BY BART JONES
STAFF WRITER

May 24, 2004

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.

"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."

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."

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."

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. "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.

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."
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

I think that almost everyone will agree that George W. Bush is doing "the best HE can." Unfortunately, his job is leader of a super-power, not wiping up tables in the dining room of a Wendy's.

By the way... There's a town named HEMPstead? I can only immagine the number of giggling stoners who have driven through.

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Any man who can render himself unconscious with a pretzel isn't smart enough to lead the free world.

is not over what Bush has done or not done. The issue is this, is it appropriate for someone to focus so much on politics during a graduation? I think not. I wouldn't want to hear that even if I DID agree with it. I don't agree with Bush getting so political and making his case for the war on terror during a graduation speach either. It is just inappropriate. The graduates and their praents had to pay big bucks for them to graduate, at least focus on something that everyone can agree on and something that is a bit more relavent. Politics is WAY too divisive to bring to that kind of forum.

Graduations have long been a forum for these kinds of remarks. If he spent 20 minutes on Bush, he belabored the point, but I could care less. I'd care just as little if the guy were a conservative.

Anyway, we're talking about a graduation ceremony at a school that was dumb enough to change its team name from the "Flying Dutchman" (pretty bad-a, right?) to the Pride. The Pride? I wonder if the mascot is wearing a feather boa and a mid-rift shirt.

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Any man who can render himself unconscious with a pretzel isn't smart enough to lead the free world.

It was very inappropriate for Doctorow to get up there and rant out a political speech. Granted in America we all have the right to speak our minds. With that being said, just because we have the right doesn't make it right. There is a time & a place for everything. And a graduation is neither the time nor the place for such a speech.

What a sad world we are living in when you can not even go to a graduation without having anti-Bush rhetoric shoved down your throat.

Look, I am not a Bush supporter. I do not like that he sent my soldiers (& I say mine since as an American citizen those soldiers fight for me) to Iraq. But...I quietly will voice my opinion come election day. I do not shout my disgust of my president from a mountain top for all the world to hear. It is disrespectful to all Americans & it is no other countries business how I feel about my leader.

What Doctorow did was highly disrespectful.

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Be Alert: The world needs more Lerts

We have yet another member who feels the need to start a dozen threads a day. In the case of HansMoleman most of them could be consolidated in a one or two discussions from what I have seen. For that matter, I could distill you most of your posts one dimensional post down to "I support George W. Bush and anyone or anything that opposes him sucks."

As for this topic, let me spell it out for you in the event that your memory is short or your math skills weak. This administration assumed office with well under 50% of the popular vote in an election where just over half the eligible voters voted. Bottom line is that roughly 1/4 of the eligible adults supported Bush.

Bush, however, proceeded to govern as if he had received some sort of mandate. After 9/11 he enjoyed a period where he was given the benefit of any doubt by both congress and the American people. However, at this point many feel that his policies have failed, and many more feel that the administration has demonstrated deceit and/or gross incompetence. The resulting plummeting approval rating, as well as the vocal indictments, should be expected. The stakes are high, and a significant percentage of the population does not agree with where he is headed or the means he is using to get there. Both he and his supporters should get used to it, as it's not going to go away anytime soon.

A half dozen speeches aren't going to cut it. It's time to act and lead, not talk.

oc

Not at a gradation. It was highly inappropriate. Personal political views have no business at a graduation.

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Be Alert: The world needs more Lerts

Doing it at a graduation is inappropritate. The left would be saying the same if he had instead said that Ted Kennedy is a murderer who should be jailed for manslaughter, or that John Kerry didn't deserve his purple hearts, etc. But because they agree with it it's ok.

As long as he had been clever about it.

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Any man who can render himself unconscious with a pretzel isn't smart enough to lead the free world.

....or that Bill Clinton was a womanizer and man of low morals...and deserved impeachment. Yep....you can bet your bottom dollar the "left" would think all these kinds of speeches at a college graduation were inappropriate. IMHO, they would ALL be inappropriate. I am consistent on that point. Too bad the "left" doesn't see it as a prolem as long as they are blasting this president.