Ah, Tolerance
John McCain had a liberal dose of tolerance when he spoke at the commencement ceremony at the New School. Or is that a dose of liberal tolerance. Some people decided to heckle and one "distinguished" student speaker decided it was her moment to be insufferably rude to McCain.
But Kerrey's remarks were immediately overshadowed by those of Jean Sara Rohe, one of two distinguished seniors invited by the university's deans to address the graduates.
Beginning by singing a wistful folk tune calling for world peace, Rohe announced she had thrown out her prepared remarks to address the McCain controversy directly.
"The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded," Rohe proclaimed to loud cheers, with McCain sitting just a few feet away.
She added that she knew what McCain would be saying to the graduates since he had promised to deliver the same speech he gave at Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University last weekend and Columbia University on Tuesday.
"He will tell us we are young and too naive to have valid opinions," Rohe said. "I am young and though I don't possess the wisdom that time affords us, I do know that pre-emptive war is dangerous. And I know that despite all the havoc that my country has wrought overseas in my name, Osama bin Laden still has not been found, nor have those weapons of mass destruction."
Gee, talk about classy behavior.
Anyone who has read this blog knows I am an absolutist on free speech and do not like John McCain because he has announced publicly that he is not. I'm also firmly convinced that there are times and places where the exercise of free speech is boorish. Funerals would be one such place. Commencement ceremonies would be another. In insisting on exercising their right to free speech, the people who acted as they did effectively ruined the event for those who just wanted to have a graduation, not a political rally.
Oh, and Jean, repeating someone's shopworn talking points isn't speaking truth to power. It's just being rude.
Left Wing, The Ivory Tower | Gaius Saturday, 20 May , 2006
By Michelle Murphy, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 8:09 am
You are an absolutist on free speech except not at commencements??? Young people can’t handle the truth? The government should pre-approve all graduation speeches so that they only say the current party line? You seemed to have painted yourself into an absolute corner.
By Gaius, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 8:10 am
You seem to be absolutely unable to comprehend the written word.
By Juggler, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 11:15 am
So, was McCain wrong to state that he supported the Iraq war?
The New School has a long tradition of liberal politics, so it’s hard for me to believe that McCain was surprised by the reception he got.
Let me ask you, if you were asked to speak at a commencement ceremony, and it turned out that Hillary Clinton was the main speaker, would you not mention anything about your disagreements with her? Bear in mind that you likely will never again have an opportunity to confront her with your disagreements.
By Gaius, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 11:22 am
No I would not. Wrong place, wrong time. It’s called manners, juggler. Something the left seems unable to understand anymore.
By Juggler, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 12:01 pm
I have less of a problem with Jean Sara Rohe’s comments than McCain being booed.
Yes, there are plenty on the left with bad manners. As there are on the right–I’d have to say that Rush Limbaugh making fun of then-13 year-old Chelsea Clinton’s looks was boorish, too.
If you listen to right-wing talk radio, the hosts cut off people mid-sentence and call them names.
And you know what, so does Randi Rhodes. Like with Patriotism, neither side has a monopoly on good or bad manners.
By Black Jack, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 1:17 pm
Tony Blankley got it right when he identified the Democrat Party as too loathsome to be seen in public. Contrary to the above, all you have to do is visit a few of the Lefty sites to see the most ignorant, vile, and racist comments expressed in gutter language. The ongoing series of despicable attacks on Michelle Malkin’s race happen to be front and center today.
Contradict Lefty dogma and watch the racist hatemongers howl like a pack of mad dogs. Michelle Malkin, Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas, Mike Steel, the list is long and every time a minority individual refuses to knuckle under to the Left’s totalitarianism, the haters come out from the muck and start in with the racist hate speech. What a disgusting example of the true face of liberalism caught when the mask slips and we see what’s actually behind all the double talk and tap dance, racism and hate, that’s all there is.
By Juggler, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 3:14 pm
I honestly haven’t seen any attacks against Michelle Malkin that targeted her race, but I check a fairly limited number of sites. Care to give any examples?
By Gaius, Saturday, 20 May , 2006 @ 3:20 pm
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005232.htm
By Juggler, Sunday, 21 May , 2006 @ 12:51 pm
Soimehow that seems like nothing compared to conservatives’ support for the Minutemen, whose co-founder, Chris Simcox, said:
“Oh, Jesus, it is unbelievable. I mean, we need the National Guard to clean out all our cities and round them up. They are hard-core criminals. They have no problem slitting your throat and taking your money or selling drugs to your kids or raping your daughters and they are evil people.”
Members of the Minutemen have also called for illegal immigrants to be shot or to be left to die of dehydration.
By Gaius, Sunday, 21 May , 2006 @ 1:12 pm
Yeah, well members of the left are currently calling soldiers “babykiller” and worse. So if you want to start conflating things we can.
By Juggler, Monday, 22 May , 2006 @ 12:28 pm
Care to give any examples?
And gee, isn’t calling murder more severe than calling people names, even if they are really nasty names?
By Gaius, Monday, 22 May , 2006 @ 12:45 pm
Go look at patriotboy yourself