Barbara Bush And The West Coast Harridan

What do you say we close out the week with a look at an unpleastant woman? 

Until Tuesday evening most of us had never heard of Randa Jarrar, a creative writing professor at Fresno State.

I mean, why would we? 

But minutes after news broke that beloved former First Lady Barbara Bush had died at age 92 and tributes to the wife and mother of presidents were spontaneously pouring in, this turd in the national punchbowl Tweeted this:

“Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F--- outta here with your nice words.”

In case you thought she wasn't serious, she followed up:

“IPSA: either you are against these pieces of s--- and their genocidal ways or you're part of the problem. That's actually how simple this is. I'm happy the witch is dead. Can't wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million iraqis have. byyyeeeeeee.”

Yep, as the nation mourned, one vicious college professor merrily insulted the dead woman and wished her entire family dead.

Welcome to academia, 2018.

I was on Twitter that night, enjoying all of the warm messages about Mrs. Bush, from political friends and foes alike. Some of the most heartfelt came from Bill Clinton and David Axelrod. 

Folks who knew Barbara Bush shared amusing anecdotes about the “silver fox” and stories about how losing her daughter Robin, at age 3, profoundly affected the Bush matriarch for the rest of her life.

I thought how nice it was that Americans could simply come together to mourn a dignified, lovely lady.

But it wasn’t long before Jarrar’s unhinged nastygrams were everywhere.

And, of course, it wasn’t long before outraged folks began to demand that Fresno State sack the mouthy professor.

Jarrar seemed to revel in the attention:

“I will never be fired,” she declared, noting that she held a tenured position and earned more than $100K.

Look, this woman is an abomination. She’s a hateful bigot who apparently wasn't taught the basics of human decency.

Good people don’t dance on graves.

Even so, Americans who value free speech shouldn’t demand that this angry, unhappy woman who wrote obscenity-strewn garbage be fired

Conservatives, especially, who have seen colleges try to silence speakers from the right -  Condi Rice, Ben Shapiro and Ann Coulter come to mind - can use the Jarrar incident to prove that they truly believe in free speech.

If they refrain from calling for her head, that is.

I will say this: If I had a student at Fresno State, and I were paying tuition, I’d refuse to allow that kid to enroll in any class taught by Jarrar.

If I were an alum, I might skip a contribution to this year’s annual fund to signal my displeasure.

On Thursday, the provost of the university said tenure does not mean a prof is bulletproof. Jarrar  may, indeed, lose her job.

That would be a pity.

Colleges and universities should allow all points of view. 

Conservative. Liberal. And just plain ugly.