What do House Guests and Fish have in Common with This Guy?

Is it us or is it getting a bit ripe in here….? In what has seemed like a week-long circus, Iranian strongman, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will be speaking at Columbia University today. Obviously, much has been made regarding whether or not Ahmadinejad really is or isn’t a Holocaust denier and then there’s the business of him alleging that Israel be wiped off the face of the map…. or was the comment taken out of context as part of some Zionist-media conspiracy? To us, its kind of a moot point. Whether or not he actually said those things doesn’t make him any less of a whacko in our book. We just wish the guy would leave… the stench is beginning to rise.

… but back to our man of the moment. The Dean at Columbia who is moderating the event, John Coatsworth has attempted to base his reasoning for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak there by infamously stating that he would’ve allowed Hitler to speak were that cantankerous ol’ rascal, Adolph still around. Hitler…? Hell yeah! We remain skeptical, though, of how enthusiastic he would be if the speaker were instead Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter or the thorn-in-the-side of higher learning, civil rights crusader, Ward Connerly.

And proving that once you start digging yourself a hole in these matters, the only direction you can go is down, Coatsworth attempted to clarify his position by stating that he wouldn’t have invited bad Hitler, only the nicer, more tolerable Hitler when “he had not started the war and the Holocaust had not begun.”… and stuff. Dude! Just shut up!!!

Of course, the whole 1st amendment/free speech argument we’ve heard thrown around is laughable in this situation. Ahmadinejad is not even a U.S. citizen and outside of the U.S. Senate and the Bush Administration, the vast majority of rationally-minded Americans know that Constitutional guarantees are not extended to non-citizens.

Nevertheless, the editorial staff here at BwD is split as to whether or not Columbia should’ve rolled out the red carpet for this bum. The majority camp is of the opinion that you don’t give a platform for lunatics like this to spew their rhetoric and wished that Columbia U. gave this guy a Bronx cheer on their way to running him out of the country as most of the townies there in the Big Apple desire to do.

The minority opinion bases its logic on the thought that sometimes the best way to expose these people is to let them have the bully-pulpit so they can sing to their heart’s content, giving everyone a full dose of their idiocy. You know at some point this guy is going to step in it… you just know it.

We’re interested to hear what you all think. Chime in on poll on right-hand margin and click on link here for story out of New York Daily News.