This will be an eternal disgrace for Columbia University and the city of New York.

I thought Karl Rove was spewing hatred when he spoke of how liberals wanted to offer therapy to the enemies of the country after 9/11.

I can now understand where he was coming from. There are indeed liberals who think that the US can rationalize and have a dialog with radical islamic fundamentalists. If only we "understood" these radicals, we could all get along!!

Liberal Naivete is even worse than the treachery that they are often accused of. Bollinger is an absolute idiot for doing this.

I wonder if MoveOn.org has anything to say about the Iranian presidents visit - oh wait a minute, they slime only American military leaders.

My bad.

The simple fact is that Bush is a MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH bigger criminal than Ahmadinejad. In 4 years Bush has caused vastly more death, chaos and destruction in Iraq than Saddam did in 25 years.

Oh, and I agree that Ahmadinejad's does indeed run a thuggish regime. The problem with Dan's statement above is that he seems to imply that Ahmadinejad is somehow more "thuggish" than Bush. Ahmadinejad's crimes amount to aproximately a couple hundred people who have been imprisoned unfairly, and probably several dozen unfairly killed. Bush has caused massive ethnic cleansing and massacres in Iraq (just to name one country he destroyed). It is just ironic and stupid for right-wing Americans to criticize Iran without looking deeply in the mirror. Sure, Iran has serious problems. But the USA is the modern Rome... destroying and stealing everything it touches. Iran crimes pale in comparison.

Let him talk. He cannot be but his true self. Would you buy an original hand made Persian rug from him?

NS,

Ahmadinejad has already been to New York:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/world/middleeast/21iran.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/A/Ahmadinejad,%20Mahmoud

I don't really think it's fair to say that inviting someone to speak means tacitly endorsing their viewpoints. If anything, it give MA a chance to put his vile character on display for Americans.

I can just picture Bush with his fingers in his ears saying 'la, la, la, la, la, ..'

NS:
In your worldview, what do you suggest? Do you suggest we bomb them?

" A clarification -- just because I think Ahmadinejad is deluded about American attitudes -- actually, I think he's deluded in general -- doesn't mean that I don't fully support Columbia University's decision to host a forum for him."

You better look out, Dan. Duncan Hunter's decided to getya for that: http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/24/hunter-columbia-funding/

This, of course, is Standard Operating Bullshit (Political Subdivision) -- like Rep. Tom Davis' demand today that the House investigate the Times MoveOn ad (complete with sworn testimony!) -- but this particular clown is ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, and he's also running for President (although not getting anywhere). Isn't it reassuring that the GOP is so much on the barricades to protect our traditional American freedoms from the threat of Islamic dictatorship?

Joe Klein's conscience,
Please... thats a cheap shot - Simply because a regime is detestable does not automatically mean it should be bombed. If that were the criteria, there would be very few countries left standing.

This Columbia Univ farce did have one use for people here - any one who listened to this crazy guy speak of how "freedom flows" in Iran can indeed attest to his delusional thinking.

It is downright scary to even think of what could happen if a radical Islamic theocracy with a deluded nutjob of a leader like Ahmadinejad gets hold of nuclear weapons. If that happens Iranians can kiss their dreams of being a free people a permanent goodbye.

"Any belief of yours that Americans will be persuaded by your rhetoric is a mistaken one"

I seriously doubt your statement given what I've read on American blogs, and even one of the commenters here