From The Consortium News
By Robert Parry

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad grabbed attention this past week for his “defiant” posture towards the United Nations over Iran’s nuclear program and his asinine comments at Columbia University on the absence of homosexuality in his home country.

As usual, any legitimate points Ahmadinejad may have made were lost or drowned out in the uproar over his more controversial remarks.

But what may be more revealing than what the speeches tell us about him as a man, or even about the worsening tensions in U.S.-Iran relations, is what the reaction to his visit says about the state of democratic discourse in America.

In a replay of the hate-filled hysteria over Iraq’s Saddam Hussein that swept the nation in fall 2002, the U.S. political and media establishment lashed out without restraint against the Iranian president.

The one-sided condemnations of Ahmadinejad also contrasted with the uncritical praise for George W. Bush after his UN speech on Sept. 25, urging the UN to more aggressively promote human rights and oppose authoritarian regimes around the world.

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