From this morning's NRO:

Ahmadinejad scolded Bollinger for his scathing introduction, and was interrupted by applause when he told him, "In Iran, we actually respect our speakers"... Many of the students in the audience didn’t seem to mind being lied to, indeed seemed to enjoy it. When Ahmadinejad invited them all to Iran - where perhaps they too can be taken hostage or beaten - they applauded appreciatively. Overall, he probably got a warmer reception than John McCain at the New School a year ago.

Some people have a difficult time understanding just how far the mask of sophistication has slipped in academia, giving way to twisted and seething viciousness. Sometimes you'll catch someone trying to reestablish the facade, talking about the intricacies of American bureaucracy or Iranian politics - always somehow toward the conclusion that AIPAC is too powerful or that Iran isn't a problem. But more and more, the ugliness that used to be denied while keffiyeh-clad activists marched with shrill feminists behind hateful imams who screamed about "Zionist Jews" - that ugliness is now out in the open. Bringing up the obvious fact of Iranian nuclear weaponization - that makes you a neoconservative warmonger who repeates the Bush Administration's lies. Suggesting that Walt and Mearsheimer are anti-Semitic because they used the most vulgar anti-Semitic dual loyalty canards to attack Jews and Christians that Jews have supposedly corrupted - that makes you anti-speech. But advocating the elimination of the Jewish State of Israel - that makes you a brave sophisticate.

The halls of academia are crawling with petulant pedants who make up for their simpering physical and emotional frailness by wallowing in a hollow thuggish braggadocio. They grin with open, ugly resentment when hearing or repeating news about American setbacks or Israeli hardships. They quite simply prefer Iranian and insurgent victories to American or Israeli progress. No amount of post-hoc rationalization or faux sophistication can alter that one very basic fact, which is written all over their smirking faces: they like it when Western countries lose and the representatives of the most brutal and backwards countries on the planet succeed. We'd suggest that they should be ashamed of themselves, but they've already lost what little pride they ever had - pride being a prerequisite to shame - in the bubbling cauldron of their churning self-loathing.

References:
* ‘A Petty and Cruel Dictator’ Lies [NRO]

Previously:
* Random Disgusted Sigh Of The Day - The Exceptions That Columbia University Makes About Israel
* Liberal Cause Celebre Collides With Science: Hysterical Claims Of "Biopiracy" Get Renowned Scientist, TIME "Hero For The Planet" 16 Years In Prison
* Josh Marshall, Liberal Sophisticate: Conservatives Should "Grow Up" About Ahmadinejad's Desecration Of Ground Zero