Meet the New Boss….
John McCain – a man I once had respect for – is complaining about the icy reception he had when he delivered the commencement address at The New School
McCain, who appeared at a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial hopeful David Emery, told reporters he was saddened by the reception he received Friday from hecklers during his commencement speech at the New School. Dozens of faculty members and students had turned their backs and raised signs in protest.
The New School had been roiled in controversy for weeks over the selection of McCain to deliver the commencement address. Some 1,200 students and faculty signed petitions asking the university’s president to rescind the invitation. Petitioners said McCain’s support for the Iraq war and opposition to gay rights and legal abortion do not keep with the prevailing views on campus.
I had a friend who was in the graduating class at New School this year, and who was in the audience listening to John McCain. What upset her in particular about McCain – who she doesn’t agree with politically – was not his political statements, but the fact that he was making those political statements at an event that was supposed to celebrate the graduating class.
She likened it to being the bride at the wedding, and the preacher won’t shut up during the ceremony about how great the wedding he presided over last year was and how he worked so hard to make that wedding great, and doesn’t everybody wish they were at that wedding?
The reports I’ve heard say that McCain used his commencement speech at least in part to both explain and praise his own vote in favor of going to war in Iraq. In essence, he delivered a stump speech from the podium. Granted, the environment was already hostile – the students had already petitioned to have him uninvited from the event – but at an event that should have been celebrating the graduating class, he chose instead to build the case for his campaign in the next election. I could argue that McCain needs to learn about appropriate subject matter for a given event, but I think there’s an additional lesson that needs to be learned here.
Take a look at these next two statements from McCain.
“And when I mentioned a friend of mine who had died, people laughed,” McCain added. “I was saddened that these young people live in such a dull world that they don’t want to hear the views of someone who disagrees with them.”
...
“I’ve got to say that maybe the students at the New School could learn a lesson in courtesy from the students at Liberty University,” he said.
Blink. Blink.
I don’t know. It seems like McCain could use some of his own advice there. He seems upset that his audience didn’t treat him with respect because they disagreed with him. And he knows this because the reaction wasn’t as good as the one he got at Liberty University. And he thinks New School should learn some manners from Liberty University. Because, y’know, it was their manners that were lacking. They should have paid quiet attention to dissenting views. Just like the audience at Liberty University.
My brain just got all explodey.
Senator McCain, maybe – just possibly – you got such a polite and well-mannered reception at Liberty University because it is a historically ultra-conservative, fundamentalist religious college started by your good friend Jerry Falwell? Maybe – just maybe – you were not dealing with a polite audience there, but just one that (*gasp!*) shared your political views?
Maybe you just don’t deal well – or politely – with audiences who disagree with you?
Well, at least that puts you in good company in the current administration. Welcome to the Bush leagues, Senator.
May 24th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
If you haven’t seen this Maha entry yet, you might be interested. Turns out that what is really uncivil is disagreeing with the President.