I totally agree - guess I misunderstood your angle.
I just believe it was counterproductive given the cirmcumstances. It just compounded the mistake of inviting him in the first place.
I half agree with you and half think this was a major dose of true freedom - something that Ahmadinejad does not understand. But the more I think about it - the more I lean toward agreeing with you. The Middle East propaganda value will be greater than the possible "awakening" that might take place in this country.
You need to look up the word gratuitous. The insults were not necessary except for Bollinger to cover his butt and not turn off alumni contributions and government grants.
I think you are off the deep in with that comment - there is nothing unwarranted or unjustified about pointing out the reality of the man's own statements and the reality of what is going on in his country. It may be fuel for the propaganda machine - but his statements were the truth and far from gratuitous.
As I mentioned, the only real gaff that Ahmadinejad made was his remark about homosexuals. Hopefully, that will prove to be the focus of the MSM.
That fact he did not answer a single question makes him look like a run-of-the-mill propagandist - the homosexual comment was just the most easily digested bit of lunacy.
Hillary Clinton doesn't answer a single question either, she just spews talking points whether they are germaine or not. Ahmadinejad does the same thing, e.g, he pulled the Palestinian card, which reasonates in many places, including in the US.
That is why it was so stupid to invite him here in the first place. The publicity he will get from this, after all the truth is cut out, after they remove the comments by the Dean, and they erase the hard questions he was asked and could not or did not answer. There is no way anyone in Iran will get to see Ahmadinejad's obvious stupidity and how inept and uneducated he truly is. This is exactly what he wanted.He couldn't have paid for a better propaganda stunt in his country!
He got applause (from some either stoned students or "plants,") he got a crowd to come there (it doesn't matter that the majority were protesting his visit - just the crowd will be shown in Iran and that will be touted as a success), and he got the invitation.
These will carry him a long way in Iran because of how it will be projected there.
How dumb can we be that we have given this this terrorist dictator the opportunity to use our own people to advance his hatred against our country; his reputation, his lies, his prejudices, and his insane policy in his country to his advantage? Didn't anyone at Columbia think how this will be turned around to show we favored him, and used to further strengthen their belief that everyone in the US is against all current U.S policy/leaders? How can a college dean not understand anything about "spins" when it comes to politics, and the way a country and leader like Ahmadinejad will turn this around to make it all appear favorable? In Iran they certainly won't hear the truth about this farce of a speech; they certainly won't be told how dumb and flustered he was, and they certainly won't hear the "boos," -- or any of the after-speech negative commentary and intelligent analysis stating that he "said nothing except lies and drivel," that he received.
I give up when I think of our own ability (and our idealistic naiveté to think these people fight fair!) to put our own heads on the block when it comes to international propaganda! aaa,pa. And we wonder why President Bush says that negotiations/talks with idiots like these are fruitless. Anyone with half a brain has just seen why!