Someone at the dear old BYU was dumb enough to invite the Dark Lord Cheney to speak at commencement. And students — normally obedient, complacent, and Republican — are taking it to the barricades.
The invitation extended to Vice President Dick Cheney to be the commencement speaker at Brigham Young University has set off a rare, continuing protest at the Mormon university, one of the nation’s most conservative.
Some of the faculty and the 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, who are overwhelmingly Republican, have expressed concern about the Bush administration’s support for the war in Iraq and other policies, but most of the current protest has focused on Mr. Cheney’s integrity, character and behavior.
Really? Like what?
Several students said, for example, that they were appalled at Mr. Cheney’s use of an expletive on the Senate floor in a June 2004 exchange with Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont.
Gah! Right answer, wrong reason! Are naughty words all these people care about?
Here’s someone who gets a bit closer:
“It just feels like too much sleaze and not the right values for B.Y.U.,” Mr. Woodworth said. “We espouse honesty, chastity, integrity, ethics, virtue and morality, and he does not epitomize those values.”
Maybe he knows something about Cheney that I don’t know. I just know that I didn’t need that image.
Several students said they would welcome Mr. Cheney on campus at a forum where he could be questioned. “I just don’t feel that Cheney represents what we want B.Y.U. to represent,” said Sharon Ellsworth, 23, a junior and a Democrat from Marietta, Pa. “It would be cool to have him in a different setting.”
This would be delicious. Imagine Darth thinking he’s heading into the Green Zone, and instead he gets pelted with marshmallows. Stale ones.
But what’s this? A swipe at Bush from the chair of College Dittoheads?
Some students said they were looking forward to Mr. Cheney’s speech. David Lassen, 23, the chairman of the B.Y.U. College Republicans, said he hoped to present the vice president with petitions of support for his appearance on campus, signed by about 2,000 students and alumni.
“We’re excited for the world to see what B.Y.U. really is,” Mr. Lassen said. “No matter what you think of Cheney, he’s easily the most powerful man in the world.”
Choice.
But fear not, Utah citizens. Cheney will speak at the commencement, with only one minor incident: some wild-eyed radicals will attempt to shout something during the address, and will be quickly subdued by the studentry. The 12th Article of Faith will carry the day. That’s the one about not questioning authority of any kind, ever.
12 April 2007 at 9:57 am
This came up for discussion on the mormonapologetics.org boards a while back, with a few of the BYU students involved ‘defending’ their actions againt some of the more hardcore right-wing posters.
On there, however, the main issue was Iraq. They said Cheney was a vile warmonger and they didn’t want him speaking at commencement. They had a suprising amount of support from the other LDS on the boards too.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry though when one of the posters replied with this:
“I dont find dissent as a virtue… …that is the opposite of the Gospel”
BYU Dem. Article
14 April 2007 at 9:19 am
“The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don’t give a shit. However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today.”
~Tony Campolo