What counts as "controversial?"

Is anyone surprised by what the right-wing attack machine are up to anymore? Has the David Horowitz crowd worked behind the scenes to block an academic appointment in History and Sociology for the eminent Middle East scholar Juan Cole?

Juan Cole, one of the country’s top Middle East scholars, was poised for the biggest step of his career. A tenured professor at the University of Michigan, Cole was tapped earlier this year by a Yale University search committee to teach about the modern Middle East. In two separate votes in May, Cole was approved by both the sociology and history departments, the latter the university’s largest.

The only remaining hurdle was the senior appointments committee, also known as the tenure committee, a group consisting of about a half-dozen professors from various disciplines across the university.

Last week, however, in what is shaping up as the latest in a series of heated battles over the political affiliations of Middle Eastern studies professors, the tenure committee voted down Cole’s nomination. Several Yale faculty members described the decision to overrule the votes of the individual departments as “highly unusual.”
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But university insiders say that the uncharacteristic rebuff may have been influenced by several factors, central among them the political commentary Cole writes on his blog, “Informed Comment.” They also contend that Cole’s nomination was torpedoed mainly by senior professors in both departments who were concerned with Cole’s controversial persona.

So, the likes of Ann Coulter can personally attack 9-11 widows and she is embraced, while someone with a brain in their head who simply and articulately discusses Middle Eastern issues is called "controversial."

So, what is next?

Just think about it. If the right-wing truly wanted to be honest about what they are doing, they could shape academic discourse for years to come.
The Rush Limbaugh chair in Media Studies? The Michael Savage Endowed Fellow of History and Biology? Or how about the George Walker Bush Department of Christian Philosophy and Military Studies?

What a mad world we live in.