President Ahmadinejad NY visit hysteria

... The New York tabloid press has been having a field day expressing just how unwelcome the Iranian leader is, with headlines such as "Just Shove Your Wreath," directed at the "evil Iran prez" it described as a "monster."

President George W. Bush offered support to city officials who opposed the Ground Zero visit, saying: "I can understand why they would not want somebody running a country who is the state sponsor of terror down at the site."

Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani, who was New York's mayor at the time of the attacks, had urged city authorities to reject the request.

"This is a man who has made threats against America and Israel, is harboring (Osama) bin Laden's son and other Al-Qaeda leaders, is shipping arms to Iraqi insurgents and is pursuing the development of nuclear weapons," he said.

Ahmadinejad appeared surprised by the storm over the visit, saying in an interview with CBS television: "Why should it be insulting?" He said he would not insist on visiting the site if city officials could not arrange it. Link