Back to Basics

Initially I was critical of Cheney coming to speak at graduation. I considered it a misstep on the part of the university given his unpopularity and the inevitable protest against his coming that would ensue (see above).

But yesterday I made a conscious decision to back BYU and the Vice President's commencement address. My Republican conscience called upon me to oppose this spectacle.

The BYU College Democrats exploited this controversy through sensational means that have become the calling card for the anti-Bush folks. I.e. "Cheney is a war profiteer," "Cheney is a baby killer," and most of all, "Cheney is EVIL." This protest injected us into the partisan circus that has accompanied W's administration that we had avoided up until this point. We are officially now just as petty as virtually any other university in America.

Once again the left has hijacked a venue to bash Bush and the Iraq War. Cheney is coming with an apolitical motive to deliver an apolitical speech at an apolitical organization. It is one of only two commencement addresses he is giving this spring. He is without a doubt the most prestigious non-church figure to come to graduation in 20 years. This is an honor, and we should recognize it as such.

I gave several film and print interviews to this effect. A snippet of one even made it into the Deseret News. Unfortunately, the article fails to mention which side I was on. Nevertheless, I felt vindicated when the Daily Universe released a poll about Cheney's visit today stating that well over half (55%) of respondents were in favor of this visit, less than half (39%) had no opinion, and only a few (6%) were opposed. Now that's what I call a conservative/politically apathetic community!

Protests are slated for graduation day. Ridiculous. The administration was uncannily kind in its blessing of yesterday's protest. Once again, the left at BYU is proving itself an organization of self-proclaimed non-conformists who protest for the sake of protest because they consider it their entitlement as students at an instituion of higher education.

That was an interesting foray outside of the hardline Republican right for me... I guess I never will stray too far from my partisan roots.