Big, Bad Bolton Goes to Yale

The Yale Daily News reports on John Bolton's return to his alma mater to address students in a speech hosted by the Yale Political Union.

Before getting to the substance of his appearance, I must point out another error by a liberal bastion. This is getting to be a trend.

Yesterday, it was the DNC that couldn't spell "Miers" correctly. I attributed the Dems' carelessness to their state of euphoria induced by the Miers nomination, although ignorance is also a possible explanation.



Today, I found another mistake. This time, in the caption accompanying the story on Bolton's visit, those intellectual giants at Yale had some spelling problems of their own. "Jon" Bolton is the U.S. Ambassador to the UN according to the Yale Daily News.



United Nations Ambassador Jon Bolton ’70 LAW ’74 speaks with students after his speech hosted by the Yale Political Union. During his speech the ambassador discussed U.S. foreign policy and his post at the United Nations. The Ambassador drew hisses from the rowdy crowd which filled SSS to capacity. (HAN XU/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER)

You'd think that the elite at Yale would be capable of spelling Bolton's name correctly. You'd think that would be the case, but I guess it's unfair to expect too much from the students at Yale. They grew up in the pre-"No Child Left Behind" era.

Am I being too nit-picky?

Of course, I am. People make mistakes.

However, when Dan Quayle adds an "e" to "potato," or when President Bush mangles a word, the Left goes berserk. I'm simply highlighting their ridiculousness.

On to substance--

Under the headline, "Bolton agitates audience," staff reporter Jessica Mardsen writes:

In his address, which defended the Bush administration's foreign policy, Bolton argued that voluntary contributions from states would allow major donors such as the United States to choose to fund the U.N. programs that they believe to be the most efficient. But while fielding questions from impassioned students packed into Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, Bolton candidly discussed issues such as nuclear weapons in Iran and North Korea, the war in Iraq and his own confirmation battles.

...The audience interrupted Bolton throughout his speech with loud banging on desks and hissing, the typical YPU expressions for approval and disagreement. When asked about the abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Bolton said the U.S. -- not other countries or international organizations ­-- should hold its own citizens accountable for possible abuse.

"We don't need anybody else to judge us," he said. "We judge our own."

The answer prompted loud hissing from the audience, but Bolton offered students a question of his own.

"I'm just curious, those of you who are hissing, who do you think will judge better than us?" he asked the audience.

...The lecture's organizers said they did not predict the degree to which Bolton's words would divide the audience.

"If we had known he was going to be this provocative, we would probably have tried to have a student debate to hash out the issues," YPU Speaker Goran Lynch '06 said.

Some students said they thought Bolton was too controversial and combative, reflecting U.S. Senate Democrats' concerns about his ability to be a successful diplomat.

..."He was extremely rude, extremely belligerent, everything the Democrats called him in confirmation hearings," Jed Glickstein '08 said. "He was all those things, but in the end he won the debate."

While an undergraduate, Bolton was a member of the YPU and served as floorleader of the Right in addition to serving at the helm of the Conservative Party. In an interview with the News after the speech, Bolton said he modeled his presentation and answers to questions on the best speakers he remembered from his days in the YPU, those who provoked discussion and offered controversial opinions.

"The best speakers at the YPU were the ones who debated with the students," he said.

First, that headline assigns the blame for the audience's outbursts on Bolton. He agitated them. It's as if they were victimized by big, bad Bolton.

How silly!

One student called Bolton "extremely rude, extremely belligerent."

I think that an audience hissing during a speech is somewhat rude and belligerent.

Am I being too judgmental or is there a double standard at work?

I think it's funny that the audience's reaction is explained away as the "typical YPU expressions for approval and disagreement."

Dems and RINOs opposed Bolton because of his fiery temperament; yet it's acceptable for the Yale audience to repeatedly disrupt Bolton during his speech.

There's definitely some inconsistency there.

Bolton apparently had no difficulty in meeting the challenge of dealing with their boorishness. Obviously, Bolton is tough. He can dish it out and he can take it.

It seems to me that he's the type of person that should be representing the U.S. at the corrupt UN. He won't accept the sorry status quo.

Given the current state of the UN, an unethical, unprincipled, unscrupulous organization populated by profiteers, only good can come from Bolton's presence there.

I do want to give credit where credit is due. The group at Bolton's speech did not throw any food at the Ambassador. No pies were tossed, no spilled salad dressing.

Then again, I don't know if that was the result of the audience's decorum, or the fact that "entrances and exits to the space were guarded by members of the Secret Service and police officers."