Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz defends conservative Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer after Krauthammer attacks Obama for doing something Krauthammer does, too. Such hypocritical attacks, Kurtz says, are “serious points.”

Here, for the record, are the Krauthammer quotes Kurtz was responding to:

"-After treating this popular revolution as an inconvenience to the real business of Obama-Khamenei negotiations, the president speaks favorably of 'some initial reaction from the Supreme Leader that indicates he understands the Iranian people have deep concerns about the election.' Where to begin? 'Supreme Leader'? Note the abject solicitousness with which the American president confers this honorific on a clerical dictator." -- Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, June 19

“And the president has said 'I have seen in Iran's initial reaction from the supreme leader.' He is using an honorific to apply to a man whose minions out there are breaking heads, shooting demonstrators, arresting students, shutting the press down, and basically trying to suppress a popular democratic revolution.” -- Charles Krauthammer, Fox News All Stars, June 16

“Look, these were sham elections from the beginning. In a real democracy, you can have a change of power as a result. That was not going to happen in Iran. The mullahs are in charge. Khamenei, the supreme leader, remains in charge.” -- Charles Krauthammer, Fox News All Stars, June 12

UPDATE: Think Progress' Matt Corley notes that Krauthammer called Khamenei “the Supreme Leader” again today. Does Kurtz still think Krauthammer's criticism of Obama for using that title is a “serious point”?