WHO'S YOUR BUDDY? Ahmadinejad (Photo: Getty Images)
With so much rhetoric flying around today, it's tough to keep track of who loves free speech and who hates Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Radar makes it easy. For example:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg totally loves anyone as short as him and says Columbia officials "have the right to invite who they want."

Hillary Clinton loves anyone who will take the heat off her and Norman Hsu, saying, "If I were a president of the university, I would not have invited him. He's a Holocaust denier. He's a supporter of terrorism. But I also respect the right in our country to make different decisions."

Who's on Team Mahmoud? Who's on Team Everybody Else? Details after the jump ...

Team Mahmoud (Okay, okay, Team Free Speech)

•"It's extremely important to know who the leaders are of countries that are your adversaries. To watch them to see how they think, to see how they reason or do not reason. To see whether they're fanatical, or to see whether they are sly."—Lee Bollinger, Columbia University President

• "This trip gives the president a good chance to meet world leaders and inform them of Iran's rightful position"—Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Chairman for the Committee for Foreign Policy and National Security of the Islamic Consultative Committee

• "If Hitler were in the United States and wanted a platform from which to speak, he would have plenty of platforms to speak in the United States. If he were willing to engage in a debate and discussion, and be challenged by Columbia students and faculty, we would certainly invite him."—John H. Coatsworth, Dean of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs

• "I'm defending his appearance. I think he should speak. To say "no, he cannot speak," is to support exactly the same thing that happened to me."—Jim Gilchrist, Founder and President of the Minuteman Project

• "It's a free country. We wish the same were true in Iran."—Dana Perino, White House Spokeswoman

• "You know, basically, it seems to me a university's a place where ideas, issues—very controversial issues—should be discussed, can be discussed. Look, if his views are odious, we can say so, but we have a society of openness. If we start censoring in advance what it is we like to hear and what we don't hear, we're on a slippery slope."—Zbigniew Brzezinski,Former National Security Adviser

Team Everyone Else

• "I do not oppose his speaking; I oppose its sponsorship by Columbia University."—Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State

• "It is inappropriate and a perversion of the concept of freedom of speech."—Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League

• "An outrage against civilization."—Newt Gingrich, Former House Speaker, presidential hopeful

• Ahmadinejad "should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not invited to speak for God's sake."—Dov Hikind, New York State Assemblyman

• "A man who is directing the maiming and killing of Americans troops should not be given an invitation to speak at an American university."—John McCain, Arizona Senator, gay sweaterist, presidential hopeful

• "They're providing him a platform which grants him automatic legitimacy."—Michael Miller, Head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York

• "Now, there are people who believe that Ahmadinejad should be allowed to visit Ground Zero, because this would show the world that 'America is the land of the free,' a tolerant society. But Talking Points is tired of that."—Bill O'Reilly, political blowhard

• "He can say whatever he wants on any street corner—but should not be given center stage at one of New York's most prestigious centers of higher education."—Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council

• "I think it would have been a travesty [for Ahmadinejad to visit Ground Zero]. This is somebody who is the president of a country that is probably the greatest sponsor—state sponsor—of terrorism."—Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State

• "I think the invitation [to the UN] should be withdrawn. I think instead, Ahmadinejad should be indicted under the Genocide Convention."—Mitt Romney, Former Massachusetts Governor, presidential hopeful, Mormon

• "Although we believe in free and open debate at Columbia and should never suppress points of view, we are also committed to academic standards. A high-quality academic discussion depends on intellectual honesty but, unfortunately, Mr. Ahmadinejad has proven himself, time and again, to be uninterested in whether his words are true."—David Schizer, Dean of the Columbia Law School

• "We have an obligation because of the UN to allow him to come to this country. It doesn't mean we have to make him welcome. We don't have to give him a forum."—Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the New York State Assembly

• "It's a perversion of free speech."—Rabbi Avi Weiss, Head of the Coalition of Jewish Concerns