Ahmadinejad the Homophobe

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the verbal bitch slap Columbia University president, Lee Bollinger, delivered to Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today in lieu of an introduction, I was pretty creeped out by Ahmadinejad's speech and his responses to the questions afterwards. His speech and responses were very clearly planned, for every attack of his past behavior and statements he had ready spin. Instead of admitting to being a Holocaust denier, he claimed to be a scholar who just wanted to review the facts a little more. When asked about the ill treatment of women in his country, he claimed they were treasured. He professed a love of democracy and free speech. He danced around most of the questions and wouldn't provide straight answers. To the uninformed, he did not seem like a psychopath. I was starting to get worried he wouldn't make an obvious ass of himself. But then, oh joy, although he had to be asked twice, he finally responded to a question about his execution of homosexuals. It seemed to be one question he wasn't prepared for. He seemed a little set back and stated that homosexuality wasn't a phenomenon that occurred in Iran. He laughed a little uncomfortably and asked, "Who told you it did?" The audience erupted into laughter. In one fail swoop he went from the president of a country to something as common and pathetic as a homophobe. Tee Hee.