Right-wing students try to stop congressman from speaking

The wingnutosphere just absolutely despises this man - and now they're trying to muzzle him.

Right-wing students at American University have signed an online petition to force the school to withdraw an invitation for Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), who is scheduled to deliver a commencement address there.

They want Frank uninvited because they accuse him of causing the financial services industry collapse.

What?

Well, that's a new one.

The petition was organized by a self-described Republican, and most of its supporters are avowed members of the school's Young Republicans chapter. However, petition backers say one supporter is a vice-president of the campus Democratic club - which makes us ask again what the difference these days is between the 2 major parties.

If this was Northern Kentucky University, I'd suspect that the only reason any Democratic student signed the petition was to ensure a nice boost in their grades next semester. I attended NKU, and I've seen firsthand that officials there make it a point to advance right-wing causes. But you'd expect other universities to at least allow the free flow of ideas.

On the other hand, I don't believe that a vice-president of the campus Democrats even signed it. I think the petition supporters are making this up, because they refuse to say which veep.

What do right-wing commenters on other blogs say about this petition? One gloated, "CONGRATS TO THE AU STUDENTS FOR FREE SPEECH AND STANDING THEIR GROUND. ... SCREW Frank. Banish him from the AU grad."

Only in conservaworld can banishing someone from a commencement because of their politics be considered free speech.

If anyone caused the banking collapse, it was those who fostered the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Among them is Phil Gramm, who gutted banking regulations as part of the fascist Contract With America. And Gramm had help from Bill Clinton, who caved to the Republican machine.

Tell me again how this is Barney Frank's fault? It isn't.

Free speech? With right-wing book burners dominating today's education system, don't count on it.

(Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0409/AU_students_protest_Barney_speech.html)