Although Buchanan admitted that this position was extreme and "could have been better stated," he said many of his past comments regarding issues like women and the Holocaust had been taken "remarkably out of context."

Still, several audience members hissed in protest.

One male audience member even stood up and asked the presidential hopeful for a date.

"Can I ask Shelly?" Buchanan quipped, referring to his wife who was seated in the front row.

Before the speech, a group of students from the Harvard Law School (HLS) and the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) distributed packets of press clippings to people entering the forum, in protest of Buchanan's speech.

"The articles focused on the things we find objectionable about Buchanan: his bigotry against blacks, gays, women and Jews," Avi M. Bell, a student at HLS, wrote in an e-mail message. "One article focused on his praise for Adolf Hitler and his associations with the movement to deny the Holocaust. Another was an article by Buchanan from last year in which he wrote that Harvard has too many non-whites and non-Christians and that action must be taken to rectify the problem."

Helen Springut '03, who watched the event, said her fellow audience members were right to criticize Buchanan for his past statements and said she felt some of his current political opinions were just as disturbing.