Ahmadinejad appeared today at Columbia. Things didn't go quite the way that the RightWing echo chamber had hoped...

Iran leader responds to ‘unfriendly treatment’

Columbia president said Ahmadinejad acts like a ‘petty and cruel dictator’

....

Columbia President Lee Bollinger and audience members took Ahmadinejad to task over Iran’s human-rights record and foreign policy, as well as Ahmadinejad’s statements denying the Holocaust and calling for the disappearance of Israel.

Ahmadinejad smiled at first but appeared increasingly agitated, decrying the “insults” and “unfriendly treatment.”

Bollinger said Ahmadinejad’s denial of the Holocaust might fool the illiterate and ignorant.

“When you come to a place like this it makes you simply ridiculous,” Bollinger said. “The truth is that the Holocaust is the most documented event in human history.”

Ahmadinejad rose, also to applause, and after a religious invocation, said Bollinger’s opening was “an insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here.”

“There were many insults and claims that were incorrect, regretfully,” Ahmadinejad said, accusing Bollinger of falling under the influence of the hostile U.S. press and politicians. “I should not begin by being affected by this unfriendly treatment.”

...

Bollinger described Ahmadinejad as having a "fanatical mindset" for making statements like wanting Israel to be “wiped off the map.”

"Do you plan on wiping us off the map too?" Bollinger asked, also asking questions about allegations Iran was supplying insurgents in Iraq. "Can you tell them and us why Iran is fighting a proxy war in Iraq?"

Ahmadinejad responded to boos and cheers that Iran is a "peace-loving nation."

MSNBC

That must've been quite a disappointment, Tom. No vindication of your paranoia and all that jingoistic ranting about pervasive anti-Americanism at America's institutions of higher learning, I'm afraid.

Seriously, Tom, can't you see my point at least now: Ahmadinejad got grilled, roasted, sheskebabed, and generally had his ass handed to him on a platter.

Yet, if your viewpoint had prevailed, Ahmadinejad would have been protected from that experience, never would have faced cross-examination at the hands of the American public. Hell yes it was a good idea to invite him!

Allow me, just this once, to gloat by repeating myself:

C'mon, Tom, even a Winger should be able to figure out that he was commenting on the general case of a head of state visiting the United States on official business. In spite of the malicious editing, he made clear that such a visit is a legitimate opportunity for academics, students, and the public to cross-examine a public figure. Only in the paranoid world of RightWing smears is that cross-examination guaranteed to be friendly. The dean stressed: "If he were willing to engage in a debate and a discussion, to be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him".