Speech by bomb-slinging ’60s radical goes off peaceably
They keep harping on how potentially violent those Tea Party types are.
"Watch your words," Bill Clinton warned of the angry anti-government rhetoric, ringing out from talk radio to tea party rallies. He even compared the current rhetoric to that leading up to the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City 15 years ago on April 19.
But the speech by Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers on the campus of the University of Wyoming last night attracted a thousand listeners and 10 flag-carrying protesters in the snow outside. On Tuesday a federal judge ordered the university to allow the speech to take place, after it had been canceled earlier due to fear of violence. The school paid for the metal detector screening and the bomb sniffing dogs. No indication whether the dogs perked up around Ayers.
Contrast this to the rock- and bottle-throwing crowds in Phoenix protesting a new immigration law. Contrast it to the chaos that has greeted campus talks by conservative columnist Ann Coulter and Muslim-bashing Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders.
By the way, I looked up the AP Almanac for April 19. Guess what else occurred that day? Yep, it is the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord. They probably will condemn that violence too.
An agent from the Office of Homeland Security leads a bomb-sniffing dog through a row of parked cars on Wednesday at the UniWyo Sports Complex in Laramie, Wyo. (AP Photo/Laramie Boomerang, Robert Monteith)
