Columbia U Compares Ann Coulter to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Columbia University recently announced that it will host conservative author and Meghan McCain-nemesis Ann Coulter at the beginning of May.

In preparation, the editorial staff of the Columbia Spectator published an op-ed asking attendees to be respectful of Coulter, but I think they had an odd way of making the point:

While not a politician herself, Ann Coulter is a public figure known for her controversial political opinions. The invitation follows the trend of hot-button public figures-such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist-coming to campus. One purpose of a university is to encourage its students to examine and revise their preconceptions, and hosting Ann Coulter has the potential to engage stimulating debate.

This is amusing on a few levels. There's the obvious, asking people to be respectful of Coulter while lumping her in with a reviled dictator, but there's the intellectual dishonesty as well.

When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia in 2007, the University's president, Lee Bollinger, was anything but respectful, taking potshots at the Iranian president from the podium. While you might not like Ahmadinejad, inviting him to your college only to trash him is a weaselly move, like punching a guy when your buddies are holding him down.

Now, Columbia is asking its students to show a level of decorum which its own president couldn't maintain with a guest that he invited.

As a liberal, I'm no fan of Ann Coulter's. I think she's a third-rate comic whose material would seem dated to Vaughn Meader. Nothing? Yakov Smirnoff? However,I also don't approve of taking shots at easy targets when they can't really defend themselves.

Many liberals cheered, to their shame, when Coulter was attacked with pies at the University of Arizona in 2004. Even people we don't like deserve to feel safe. At the time, Coulter said she was thinking of traveling with a bodyguard. While it is sad that she has had to go that route, I had a chance to chat with her (very scary) bodyguard at CPAC this year, and I'm happy to report that she's in good hands.

So, unless they want to ingest their own teeth, I suggest Coulter's detractors avoid the stage altogether. Besides, the audience for Coulter's brand of verbal toxicity is dwindling. The best strategy for her opponents is to just keep her talking.

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