Good for Mitt

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney branded former Iranian President Khatami's upcoming visit to Harvard propaganda and refused to provide state services. The State Dept. will be responsible for providing security. (!) Khatami's speech is entitled "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence". Iran has been a state sponsor of terror for 25 years.

Back home in Iran, yet another hanging took place and Khatami's successor Ahmadinejad exhorted students to join him in ridding Tehran U. of "liberal and secular" professors. (Looks like the wrong Iranian president is speaking at Harvard.)

Romney had this to say, Reuters:

Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, called the visit "a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who lost their lives at the hands of extremists, especially on the eve of the five-year anniversary of 9/11." "The U.S. State Department listed Khatami's Iran as the No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism," Romney said. "For him to lecture Americans about tolerance and violence is propaganda, pure and simple."

Seth Leibsohn, NRO had this to say about Khatami's interview in the Washington Post, where Khatami said, among other things "the practical policy of the Islamic Republic has never been to eliminate or wipe Israel off the map". Read the whole thing, but here is a snippet:

You know what these comments reminded me of? What MLK said about the governor of Alabama in 1963: "his lips are dripping with the words of interposition and nullification."

Khatami is fresh from a visit to Chicago (earlier post here), where he spoke at a national Islamic convention, mouthing similar Clintonesque evasions. He was joined there by the infamous Robert Fisk, Jesse Jackson Jr., and cop-killer and domestic terrorist and now Northwestern law Professor Bernadine Dohrn, who spoke on torture. The RCP blog draws attention to the agenda. (Note to Bernadine, another lovely seminar covers the subject of how to beat your wife "lightly" for her own good.)

Maybe in Massachusetts some Kennedy will award Khatami a profile in courage.

Thankfully there is one leader there who speaks the plain truth. Good for Mitt.