Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
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In my opinion
10 reasons
not to kill
Bush
Recently in Georgia, the president
gave a speech only to have someone
chuck a hand grenade at him. Lucky
for all, the blast cap did not explode.
Though originally thought to be a dud,
the FBI later revealed the weapon was
far from safe.
I can’t possibly guess the assassin’s
reasoning, but I’ve heard enough peo
ple on campus proclaiming their hatred
of George W. Bush to know that some
wouldn’t have shed many tears. And
that’s a shame.
If the assassin were looking for a way
to hurt America, blowing up the presi
dent would be a good idea. Bush’s mar
tyrdom would put the last nail in the
coffin of the liberal agenda. So, for
those Bush-haters out there, here are
10 reasons you should stop praying for
an assassinated G.W.B.:
1) Killing the president immediately
generates sympathy for his cause. If the
president died tomorrow, there would
be no question that all of his nominees
for the judicial branch would make it
through the Senate.
2) A dead President Bush leaves a
live Dick Cheney in charge. Need I
say more?
3) The Pakistani political situation is
drastically fragile. Should President
Bush die, Musharraf’s brutal, mostly
secular dictatorship probably will be re
placed by a brutal, religiously funda
mental dictatorship, reducing the Unit
ed States’ chances of bringing in Osama
bin Laden to nil.
4) Any criticisms of the administra
tion will be regarded as more unpatri
otic than ever. In the next election, you
could expect to see Democratic primary
candidates proclaiming that their Re
publican counterparts aren’t “fit to
JENNIFER MCBRIDE
QUASHING DISSENT
follow in President Bush’s footsteps.”
5) Killing President Bush could
spur another spate of international
invasions, with or without U.N. ap
proval. The U.S. military cannot deal
with invading another country with
out further hollowing our ability to
defend ourselves and respond to
threats from other countries, such as
a nuclear North Korea.
6) The news cycle would be justly
co-opted. With the media so focused
on one story, there wouldn’t be time to
examine important issues such as the
government suppression in Uzbekistan
or Egyptian election tampering. In fact,
all foreign news that didn’t directly af
fect the assassination would probably
grind to a halt.
7) President Bush’s status as a mar
tyr would leave the electorate more
polarized than ever, especially if liber
als were seen as publicly irreverent to
President Bush’s memory. It would be
a little different if natural selection de
creed death-by-snacking, but toasting
an assassin’s success leaves a decid
edly bitter taste in the national mouth.
8) Jeb Bush’s popularity would sky
rocket. He would undoubtedly win the
Republican nomination and then the
election in 2008. With the Supreme
Court full of near-zombies, I would
prefer a different man to pick the
people who are going to strangle us
with laws.
9) Killing George Bush won’t end
any of the policies people disagree
with. An assassination would mere
ly strengthen our resolve to stay the
course in Iraq, keep troops in Saudi
Arabia, support our Israeli allies, etc.
Policies don’t die just because the
president does.
10) Slaying President Bush is sim
ply immoral. Anyone who advocates
purposefully killing someone de
fenseless (and a democratically
elected leader, no less) is clearly val
ue-challenged. I don’t understand
the logical contortions some people
must go through to be anti-death
penalty yet pro-assassination.
In all seriousness, I don’t hate Pres
ident Bush. I dislike a lot of his admin
istration’s choices, but I think he’s a
good man doing a difficult job. As a
leader, you’re always going to be hat
ed. Iam too often shocked by the vit
riolic repulsion many people feel for
our leader and America in general, es
pecially because the loathing is often
poorly informed. I’ve met people on
this campus who see America as the
worst human rights abuser in the
world (unlike the angelic paradise
of Cambodia) and people who sway
liberal not because they actually
know anything about issues but
because it’s popular.
Liberalism has to be more than a col
lege fad or a collection of loudmouths
whose idiotic comments stir headlines.
The rabid dislike some people feel for a
man they’ve never even met makes me
ashamed to be a Democrat.
jennifermcbride@ dailyemerald, com
INBOX
Threats to OMAS staff
harmful to civil discourse
I am sorry to report that col
leagues in our Office of Multicultural
Academic Support recently have re
ceived a significant amount of vitri
olic mail, including personal threats
in response to news stories about
math and writing courses sponsored
by OMAS.
These programs have recently been
the subject of considerable attention,
both enthusiastic support and consid
erable criticism. While there is no
indication that these threats originat
ed within our community, I cannot
state strongly enough how we must
support civil discourse and avoid
personal attacks.
Every member of our community
is well within his or her rights to ex
press views freely, without retalia
tion, but we will not tolerate such
threats. The University has a proud
tradition of freedom of expression.
The way we handle this important
challenge today will define our
future ability to implement any
tangible actions that will move to
ward a more inclusive and welcom
ing community. We must accept
these challenges with openness
and commitment.
Dave Frohnmayer
University president
■ Editorial
A look back
at blunders,
successes of
the ASUO
Looking back on Adam Petkun’s term
as ASUO president, it is clear that with
accomplishments and mistakes, there are
things Adam Walsh, who begins his term as
ASUO president today, can learn from the
Petkun administration. With this in mind, we
present a retrospective on the ASUO leader
ship of 2004-05.
In his first major action, Petkun opted to
ban University graduate Dean Neiwert, hus
band of then-ASUO Accounting Coordinator
Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert, from performing
contracted work for the ASUO. Petkun told
the Emerald the decision was prompted
by concerns about the appearance of nepo
tism under his administration. He made the
right move by taking swift action and not
mincing words.
Hot on the heels of the hiring ban came the
infamous October ASUO Sunriver finance
trip, in which elected student officials drank
and smoked marijuana at a retreat paid for
with student incidental fees. While Petkun re
mained clear of scandal (mostly because he
did not attend the retreat), his lack of hands
on action in the immediate aftermath marks
a leadership failure. Great leaders push for ac
countability within their organization, and
Petkun’s weak decisions showed the retreat
attendees that it would be easy to evade be
ing punished or being held accountable.
When this year’s Programs Finance Commit
tee wrongfully attempted to stall the budget of
the Oregon Commentator pending the approval
of its mission and goals statement, Petkun’s
logic prevailed. Emerald columnist TVavis Wilse
pegged the situation best in his column “Prais
ing Petkun” (ODE, March 3): “Where other ad
ministrations have faltered, Petkun remained
true to the spirit of viewpoint neutrality, even
citing and bringing copies of the Supreme
Court’s Southworth decision.”
When election season rolled around this
term, Petkun’s decision to endorse a set of in
sider candidates might go down as the great
est personal blunder of his presidency. Shirk
ing the responsibility of leading the
government in trade for a yellow T-shirt and
leaving management of the election in the
hands of ASUO Vice President Mena Ravas
sipour was irresponsible.
The ASUO Executive registered a record
number of voters in last fall’s registration
campaign, kept its campaign promise to elim
inate the “sketchy scheduling fee” and ce
mented the final capstone in an almost
decade-long march to provide Eugene with a
housing standards code — all good things.
We should consider the past year as a fitting
example of what student government can
teach the ASUO’s future leaders.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jennifer Sudick Steven R. Neuman
Editor in Chief Managing Editor
Ailee Slater
Commentary Editor
Shadra Beesley
Copy Chief
Adrienne Nelson
Online Editor
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