It turns out that the Ahmadinejad quote, that he was "amazed" that his visit to Ground Zero would be insulting, was actually a misquotation. CBS has now published this correction ...

An earlier version of this story stated that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was "amazed" that most Americans view his visiting ground zero as insulting. Ahmadinejad's quote was in fact in reference to the reporter's point of view as a member of the media. CBS News regrets the error.

Not of any great importance in the context of the whole brouhaha. But interesting nonetheless.

But I'd like to return to my earlier post on Ahmadinejad's attempt to visit Ground Zero and some of the responses to it. The most common argument advanced as to why we shouldn't allow Ahmadinejad at Ground Zero was, 'How could we allow him such a huge propaganda victory?' Either vis a vis his own people or on the world stage.

Many readers put this argument forward in good faith. So I don't want to disrespect that. But when did we become such moral weaklings? And how brittle do we think our national reputation is that it's going to be damaged by Ahmadinejad going down to Ground Zero and at worst spouting off about whatever he wants to spout off about. To put it succinctly, who cares? Why should we care what he says? If there are any propaganda victories to be had I think the spectacle of our national overreaction has provided him with quite a nice one. But again, who cares? Am I alone in thinking that our national greatness and stature is best displayed by our indifference to these things? Especially when free speech and letting even the obnoxious have their say are supposedly central to who we are? But again, indifference. Who cares what he says?