EDITORIAL: Blind hatred of the ROTC ban--Campus lefties bite the hand that defends them

The Washington Times ^ | February 22, 2011 | Editorial

[jazusamo]

Former U.S. ArmyStaff Sgt. Anthony Maschek last week received an unfitting welcome at a town-hall meeting at Columbia University. The Iraq-War-veteran-turned-college-freshman was heckled, mocked and inexplicably called a “racist” during a forum convened to discuss reinstatement of ROTC on campus 43 years after the program’s expulsion. The university gave Iran‘s Islamic strongman Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a warmer welcome than this young man who shed his blood to serve his country.

Mr. Maschek uses a wheelchair to get around as a result of being shot 11 times in combat. Yet Columbia‘s leftists, blinded by their anti-war fervor, refused this disabled veteran even the most basic of courtesy as they sought to prevent him from exercising his right to free speech.

During the Vietnam conflict, military-leadership training programs were booted from some campuses in protest of the war or the draft or both. After U.S. forces withdrew and the draft was repealed, anti-ROTC schools did not change their stance. They just came up with a new justification. Opposition to the program was then a protest against the military’s ban on homosexuals. As a result of the Obama administration‘s embrace of homosexual conduct in the armed forces, it appears university leftists will need to come up with a new excuse.

In his State of the Union address, President Obama called on “all of our college campuses to open their doors to our military recruiters and the ROTC.” Though several schools have discussed bringing ROTC back, no college or university has actually done so.

[jazusamo]

God bless former U.S. Army SSgt. Anthony Maschek for his sacrifice and service to our country.

Leftist scum are leftist scum no matter the decade and Columbia University has them in spades.

[PGR88]

This is what you get when the Gov’t subsidizes “higher education.”

[RightOnline]

Any parent that allows their spawn to attend this cesspool is an idiot. Period.

[Oldexpat]

No University which does not allow an ROTC program on campus or allow recruiters on campus should be prohibited from receiving any federal money..period.

[Oldexpat]

No University which does not allow an ROTC program on campus or allow recruiters on campus should be prohibited from receiving any federal money..period.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is repealed, the liberals are supposed to respect the military again. What happened? What excuse will they use now to loathe the military, now that they can’t say they opposed the military’s “discrimination”????

[jazusamo]

Any parent that allows their spawn to attend this cesspool is an idiot. Period.

Well said!

[colorado tanker]

Calls for “civility” from the left didn’t last long, did they?

[Outrance]

This happened during Vietnam. We should never let it happen again.

Next time he speaks there I would love to see the Patriot Guard, Warrior’s Watch, Nam Knights MC, Leathernecks MC and American Legion Riders make sure he gets to exercise his first amendment right.

[dandiegirl]

Leftisit scum have been really showing their true colors since BO got elected.

[hal ogen]

I heard part of the “student” ranting at the wounded patriot. Now they are bothered that “transgendered” won’t be let in and treated as normal. Would someone please smack the crap out of these disrespectful, naive loser students?

[truthguy]

If I had been POTUS I would have issued an Executive Order that would have cut off all Federal Funds for Universities that denied ROTC Training on their Campuses. This would have included all R&D, all grants in aid and all Direct and Indirect Student Aid.

Legally I don't know if this was possible but I would have done it if at all possible. Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton (not surprising), Bush 2, Obama (really not surprising) have all failed in this regard. Again I'm not sure if this was legally possible but none of these presidents seemed to have the "stones" to do what should have been done. I would have loved to see what places like Columbia and the others would have done. It would have been epic.

[jazusamo]

This happened during Vietnam. We should never let it happen again.

You're absolutely right.

This was a daily occurrence back then and I believed we wouldn't see this in future years, how wrong I was.

[Jaguarmike]

If a university - public or private - bans ROTC from their campus, they in turn should be banned from receiving federal funds.

Career college liberals, I’m convinced, use colleges as their sanctuary because they simply haven’t grown up - they’d never be able to cope in the world of grown ups. Banning federal funds would rip a big hole in that cocoon. They might actually have to get - gulp! - a real job!

[Tanniker Smith]

So much for civil discourse in our higher institutes of learning.
(They are no longer institutes of higher learning.)

[oyez]

With out the American military, we would be living under some foreign military and these elitist free thinkers would be being told how they could think.

[rrrod]

fight on patriots...our day is coming soon!

[Mr. Lucky]

Columbia is a private school and Sgt. Mashek’s attendance there is government subsidized.

[the_Watchman]

The position taken by the left is not even reasonable in their own parlance. Do leftists really want ALL military officers trained in military academies? Shouldn’t they welcome the opportunity to get 4 years to brainwash future military leaders?

[As a conservative, I’m not too keen on having all future military leaders come out of the military academies. Rubbing shoulders with the common folk does them good.]

[Jan Hus]

I heard some student this A.M. on WABC’S “Crummie” program who represented a Transgender (ac/dc/erh?) group that is not allowed to enter the Military.They are against ROTC being activated on the Campus if they are not accepted.Also the President of the University has probably been neutered and has no position up or down.