Demagogue

Jim Gilchrist, head of the Minuteman Project, was recently invited to speak at Columbia University in New York City by a campus Republican group.

Obviously, Gilchrist's group sparks intense feelings on all ends of the political spectrum. Groups that find the Minuteman Project's activities offensive had every right to stage a protest outside the hall where he was speaking. Or to engage in leafletting. Or to schedule a speaker representing the other side.

Instead of using one of these options, protesters appeared at the Gilchrist event, angrily approached him and essentially pressured him to leave the stage.

The Hartford Courant has published this editorial rightly criticizing the protesters' actions. This freedom-of-speech-for-our-side crap is getting on my nerves.