at Bollinger in the name of academic freedom! Iranians respect it more than Lee Bollinger, is what I’m getting from the Iranian president, now speaking at Columbia.

He also said that Bollinger was rude to his guest, which was fine, but insulting to his students — for not letting them make up their own minds.

He excused Bollinger, though, knowing he is subject to pressing criticism for inviting Ahmadinejad in the first place. So Bollinger had to put on a show, Ahmadinejad seemed to explain.

Ahmadinejad knows how to play the spin game, that’s for sure.

I hope he has a big posse he brought with him, because he has a cheering section.