You Go, Girl

The student speaker at the New School graduation in New York City yesterday gave keynote speaker John McCain, fresh off his speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, a piece of her mind. I don't think he enjoyed it too much. Support wars based on lies, pay the price. The first link is to her piece on Huffington Post, the second is to MoDo's column today (sorry, Times Wall)

Jean Rohe, Huffington Post: Why I Spoke Up

Maureen Dowd, NYTimes: Make Poetry, Not War (full article, Ed Strong)

NYTimes: Graduates at New School Heckle Speech by McCain

The first student speaker, Jean Sara Rohe, 21, said she had discarded her original remarks to talk about Mr. McCain.

"The senator does not reflect the ideals upon which this university was founded," she said, to a roaring ovation. "This invitation was a top-down decision that did not take into account the desires and interests of the student body on an occasion that is supposed to honor us above all."

Noting that Mr. McCain had promised to give the same speech at all of his graduation appearances, Ms. Rohe, who was one of two students selected to speak by university deans, attacked his remarks even before he delivered them.

"Senator McCain will tell us today that dissent and disagreement are our civic and moral obligation in times of crisis, and I agree," she said. "I consider this a time of crisis, and I feel obligated to speak."

She continued, "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," she said.

She added, "Osama bin Laden still has not been found, nor have those weapons of mass destruction."