Monday, April 26, 2004

Cheney in Missouri

Lifting an entire Josh Marshall post:

Dick Cheney goes to Westminster College, the site of Winston Churchill's 'iron curtain' speech, and embarrasses himself by sandbaging the University President who accepted Cheney's request to speak at the college.

Here's the first graf of an email President Fletcher M. Lamkin sent to faculty, students and staff this afternoon ...
I would like to thank each and every one of you who were so courteous and respectful to Mr. Cheney during his visit and speech. Frankly, I must admit that I was surprised and disappointed that Mr. Cheney chose to step off the high ground and resort to Kerry-bashing for a large portion of his speech. The content and tone of his speech was not provided to us prior to the event -- we had only been told the speech would be about foreign policy, including issues in Iraq. Nevertheless, I was extremely proud of the students, staff, and faculty who represented the College so well during the organization of the visit and during the speech itself -- inside and outside of the gym.

More background in this AP article.


Actually, I doubt if Oil Slick Dick embarrassed himself, even though he embarrassed Mr. Lamkin. And, frankly, I doubt if the students at this college in Fulton, a small town near the State capitol, had any problem with Kerry bashing. I'd like to be wrong on that, but it's really a very conservative place, and they are probably, for the most part, Bush supporters.

Still, hooray for Mr. Lamkin.

And, from the AP article:

Westminster College's president said Monday he was so "surprised and disappointed" by Vice President Dick Cheney's attacks on John Kerry during a speech that he is inviting the Democrat to visit for a reply.

...Lamkin, who described himself as a split-ticket voter, said he tends to be a bit on the conservative side because of his military background. He is a former administrator at West Point.

"I'm pretty independent," Lamkin said. "I can't tell you I am for one or the other, I'm not. As a college president, I try to remain someone who has all viewpoints represented on the campus fairly and equally."

Lamkin said he was not expecting a speech minus any mention of presidential politics during an election year, but that the second half "was all about politics and a political stump speech and in that respect it was disappointing."


....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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