Posted on 05/23/2004 5:05:46 PM PDT by 11th Earl of Mar
BY BART JONES STAFF WRITER
May 23, 2004, 7:17 PM EDT
E.L. Doctorow, one of the most celebrated writers in America, was nearly booed off the stage at Hofstra University Sunday when he gave a commencement address lambasting President George W. Bush and effectively calling him a liar.
Booing that came mainly from the crowd in the stands became so intense that Doctorow stopped speaking at one point...
Doctorow, who spent virtually all of his 20-minute address in Hempstead criticizing Bush, told the crowd that like himself the president is a storyteller. But "sadly they are not good stories this president tells," he said. "They are not good stories because they are not true." That line provoked the first boos, along with scattered cheers.
...Those lines provoked an outburst of boos so loud the "Ragtime" author stopped the speech... He attacked Bush for giving the rich tax breaks, doing "a very poor job of combating terrorism" and allowing the government to subpoena libraries "to see what books you've been taking out."
Many parents and relatives were livid over the address... Bill Schmidt, 51, of North Bellmore, shared the outrage. "To ruin my daughter's graduation with politics is pathetic" ...
One Hofstra official said Sunday that while Doctorow had the right to say what he did, he violated the unwritten code that college commencement speeches should inspire and unite a student body. Provost Dr. Herman Berliner said he has been to numerous graduation ceremonies during the past 30 years and "I cannot remember a commencement speech that was as divisive as this commencement speech was."
...
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Bravo for the audience!!!!!
Who is BKO? (I'm sure I'll be slapping my forehead after you tell me)
I think the professor meant to say, ' I wish their parents had been anti-American marxist swine like me and most of the rest of academia."
Like you, I never heard of this dude and he sounds like someone I don't want to hear about. I'm glad he was booed. America is at war against terrorists and we must never forget this fact. I'm glad the students and families realized this.
Great! We need more of this!
Barbara Olson ... her FReeper name was BKO
ping
LOL
That IS what the professor said, just not in so many words. She decided to blame parents that her brand of "anti-American, marxist swine," as you said, did not affect the majority of the graduating class.
Any bets that his next book will be that even the schools reek of McCarthyism? After all, free speech is only a gift to be granted to liberals.
OOOps, my mistake.
"A long time ago he wrote a POS called "Ragtime".
He also wrote, among other things, the novel "World's Fair" in 1985. He's not a terrible writer, just one of what I call the wierd school. That said, he's a huge jerk and quite full of himself.
Old F'n liberals always seem to wear unkempt beards that they think are cool.
-"I guess I'm out of touch. What has he written and why haven't I heard of it?"-
He writes depressing novels only libs would love. I read Ragtime another life ago, and never read another one of his books.
He is only great by liberal standards....(& we know those aren't too high,LOL)
I have a judge who has to at every opportunity, criticize Bush and talk about how evil the war is. I'm getting really tired of it. I mean, he has a captive audience.
No! His mama didn't give the boy any upbringing!
This is wonderful....shout them down !!!
A keynote speaker at State University College at Oswego's graduation ceremony Saturday was drowned out by booing, hissing and foot-stomping after he criticized President Bush.
Theodore C. Sorensen, a lawyer and author who served as special counsel to President Kennedy, never said Bush's name. But he took the president to task for going on vacation after warnings of terrorist attacks surfaced, declaring war without allied support and gloating about a victory.
Sorensen compared the ways Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 to the methods Bush used to handle the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"President Kennedy did not proceed unilaterally, without obtaining the support of our allies and without recourse to the United Nations," he said.
As Sorensen spoke, one student's mother stood up and ordered him off the stage. A graduate yelled, "Are you serious?" but another quickly chimed in, "Let the man finish his speech."
The noise got so loud that Sorensen, who spoke into a microphone, at times could not be heard. More than half his speech was overpowered by audience rumbling and shouting.
"It was just like a slap in the face," said Mary Sheldon, of Lorraine, Jefferson County, whose daughter Johanna Besaw graduated Saturday with an English degree. "We came here to be supportive of our kids and their achievements. It wasn't the time or the place for politics."
Sheldon's son, David Dreier, 25, received notice Thursday that he will be shipping out to Iraq with the National Guard. The family left Romney Field House, where the ceremony was held, midway through Sorensen's speech.
Charlie Vecchio, 25, a former army soldier originally from Manlius, disagreed with Sorensen's views but had more of a problem with the audience.
"People's reactions were a little outrageous," he said. "I have friends who died so we could say what we want. That's part of why our soldiers are over there, for our right to freedom of speech."
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