The Observation Deck

Today was great day for right wing hypocrisy.

The righties have spent the past few days lambasting Columbia U. for allowing the Iranian president to speak on campus. They said you should never hand a megaphone to a hatemonger. Then, when it was time for the speech, Fox News carried it live so that millions of homes could watch!

If Fox News or a representative of Fox did not make the statement then you really should not hold Fox accountable for other peoples statements /comments... just sayin... Fox covers the news and this was definitely a news story.

BTW.....the prez says that Iran is homosexual-free....if Larry Craig were gay, he'd have to stay out!

Perhaps this explains Ahmadinejad's poor fashion sense.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/2 ... 65666.html

Do you rememebr the suits that they made for the British sailors?

He dresses better then the guy down in Bolivia and does have that "I could hold you hostage for 444 days thus controlling the US Presidential election and negotiating with Reagan a deal to buy guns on the black market" James Dean type hotness

Is he wearing a belt?

People in the audience were actually applauding the rodent. He should not have been given the forum. I hope the State of New York pulls a tidy sum of funding from Columbia. A first year journalism school student could have framed better questions than the wussy soft ball questioner Bollinger.

Columbia is a private school, so I don't think they get direct state funding. I suppose they get research grants and such, but I'm not sure.

Getting back to Stephen's point, I noticed that Hannity was complaining about "giving him a forum" even after Fox aired the speech in its entirety. I'm sure Hannity is also airing lots of clips of the speech.

I watched the MSNBC Dan Abrams show. Abrams, who is actually head of MSNBC, is a Columbia alum who condemed the college. Pat Buchanan, his guest, astutely asked him "then why did you decide to air it?".....just like Ahmedinejad, he didn't answer.

Hannity... He should never ever ever talk about freedom of speech.. His board sucks! (there is no freedom of speech on Hannity's board) I love these republicans who think that they are conservatives...

[quote="Mike Deneen"]Columbia is a private school, so I don't think they get direct state funding. I suppose they get research grants and such, but I'm not sure.
.....

I know the school's private. Columbia receives state funds. Sheldon Silver, President of the New York State Assembly, is taking a hard look at ongoing financial support.

I really don't have a problem with this whole thing. It is a bit ironic that a country that prides itself on free speech is getting so worked up over allowing the head of a state that doesn't have free speech to have a forum. Plus, if you heard the intro and the questions its not like they gave the guy an easy time and cheered his every word. I am actually proud of Columbia and they way they handled it. The president has more guts they most members of congress

David Scott wrote:I really don't have a problem with this whole thing. It is a bit ironic that a country that prides itself on free speech is getting so worked up over allowing the head of a state that doesn't have free speech to have a forum. Plus, if you heard the intro and the questions its not like they gave the guy an easy time and cheered his every word. I am actually proud of Columbia and they way they handled it. The president has more guts they most members of congress

But he is not an American citizen... Is he really entitled to our freedoms?

He is entitled to nothing. Who invited him?

Okay, so the guys a jerk. But he is here and willing to talk. Do we really think a pre-emptive nuclear strike is needed against Iran?

I think we need to engage him - get him talking - maybe we can find some common ground. When we engage in war - particularly nuclear war - we have no control over the outcome and where it will end. We really need to try diplomacy first and keep at it.

We don't need to just talk with our friends - we need to talk particularily with our enemies. During the cold war - we talked to Russia. Nixon went to China and they were still communists.

Columbia didn't accept what he said unchallenged. But they did let him know that there are people in the US that are willing to talk and listen before Nuclear attacks.

Once again, Steve and Frank, you have revealed yourselves and it ain't a pretty sight.

Stephen says: "He is not an American-he isn't entitled to our freedoms."

???????????

Meanwhile, 3500 of our best and brightest have been killed in a foreign country, ostensibly in a quest to bring freedom and democracy to that country.

Meanwhile, the United States lectures the world on the subject of human rights, ignoring it's own pitiful historical record on that subject.

You two are definitely not patriots.

True Patriots understand that freedom is not an American right.

Freedom is a Human Right.

There are 8 year old school children in this world that understand that simple fact. You two should be ashamed of yourselves, but I'm sure you are not.