Monday, May 22, 2006

More On McLiar

Eric Alterman has this on McCain's speech at The New School. I vehemently disagree with Alterman's point that the students should have been polite to McCain. I would ask Mr. Alterman this question - why? But the rest of his post is very good. Here's a selection:
"All this talk of McCain reaching out to both sides by speaking at a “liberal” university and “conservative” university, here, highlights the genuine differences between liberal and conservative. “Conservatives” like Jerry Falwell practice sexism and racism—forbidding inter-racial dating, etc., and accuse their political opponents, like Bill Clinton of drug-running and murder, and making money off of this slander by selling videos. They also announce that the United States got what it deserved on 9/11, though they apologize. Even if you leave Falwell out of the equation, you have to admit, Liberty University is the kind of place where if you do not do as everyone else does in say, matters of religion or sexuality, you are either harassed or banished. Freedom of thought or of speech is anathema."
Lindsay over at Majikthise has another good take on the same subject.
McCain's handlers sent him to The New School as cover for his visit to Liberty University. Rohe was able to get the jump on McCain because he bragged to the media about giving the same speech at all of his commencement gigs. McCain thinks that giving canned commencement speeches proves that he's a man of integrity who doesn't change his message to suit his audience. In fact, it proves that he's a phony and user. He doesn't care about these institutions, these students, or these ceremonies. It's all about him.

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