BILL IS BACK
Look who is coming to speak at the U of M, as part of the Carlson Lecture
Series: Bill Clinton.
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/carlson/
Also, look at the list of past speakers--you have to go all the way back to
1988 to find a conservative on the list (Bill Buckley), and prior to that
the series was pretty balanced. Since then, it has taken a sharp left turn.
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/carlson/previous.html
Series: Bill Clinton.
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/carlson/
Also, look at the list of past speakers--you have to go all the way back to
1988 to find a conservative on the list (Bill Buckley), and prior to that
the series was pretty balanced. Since then, it has taken a sharp left turn.
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/carlson/previous.html
5 Comments:
So you want affirmative action for conservatives on college campuses?
Why aren't you counting when Ken Starr spoke at the Silha Lecture?
http://www.silha.umn.edu/SilhaLecture03pix/index.htm
So you want affirmative action for conservatives on college campuses?
Do you prefer the taxpayer-funded monopoly of liberal-only speakers? It's hardly "affirmative action" to ask for at least an attempt to demonstrate fairness since we're all paying for it.
I meant to write something about this at SwanBlog, but you beat me to it.
Then-VP George HW Bush was practically booed off the stage in 1987. I was at the speech. The Progressive Student Organization was at the height of its post-Vietnam activism, in recent years having successfully stopped CIA recruitment on campus and University investment in South Africa. The PSO had activists in all four corners of Northrop Auditorium (left and right balcony, left and right main floor). They chanted throughout the speech, including the Q and A segment. Bush Sr. endeared himself to me by taunting the protestors at various points. He said they had nothing on the West German protestors who stoned his motorcade. He even said, "Amy, are you out there?" (reference to former First Daughter Amy Carter's activism)
The protestors at the Bush speech had baggies of powder, apparently a reference to allegations that the CIA sold cocaine in South Central LA to finance the Contras. Can you imagine getting a bag of powder past the Secret Service post 9/11?
I heard that Jean Kirkpatrick was also booed at her Carlson Lecture Series speech.
The Buckley speech was a somber affair, unlikely to provoke protests. The campus newspaper covered Rob Lowe's visit on page one (before Lowe's scandal at the Dem Convention hit the tabloids), with Buckley appearing somewhere inside the paper.
Anyway, the decision not to invite conservative speakers was initially a practical one to avoid the protests.
That conservatives have spoken elsewhere on campus (invited by Silha or a student group) is not the point. The high publicity, high honorarium program goes exclusively to liberal speakers nowadays.
On the affirmative action point, conservatives advocate diversity of thought on campus. There is nothing hypocritical about being against reverse discrimination, but seeking ideological balance in a lecture series.
Do you prefer the taxpayer-funded monopoly of liberal-only speakers? It's hardly "affirmative action" to ask for at least an attempt to demonstrate fairness since we're all paying for it.
Did you HEAR President Clinton's speech? ALL of it, or just sound bites? We were THERE.
For a moment, set aside convenient labels like red/blue, right/left, conservative/liberal, etc. and ponder these words:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Clinton told the crowd of nearly 5,000 people that the U.S. knows how to help other countries, and will be rewarded for its efforts.
He said the U.S. approval rating went up dramatically in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, after the tsunami, where American humanitarian efforts created goodwill. At the same time, he said, Osama bin Laden's approval ratings plunged, because al-Qaida didn't do anything to help tsunami victims.
"They saw us not dropping bombs, but dropping food and ropes to rescue people," Clinton said. "The same thing has happened in the aftermath of the earthquake in Pakistan, where there's an even tougher, more militant, more anti-American Muslim majority..."
But while humanitarian actions have helped the nation's image, Clinton said the Bush administration's foreign policy has alienated much of the world. He criticized the administration for refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which caps greenhouse gas emissions, and for pursuing military action with little consultation from allies.
Clinton said the U.S. can't kill or jail all of its enemies, and should work to create more partners and fewer foes.
"We will always be a great nation if we do the right things. But as soon as China and India get as rich as we are, whether we will be the only military superpower will be their decision, not ours. ...We should be trying to build a world that we'd like to live in when we're not the only big dog on the block."
Post a Comment
<< Home