'And don't even get me started on the Jews'

Well, Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers, known in academic circles as “Crazy Larry,” is at it again. Fresh on the heels of his comments about how there may be a biological reason women don’t do as well as men in the sciences (something about missing that nerd gene), he apparently made remarks about Native Americans that some, according to the Boston Globe, thought sounded like “an effort to downplay Colonial violence.” Next thing you know he’ll be saying nice things about Columbus.

What is to be learned from this? Well, for one thing, Larry should probably avoid speaking in front of crowds, at cocktail parties, or to his barber. I say this because of some other comments I’ve found in transcripts of his speeches which are bound to come back and haunt him sooner or later. Here’s a sample:

· “Has anyone considered that maybe the Nazis were just misunderstood?”

-- April 12, 1998, at a Hadassah luncheon in Newton, Mass.

· “Studies have shown that there is very real evidence that Polish people, while loveable, are not especially bright.”

-- Jan. 26, 2002, addressing a conference on the Euro in Uppsala, Sweden.

· “I wouldn’t say I have empirical data, but it’s certainly worth studying the obvious natural predilection of Latinos toward the janitorial sciences. And baseball.”

-- March 12, 1996, in a keynote speech to the Society of Latino Janitors and Baseball Players.

· “I just can’t understand these guys who have a thing for fat broads.”

-- July 14, 1991, opening for Andrew Dice Clay in Atlantic City, N.J.