Coming to America

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is coming to America Monday to stir up peaceful discord and cause a lot of overtime for the NYPD.

He got things started on 60 Minutes Sunday night by clumsily parroting almost every single major Democrat talking point used to date:

"This is not Guantanamo Bay. This is not a Baghdad prison. Please, this is not a secret prison in Europe. This is not Abu Ghraib," Ahmadinejad said. "This is Iran. I'm the president of this country!"

There was more, including a reference to Katrina, the 2006 election, an anti-war protest in Washington last week, etc. In other words, very close to the tactics used in the last few al Qaeda tapes. Hey, they're not supposed to be compadres but it makes one wonder.

The Dems should be outraged this little peckerwood is co-opting their talking points. Surely they'd love to come out and publicly nail him but they'd be nailing themselves in the process--a real catch-22 moment. Perhaps they'll be forced to accuse him of being duplicitous, in other words, contend he doesn't believe the things he's saying. But any of them brave enough to attack may get the treatment from the nutroots and Moveon, being lumped in with the angry neocon warmongers. What will they do...

Hopefully the Dean of Columbia was watching 60 Minutes because if nothing else the Pelley interview proves there's absolutely zero value in having this dude over to chat about anything other than modern propaganda techniques (he could actually use some pointers). It also proves beyond any doubt he should not be allowed within twelve miles of Ground Zero. Not to mention nuclear technology.

TAKE AWAY 9/24/07

Outcome? Hard to judge. Bollinger opened with a round of shots to the solar plexis but it's hard to know whether that was planned or in reaction to the negative reaction. It sure seemed real.

As expressed above, my inclination was to just say no, since it was obvious from the treatment he gave to the illegally captured British Marines that this sack of dog doo was only here to spread more propaganda at the behest of his thug leaders, this time using stolen talking points from lefty blogs. He cares as much about honest dialogue as did Hitler, pointed out by Bollinger's list of academic atrocities and proven by his own words about the Holocaust and Iranian homosexuals.

Many figured the Columbia faculty and students would be so awestruck they'd only be capable of a few weak spitballs, giving him a great jumpstart to his American propaganda tour. Yet, this quote is likely to be the most remembered words of the day:

"Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator," Bollinger said, to loud applause.

So, compared to prior expectations Bollinger handed Mahmoud his ass in a bucket today. He displayed the high-mindedness of a classic liberal--concerned about the rights of women and dissidents and of the free speech of people who have none. This is the same passion that led people like Christopher Hitchens to favor toppling Saddam and leads others to want action in Darfur, a far cry from those who shout about pulling troops from Iraq due to a civil war yet advocate deploying them into Sudan's civil war.

We'll continue to see the fallout from Bollinger's words as the week goes on and the bloggers and pundits react. My hope is his words separate some liberal wheat from moonbat chaff. That's asking a lot, I know but his words allowed a glimmer of hope that Americans of both political stripes are still capable of recognizing evil, even if we can't agree on how to handle it.

Oddly, few bothered to query Dubya's thoughts about his foe's proposed visit to hallowed ground until today. I agree with his reaction,

"speaks volumes about really the greatness of America."

..although I would have left out the word 'really'.