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, showing no emotion as he stood silently and listened to the jeers. Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz intervened, and called on the audience to allow him to finish. He did, although some booing persisted. 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. "One story he told was that the country of Iraq had nuclear and biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction and was intending shortly to use them on us," he said. "That was an exciting story all right, it was designed to send shivers up our spines. But it was not true.
| Doctorow appears to be having a bit of a problem with TRVTH™ himself, since Bush never said Sammy was intending shortly to use them on us. And they do seem to have existed, don't they? Of course, it was just a little bit of Sarin gas, just one itty-bitty round, and it was probably made a long time ago, in a galaxy far away... |
"Another story was that the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, was in league with the terrorists of al-Qaida," he said. "And that turned out to be not true. But anyway we went off to war on the basis of these stories."
| Except that Sammy did seem to have a fond relationship with Zarqawi, who's kind of the terrorist's terrorist, and who's intimately involved with al-Qaeda. And then there was Abu Nidal, and Abu Abbas — old-line terrorists, you betcha, even though not al-Qaeda terrorists. |
Those lines provoked an outburst of boos so loud the "Ragtime" author stopped the speech. Rabinowitz approached the podium and called for calm. "We value open discussion and debate," he said. "For the sake of your graduates, please let him finish."
| Oh? There was somebody there to debate him? I thought he was giving the commencement sermon? |
Some students and most of the faculty responded with a standing ovation, and Doctorow resumed speaking. 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."
| Yeah, yeah. The usual litany, isn't it? To me, it makes sense to give tax breaks to people who pay taxes. "Combating terrorism" is a fairly complicated job, since the enemy is vicious and tenacious and has lots of funding. I know nothing about the libraries thing, so maybe E.L. has a point, though I tend to doubt it... |
Many parents and relatives of the more than 1,300 undergraduates were livid over the address, saying afterward that a college graduation was not the place for a political speech.
"If this would have happened in Florida, we would have taken him out" of the stadium, said Frank Mallafre, who traveled from Miami for his granddaughter’s graduation. Bill Schmidt, 51, of North Bellmore, shared the outrage. "To ruin my daughter’s graduation with politics is pathetic," the retired New York Police Department captain said. "I think the president is doing the best he can" in the war against terrorism. Many students also called Doctorow’s speech inappropriate. Peter Hulse, 24, of Manchester, England, said, "He’s a bit like Michael Moore," the documentary director who provoked booing at last year’s Oscars’ ceremony by criticizing the war in Iraq. But some defended Doctorow’s speech.
| That's normal. People usually fall on a bell curve. "Some" molest little children, too. It's usually not the high end of the curve who do... |
"I think he’s entitled to his opinion and he’s as American as anyone else," said a Hempstead resident who identified himself only as Frank and whose daughter was graduating.
| Lotsa people have opinions on lotsa different subjects. Politix, sex, religion, horse racing, whether to drive a Ford or a Chevy, whether it's going to rain tomorrow... They don't take any invitation as an invitation to share them. Mostly those with good manners stick to subjects in which they have some competence and in which their audience is interested. |
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." The university did not know the content of the address. It is not Hofstra’s policy to screen commencement speeches, officials said. Berliner said it was relatively common during the Vietnam War, but "extraordinarily uncommon" in recent times for a speaker to have to stop speaking. Still, it has happened recently. Last year, New York Times reporter Chris Hedges was booed off the stage when he tried to deliver an antiwar speech at Rockford College in Illinois. Some Hofstra professors said Doctorow was on target in discussing the war. "I thought this was a totally appropriate place to talk about politics because that’s the world our students are entering," said sociology professor Cynthia Bogard. "I only wish their parents had provided them a better role model."
| Actually, I'd guess most of them are entering the world of business, not the world of politix. I have strong opinions, but with the exception of one or two people of like opinion, occasionally, I never discuss them at work. |
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