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The New School's student speaker who spoke out against Senator John McCain during commencement exercises last Friday says she apologized to McCain afterwards. Jean Sara Rohe, whose speech about McCain drew a standing ovation, has been been in a pissing match on the Huffington Post with one of the McCain aides who wrote the senator's speech. Apparently McCain himself said he understood why Rohe had to make her remarks, and New School president Bob Kerrey noted both McCain's and Rohe's bravery for their speeches at the ceremony. What's funny is that Kerrey makes fun of McCain's friendship with President Bush in this month's Vogue (thank goodness Maureen Dowd is reading Men's Vogue to let us know that).
Here's some of Rohe's speech, via the NY Times:
Senator McCain will tell us today that dissent and disagreement are our civic and moral obligation in times of crisis, and I agree. I consider this a time of crisis, and I feel obligated to speak. Senator McCain will also tell us about his strong-headed self-assuredness in his youth, which prevented him from hearing the ideas of others, and in so doing he will imply that those of us who are young are too naïve to have valid opinions... I am young, and although I don't profess to possess the wisdom that time affords us, I do know that pre-emptive war is dangerous and wrong.McCain called Rohe's speech a "Cliff Notes version" of his speech, which you can read here.
Here's an NPR story on McCain's New School appearance.
Photograph of students protesting from Frank Franklin II/AP
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Wow Rohe is a such a weaksauce!
I wasn't in favor of the Iraq war but are we going to have to go through another election cycle of pointing back to 2002 to see who voted for the authorization? Honestly, I don't really care anymore. Call me when the Democrats craft an actual message that has details regarding the FUTURE.
Isn't there a saying about how insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?
It is sad to see that of all the fights McCain has fought and won, his aide, Mark Salter, thought a difference of opinion with a university student was just too much for the Senator-War Hero to handle.
Kudos to Rohe for speaking her mind. All a juvenile blog-bashing will win Salter is a shorter career in politics.
Rohe:
"Senator McCain will also tell us about his strong-headed self-assuredness in his youth, which prevented him from hearing the ideas of others, and in so doing he will imply that those of us who are young are too naïve to have valid opinions... "
No, sweetie. He's saying you refuse to hear any opinions other than your own. Don't put words in his mouth.
I read the full text of Salter initial comments, and he sounds like a jackass. Regardless of what you think of Rohe or McCain, he sounds really bad -- he's either a jackass or a total political hack or both.
Saw Rohe's interview on Countdown with Keith Olberman (sp) and she seemed very reasonable.
this is way off; the daily news article completely misconstrues Rohe's "apology". Rohe spoke out against McCain and stands by her words. Gothamist, you shouldn't be spreading the DN's spin around.
Read it for yourself:
"And just before the end of the ceremony Bob Kerrey asked if I wanted to walk out with McCain. I said that would be OK. Kerrey led me over to him as the recessional music began, and I took McCain's arm. "I'm sorry, man," I told him, "I just had to do it." He mumbled something about it being alright, but I think he probably would've rather not had me there. It really wasn't his fault that he got invited into a pit of very well-educated vipers, and it really wasn't my fault that I did what I had to do in the situation.But what did he expect? Campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination at the New School is like trying to catch fish in a swimming pool. It was just totally out of place. Many thanks go to the people in the audience who managed to capture with a few yelled and widely-quoted phrases, just exactly what was going on there."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-rohe/why-i-spoke-up_b_21358.html
Bump the last post. The daily news article about Rohe apologizing is bs.
Her "apology" was basically an aside out of respect and if you read everything she said, she's not taking anything she did back.
The one document worth reading is the text of her speech - she is a moron. One of her lines was "we have nothing to fear from anyone on this living planet." Are you kidding me? No wonder the Left is so despised throughout the country.
My, you're grumpy today...
Not true! I made my debut in print journalism yesterday so I'm actually in a great mood. But thanks for your concern...
Nola, the Left is not as despised throughout the country as George W. Bush is, that's for damn sure. The guy has a lower-than-30 percent approval rating. Why don't you move to a conservative town where everyone is an idiot like you, instead of pestering New Yorkers with your bitter worldview.
Lefty, thanks for making the point. The whole "everyone that doesn't think like us is an idiot" thing has gotten really tiresome. Even the moderates in the Democratic Party wish the fringe would just shut up. And your apparent belief that "New Yorkers" are of one mind really shows just how ignorant you are.
"I'm sorry, man," I told him, "I just had to do it." He mumbled something about it being alright, but I think he probably would've rather not had me there. It really wasn't his fault that he got invited into a pit of very well-educated vipers, and it really wasn't my fault that I did what I had to do in the situation."
For the record: I'm a Democrat. Always have been, always will be. I am against the war in Iraq. That said, did this pretentious 21-year-old jackass really say "man" to a decorated war hero who spent 5 1/2 years as a P.O.W.? There are moments for deference and I'm pretty confident that was one of them.
As for the "well-educated vipers" comment - that was just beyond the pale.
Samantha, don't you think a soldier from the Vietnam era should be well enough desensitized as to look beyond being called "man"? I'm sure he's heard it before.
At what point did McCain hop to the other side of the counter in Easy Rider?
It's not about whether McCain can handle being called "man," it's about having respect for somebody who (gasp!) may know a little more about the world than you do. As I said, I am not a fan of McCain's politics, but I'd certainly call him "Sir" or "Senator."
Samantha T, this "man" is one of those "esteemed fellows" who decided to avoid asking difficult questions before ceding war authority to the President. I have no respect for any of the clowns that voted to do so, including H. Clinton and John Kerry. Their actions that day were cowardly.
Noles... got a link to said article?
I'm a day late on this, but WTF... Some things to remember about this... one, the anger over Kerrey's inviting McCain is no secret, there was a piece in the Observer about it, what, a month ago? So no one should have been surprised, least of all McCain. Two, the only real problem with this protest is it will end up boning up McCain's conservative bona fides. I can see this showing up in a fund-raising letter or on some right-wing blog's streaming video. So while they may have won a battle (not even sure of that) there's still a war to go.
With every step he takes closer to the right McCain loses one more piece of the maverick straight-talking image that many of us found fascinating, if not endearing. In the end, he's just another hack trolling for favors.
But until we on the Left get over the anger and reaches for something higher then we'll be part of the problem, not part of the solution.