Just how low can they go, you ask?
Buck September 7th, 2006 - 5:36 pmHow about we let this story speak for itself…
Massachusetts’ Romney Denies State Escort for Khatami
By Eddie Baeb
Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) — Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said he won’t allow the state to provide a police escort or any other assistance for former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami when he visits to speak at Harvard University.
Romney, a Republican who has said he is considering running for president in 2008, today ordered all state agencies to decline support, if asked, for Khatami’s speech Sept. 10 at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge.
“State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual who supports violent jihad and the destruction of Israel,” Romney said in a statement. The governor also called Harvard’s hosting of Khatami “a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who have lost their lives at the hands of extremists, especially on the eve of the five-year anniversary of 9/11.”
Khatami, who was Iran’s president from 1997 to 2005, is to discuss “Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence” as part of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum, according to a Harvard press release. Khatami founded a nonprofit organization that promotes dialogue between civilizations and cultures and has traveled extensively to speak on the topic, according to the release.
The university in a statement said it plans to go forward with the event as planned and is reviewing security arrangements because of Romney’s decision.
“We are surprised and disappointed by Governor Romney’s position,” Harvard said in the statement e-mailed tonight to reporters by spokeswoman Melodie Jackson. “Governor Romney has been a friend of the school, and has spoken here in the past. We can understand and often share his disagreement with the positions of Khatami; the school nonetheless believes that active and open dialogue are a critical part of effective education and policy.”