Apparently Iranian scholars are pissed off about the reception Mahmoud got at Columbia University yesterday.

Iranians expressed dismay Tuesday at the tough reception given to their president in New York, saying his host was rude and only fueled the image of the United States as a bully…

The chancellors of seven Iranian universities issued a letter to Bollinger saying his “insult, in a scholarly atmosphere, to the president of a country with … a recorded history of 7,000 years of civilization and culture is deeply shameful.”

They invited Bollinger to Iran, adding, “You can be assured that Iranians are very polite and hospitable toward their guests.”

I guess we just misinterpreted that whole storming of our embassy and holding Americans hostage for a year gesture.

1. While I don’t think we should have shook his hand and kissed his ass, I do think that making it a personal attack so quickly and so forcefully was a mistake. If he really wanted to screw the guy over, he should have just stuck to facts and figures, kept it civil and spanked him with something he couldn’t refute: Truth.

   Getting hostile, and acting as a bully gave the Iranians just the fodder they needed to act like the wounded party. The last thing we need is them having MORE reasons to hate us. Hard to go up against 7,000 years of civilization and about 5 minutes of righteous indignation.

   Comment by CommonSenseRules — 10:59 pm
   

2. Although I personally enjoyed the belittling ‘introduction’ issued by Bollinger, I must say that it undoubtedly came across more as an ambush rather than an introduction. It reeked of a sorry attempt to appease those who were outraged that one of our corner stone institutions of higher learning would invite Ahmadinejad to begin with and not withdraw that invitation when it became apparent that they had erred. It did nothing to mitigate the legitimacy that Columbia unwittingly afforded Ahmadinejad, which was the basis for the outrage. Simply withdrawing the invitation would have withdrawn the extended legitimacy and conciliated those who were outraged.

   I do take some enjoyment in the fact that it was a hate-America-first liberal that executed the ambush in a feeble attempt to control damage. It also served to spotlight Columbia’s hypocritical bias toward conservative speakers and their disgraceful position regarding ROTC activities and our military recruiters. I truly do not understand our colleges and universities institutionalizing a disdain for those who secure the very freedoms they act upon daily, not to mention the nation that constitutionally affords said freedoms.

   Comment by Old Soldier — 6:29 am
   

3. While I disagree that it was a good idea for Columbia to invite Ahmadinejad, allowing him to state in front of this particular audience that “there are no gays in Iran” was priceless.

   However, given that Iran treats “non-existant” gays more brutally than our military or ROTC, I do wonder what their other motives were for allowing him on campus when the other groups are rejected.

   By the way, how does Mickey do that with only four fingers?

   Comment by SouthernRoots — 10:21 am
   

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