Words, Words, Words...

...as the Bard said.

An odd confluence of words is at the heart of world events today.

First, finds us contemplating the appearance of, as the Daily News today describes it "evil"Ahmadinejad is scheduled to make an appearance at Columbia University to speak to a forum there, where undoubtedly he will face hostile questions after his remarks and undoubtedly, barring a miraculous maturity on the part of the protestors, some trouble will erupt:

Plans for him to speak at New York's Columbia University have drawn protests from some who say the university should not give a platform to a Holocaust denier accused by Washington of supporting terrorism

Speak he will, however, and I wonder that it's not a good thing that he does.

We (and by we, I mean the American dialogue) spent decades demonizing Saddam Hussein to such an extent that he became an easy mark once we had an excuse to go after him (you'll notice that when an adult was in office, while he was still demonized, that adult was willing to contain him to his crib).

I wonder how willing we would have been to go to war with Hussein if he had spoken, even once, before a hostile American audience or indeed, in front of the United Nations? We as a people would have been able to hear his words and judge him for what he was-- a pompous fool with delusions of grandeur.

Too, with Ahmadinejad, let us hear what he has to say to us. I have no doubt he'll have polished up his words to placate Americans (and to show Iranians back home that he can be conciliatory ahead of an election there), but in front of a hostile, a truly hostile crowd, I have no doubt his views will be fully explored.

Columbia, after all, isn't Liberty University.

More to the point, even just showing up in front of a hostile crowd will make Ahmadinejad twice the man our alleged President is, which brings me to our second set of words:

“She's [Hillary Clinton] got a national presence and this is becoming a national primary,” Bush tells author Bill Sammon in the bombshell book, EVANGELICAL PRESIDENT, set for release Monday. “And therefore the person with the national presence, who has got the ability to raise enough money to sustain an effort in a multiplicity of sites, has got a good chance to be nominated.”

(no link to the book)

One wonders what febrile seizure clamped onto Bill Sammon's brain to make him do what journalists worldwide would tell you is a no-no: "pipe" a quote, or put words in the mouth of someone in your article/book.

Unless you are marking it as "fiction," and considering that Sammon is a Fox News correspondent, one wonders if that line has become blurred in Sammon's smoked mind.

I mean, come on, Sammon! Bush? Multiplicity???? He probably thinks that's a town just north of New Orleans!

"Big Stretch" Sammon, you might recall, was the reporter at Bush's press conference last week who asked Bush about the Moveon.org ad, which allowed Bush to end his press conference with a savage attack...about a newspaper advertisement.

Must be slow on the right wing these days. "Big Stretch"...an appropriate nickname for Sammon.

I'd prefer "Red Herring" but that's just me.

Contrast, tho, the styles of the two "world leaders", both of whom are ineffectual in their own lands, save for a small but rabid minority who would die rather than admit the liberalization of their countries. Ahmadinejad would face down his critics, and confront them.

Bush hides behind the skirts of "Big Stretch" and others who are dumb enough to take the potshots that ultimately make their way to Bush's feet anyway.