John McCain piped up about the recent visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Columbia University. The Arizona senator blasted the school for allowing the foreign leader on campus, but not the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).
Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, who gave a scathing introduction to Ahmadinejad during his appearance at the university’s Manhattan campus Monday, has voted to not allow ROTC to return to Columbia as a campus institution. The reason, he has said, is because of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — the government’s policy toward the service of gays and lesbians in the military.
“To not allow the ROTC … to try to recruit or discuss issues with young men and women on their campus is just disgraceful,” McCain said.
It has often struck me as odd, and hypocritical, of Republicans that claim the U.S. is at war for freedom and the liberties that we hold so dear, and then seek to stifle speech of political opponents, foreign and domestic.
Ahmadinejad’s appearance provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and added value, in calling out the Iranian president’s idiotic statements of the last several years to his face, rather than through the newspapers and from the safe confines of television studios.
5 Responses to “McCain Blasts Columbia for Ahmadinejad Appearance”
I actually think the ROTC should be allowed on campuses, generally. Banning it has never made any sense to me. And Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is an execrable policy, but I think we should be taking it up with Congress and the administration, not recruiters.
That said, all the wailing about Ahmadinejad is pathetic. We could handle Khruschev touring America, but we can’t handle this tinpot dictator airing his noxious views? Have Republicans become so weak that they can’t out-debate a dimwitted petty tryant?
Edit: I should have said tinpot puppet, not dictator. Amadinejad is all the more a clown because he doesn’t even hold the real power in his country.
its not about out-debating him, selecting him for what was a very selective series of speakers gives him credibility that he normally wouldn’t have. just look at how iran’s propoganda state media spun the event. it put him on a higher level that he didnt deserve to be at. hell, he should have been arrested for his confessed involvement in the 1979 hostage crisis.
[...] McCain Blasts Columbia for Ahmadinejad Appearance [...]
Something to say?
I have a (non-rhetorical) question: when was the last time a US President spoke publicly before a possibly hostile foreign audience? How about ANY US politician of any standing? I don’t mean in a place like Iran — but how about France or Germany or even Canada? I’m not saying it never happens — maybe it does, but I never hear about it. Foreign trips seem to consist entirely in state visits and anodyne press conferences. It would be nice if we could show the world what freedom of speech and dissent means when we go out into the world, and not be shown up by a crazy person.
Left by The Sleep Thief
September 25, 2007 at 2:33pm