www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=85098
Scores of New School students held orange signs, and a few banners, reading "McCain Does Not Speak For Me," and "Our Commencement Is Not Your Platform." What began as mild rumblings of disapproval before McCain's speech soon exploded into boos, catcalls and turned backs. The spark was provided by undergraduate keynote speaker Jean Sara Rohe, a composed, seemingly innocuous jazz musician and singer. After beginning with a short folk song (true to classic graduation speech form) Rohe quickly tossed aside her prepared remarks to directly address McCain. "This ceremony has become something other than the celebratory gathering it should be," Rohe said. "The Senator does not reflect the ideals on which this school was founded. This was a top-down decision in which the students played no part." "I consider this a time of crisis and I feel compelled to speak," Rohe continued, referencing McCain's speech at Falwell's Liberty University last Saturday. She paraphrased McCain's words on the folly of youthful stubbornness and ignorance. "I am young, but I do know that pre-emptive war is dangerous and wrong," she said. "Osama bin Laden has not been found, nor those weapons of mass destruction." The vast majority of the crowd gave her a standing ovation. The Senator spoke in a dull monotone, without his usual charisma or charm. He was noticeably deflated by the crowd's harsh reception towards him. Remarks such as "I supported the decision to go to war in Iraq," were met with loud boos. "I stand that ground because I believed, rightly or wrongly, that my country's interests and values required it." Sitting directly behind us, Maureen Dowd and Adam Nagourney of the New York Times, chuckled. As McCain droned on, students became increasingly restless. Summing up the mood of the day, another shouted, "We're graduating, not voting."
"I consider this a time of crisis and I feel compelled to speak," Rohe continued, referencing McCain's speech at Falwell's Liberty University last Saturday. I used to have a soft spot for McCain becuase he was, at times, willing to stand up and speak his mind. I vividly remember him standing at the podium, with Bush's arms around him, grinning sheepishly, looking for all the world like a puppy getting his tummy rubbed.
ignore this person ZERO, Maybe fitzgerald was offered a judgeship like the lead prosecutor in the Rush Limbaugh drug case. as for McCain, well how could he back Bush and still be thought of as credible.
ignore this person Not being a McCain fan, I feel bad for him as he was treated rudely by impolite students, the same who will want pay checks from the very crowd they despise.
ignore this person The students are not yet wise and are inexperienced, but they may actually have stregnthened McCains hand. They , as I did, went to school ignorant and came out realizing that one of the things I learned was how much I didn't know, and I showed this all the time, as did the students to McCain and the world.
ignore this person McCain's reception at the New School is the same reception Nancy Pelosi would have gotten at Liberty University. WHY he thought he would receive anything different is nothing short of breath-taking.
ignore this person John, I understand your response, as it's one I hear all the time: When these kids start dealing with the "real world", they'll get "real world" views. I, too, went to college and learned that I didn't know much, and then I, too, began making money. I've been very fortunate in my chosen profession to be very successful, and the money I make should, financially, make me a Republican. Yet there are ideals higher than money, higher than cash flow -- and for that reason, I can only say that I hope these kids do go on to earn money, and that they, too, choose to remain faithful to their youthful idealism. There's no reason to become cold and hard when you get older and wealthier; it only gives you the opportunity to actually *do* something with your age and wealth, rather than just sit back and deride those who don't yet have either.
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