Comments on: Learning Moment

By: materialist

materialist — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:47:18 +0000

Bollinger failed to impress this academic. His diaribe strikes me as a evident piece of ass-covering, inappropriately delivered as a series of rude (albeit true) insults to an invited guest.

Now let’s see how fast ROTC comes back and how soon the minutemen, and other Americans who just happen to have different opinions, are treated with respect at Columbia. Is anyone prepared to hold his breath while this “expert on free speech” causes it to be reincarnated at Columbia after being so dead so long under his stewardship?

By: saltydog

saltydog — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:06:57 +0000

If Bollinger is such an expert on free speech, why does he misuse the concept to justify inviting Ahmamadman to Columbia in the first place. Nothing about free speech says that every person must be provided a microphone–paid for by those who disagree with him. What happened was that this man and his country was given the prestige and sanction of a major U.S. university.

I appreciated Bollinger’s speech, but I agree that it could have been–indeed ought to have been–given on the occasion of his visit, without giving him sanction by giving him a platform. It’s bad enough that the man is allowed into he country (which is as good a reason as any to remove the UN from this country).

Since it did happen, I’m glad to see that the vile little troll showed himself to be a vile little troll. I hope that there were students there who have brains enough left that they were able to see what was before them. I was disappointed to see, however, that the students were more upset by Bollinger’s supposed bad-manners, and the troll’s ridiculous assertion that Iran had no homosexuals, than they were about the more serious essentials of Iran’s evil.

I am with Critter in hoping that other’s will draw some courage from Bollinger’s remarks.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:24:51 +0000

Bollinger #$%&@ up in inviting Ahmadinnerjacket to Columbia in the first place. If what Bollinger said was true, ol’ dinnerjacket should be lying in the sun at Club Gitmo, not in NY spreading propaganda at a formerly distinguished university. Trying to bail himself out by speaking the “truth to power” just makes Bollinger look weird.

By: The Thunder Run

The Thunder Run — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:11:48 +0000

Web Reconnaissance for 09/25/2007

A short recon of what�s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.

By: RealClearPolitics - Blog Coverage

RealClearPolitics - Blog Coverage — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:42:53 +0000

Live-Blogging Ahmadinejad, Day 2

Please read here for a full recap of yesterday’s event’s in NYC. Today, having made headlines with his speech at Columbia University, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad goes before the UN General Assembly to speak in the afternoon. Hot Air has…

By: RebeccaH

RebeccaH — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:04:00 +0000

As satisfying as it is to think that Ahmadirtybird might have squirmed a little in front of that crowd, I seriously believe the man is impervious to criticism from infidels. Bollinger could as easily have given that speech in explaining why he would not invite a murdering, dictatorial criminal to speak at his university.

As for the Pepper Spray Girls of Saudi Arabia, I hope the cell phone pictures get around the world like viral video.

By: tanstaafl

tanstaafl — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:45:25 +0000

In some ways, I think it was good for some of the 600 in the room to see A’jad up close and personal.

Kind of de-mystifying to see the dancing around and to hear some of the more absurd utterances straight out of his mouth

A Columbia undergraduate (I think she was) who was in the room commented afterwards that the evil was “palpable”.

One of the more interesting observations.

By: tanstaafl

tanstaafl — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 15:27:54 +0000

“He was invited to Columbia, but Bollinger did make it clear he intended to call him an asshole.”

That was implicit in the invitation ?

The venue was something like Columbia’s “world leaders” series, wasn’t it ?

Prestigious.

Lee Bollinger embarrassed me somewhat in prefacing A’jad’s remarks by virulently condemning an invited guest.

(and nobody’s thinks A’jad’s a bigger asshole than I do)

By: Barleymash

Barleymash — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:45:22 +0000

I applaud Bollinger’s gutsy and informed confrontation, but it also makes me a bit sad. I hate the fact that a petty martinet like Ahmadinejad has the courage to take questions from a hostile audience while our own president cowers amidst pre-screened sycophants as his lackeys hide protestors behind barricades and within “Free-Speech Zones.” (Have you ever heard of anything as un-American as a Free-Speech Zone? It’s despicable.) So to me, the question isn’t “Why did Columbia allow Ahmadinejad to speak?” After all, this is America. Most of us aren’t afraid of words. The question is “Why is OUR president, with the unimaginable power of the United States of America behind him, personally such an intellectual coward?” And, of course, why does our media put up with it?

By: Banjo

Banjo — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:07:11 +0000

Bollinger will be kept busy in coming weeks explaining why he’s getting so many kudos from the right.