There’s just something painful about watching desperate people lash out wildly. Two weeks ago, Republican supporters of Bush’s Iraq policy decided that the single most important issue in the country was a newspaper ad from MoveOn.org.

By all appearances, Republicans would love to keep MoveOn’s ad on the front-burner indefinitely, but the fickle political world can only tolerate so much obsession with trivia. So, the they’ve decided that Columbia University is the new Public Enemy #1 because it offered a forum to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

[Yesterday,] Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said in a statement that if Columbia University President Lee Bollinger “follows through with this hosting of the leader of Iran, I will move in Congress to cut off every single type of Federal Funding to Columbia University.” […]

Appearing on Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto after the speech, Hunter said that he plans to follow through on his threat and will now “initiate legislation, and try to get as many people as can see it my way, to cut off funds to Columbia University.”

As Kevin Drum asked, “Don’t Republicans have anything better to do?” Apparently not.