Comments on The Anonymous Liberal: Mindless Yahooism

S.W. Anderson,I do get that there are people in Ir...

2007-09-25T07:50:00.000-05:00

S.W. Anderson,

I do get that there are people in Iran who want Ahmadinajed and the mullahs out of power. A lot of them. Like I said, I wasn't at all unhappy about Bollinger's speech, but wonder what the point of it was. He didn't need to invite Ahmadinejad to slam him, and I can believe there will be people who believe Bollinger was very rude. There are a lot of us with our "superpatriot knickers twisted tight over this" who agree with what you are saying.

I think Bollinger's longwinded rant was one of the...

2007-09-24T23:51:00.000-05:00

I think Bollinger's longwinded rant was one of the great COYA pre-emptive strikes of recent times and more than a little feckless. I fully expected at any moment for him to ask Ahmadinejad: "And by the way, do you beat your wife as much as you used to? Answer yes or no!"

Not that the charges Bollinger leveled at Ahmadinejad aren't serious and appalling. They certainly are. But there was an element of ambush and of misrepresentation that made Bollinger look bad in my eyes.

This is because, if I understand correctly, Ahmadinejad was invited to speak and to answer questions from students — not to debate the college president. Ahmadinejad certainly did not sign on to subject himself to a lengthy indictment by the college president, before he could even get a word in edgewise.

As a matter of fairness and common courtesy, Bollinger went too far and for too long, mainly to cover his butt from mindless yahoohism (excellent headline, that).

Steveil, you seem to have your superpatriot knickers twisted tight over this whole episode. You might want to at least consider this.

There are decent people in Iran, I'm sure, who do think generally well of the U.S. (or at least did before the Iraq invasion and botched occupation). These same people, I have read, are less than thrilled with their country's leaders, including Ahmadinejad.

And yet, when one of their leaders goes abroad representing their country and people, I wouldn't be surprised to learn they expect he will be treated with a certain level of courtesy, even if only pro forma. And if he is not, even though they might despise him, I expect they think less of the foreigners who sought to dress him down at length in a public forum.

Maybe Bollinger should've instead challeged Ahmadinejad to come and debate him. Had that been the case, all Bollinger said would've been fair enough.

But Bollinger didn't issue a debate invitation. In the context of what the Iranian president was invited for, he was treated in an unseemly way that reflects badly on Bollinger, on Columbia and on the U.S.

Fair enough. Some are changing their tune. Many ot...

2007-09-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

Fair enough. Some are changing their tune. Many others are stubbornly sticking to the script, though, facts be damned.

I agree, but I think some of those still venting their spleens are wondering what the point of this exercise was. I have to admit that I wonder about that too. I mean, what did it accomplish, what did it prove, rhetorically speaking?

And it's also worth noting that Bollinger made clear over a week ago that this was exactly what he was going to do, so there's really no excuse for any of the attacks that have been leveled on him in the past week.

Yes. However, for years all anybody hears from these university muckity-mucks is hatred of Bush for this, or hatred of Bush for that, and an almost insane defense of the actions of guys like Ahmadinejad. There's been a bunch of posts on the blogosphere that try to say Ahmadinejad is a "bad" guy, but are glad that he badmouths their President. Like many on my side, we didn't trust that Bollinger would say these things, especially since he did nothing to the students who disrupted the speeches from The Minutemen group, and who denies the ROTC from coming on to Columbia.

""""it was Columbia that welcomed him and gave him...

2007-09-24T18:58:00.000-05:00

""""it was Columbia that welcomed him and gave him a stage, a microphone, a vast audience""""Sez Huie??
Did Mr. H bother to inform himself of the visit? I would not consider the university President's remarks much of a welcome. The 'audience' was given the spectacle of Mr. A being called ridiculous, uneducated, tyrannical and dishonest. And there was much more. This was a 15 minute slow motion castration constructed in a way that gave no possibility of face saving on the behalf of the Iranian leader. Columbia should be praised for having the courage to disregard its critics use of tactics similar to those used by Mr. A. To see is to believe...or in this case to disbelieve. A is a jerk and now we have it on video.

Steveil,Fair enough. Some are changing their tune...

2007-09-24T16:58:00.000-05:00

Steveil,

Fair enough. Some are changing their tune. Many others are stubbornly sticking to the script, though, facts be damned. And it's also worth noting that Bollinger made clear over a week ago that this was exactly what he was going to do, so there's really no excuse for any of the attacks that have been leveled on him in the past week.

For the better part of the past week, right wing b...

2007-09-24T15:48:00.000-05:00

For the better part of the past week, right wing bloggers and commentators have been accusing Bollinger of being some sort of anti-American leftist who sympathizes with Ahmadinejad and wants to embarrass President Bush by giving this man a platform to attack him. I wonder if any of them will take those accusations back now. Probably not. Yahoos don't care about facts.

Maybe you should read the comments on your own post before putting in such a ridiculous statement. I've already given Bollinger credit for his speech. So have others on Townhall.com.

Bush/Cheney getting two terms, the occupation of I...

2007-09-24T14:46:00.000-05:00

Bush/Cheney getting two terms, the occupation of Iraq, the intent to bomb Iran, etc., etc. ad naseum....yep "Mindless Yahooism" pretty much covers it;)

I just heard some excerpts from Bollinger's introd...

2007-09-24T14:28:00.000-05:00

I just heard some excerpts from Bollinger's introduction to Ahmadinejad. Ok, here's how I see this playing out. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger will now be accused of being a neocon, of contributing to the evil propaganda of the warmongering Chimpy McBushHitler regime, and of being completely disrespectful and insulting to a visiting head-of-state.

The only thing Bollinger could have done to complete this was to provide tomatoes and eggs that the audience could have thrown at the despicable "president" of Iran. Kudos to Bollinger.

It's damn amusing, for sure.

2007-09-24T13:58:00.000-05:00

It's damn amusing, for sure.

Please stop making so much sense, man, seriously! ...

2007-09-24T11:41:00.000-05:00

Please stop making so much sense, man, seriously! I wonder if this type of behavior would have been allowed (meaning the quotes from various local politicians) pre 9/11.