Meatstick News: Bush and Cheney Graduation Speeches

The list of 2007 college graduation speech locations for the President and Vice President is very interesting:

Cheney:

• BYU - A mormon, conservative University located in what has been called the most conservative city in the United States, Provo, Utah. It turns out that even the most conservative city in the United States can't shelter the Vice President from protest. A large number of students and faculty protested his appearance.

• West Point - This place is a slam dunk for any speaker. The students graduating from West Point are probably the happiest graduates on the face of the Earth. It also helps that a large majority of the military is conservative and vote Republican. Fear not though, the protestors outside the gate will be in full force. A group of activists actually applied to protest inside the gate and were refused access. They decided to take the issue to court and are still waiting on the appeal.

Bush:

• US Coast Guard Academy - Just like West Point, the students are thrilled to be finally graduating and are inherently conservative. His appearance drew a crowd of protestors

• St. Vincent College - A small Catholic college in Latrobe, PA. Bush was invited to speak there by the President of the college, who formerly worked as director of Bush's "Office of Faith Based Initiatives." This school is so conservative that they actually tried to remove the phrase "liberal arts" from their description because they must have thought that it was giving people the wrong idea about what the school stands for. Suprisingly, many students were not happy with the school's choice of graduation speaker and decided to hold a public debate. The debate grew so much attention that it was actually aired on CSPAN. There were also protestors present on the day of the graduation speech.

What can we learn from this? Well, it is apparent that Bush and Cheney are trying to hide behind their conservative base while still pretending to be relevant graduation day speakers. It is refreshing to know that, although they may be able to avoid the public protest while they swoop in under the radar and stand at a podium for two hours, the protestors are still there even in the most conservative environments.