McCain-Palin Campaign Snubs Penn State Prez(unwelcome @ campus event because he's a "Big Democrat" )

Source: ABC News

Unwelcome at Palin Campus Event Because He's a "Big Democrat"


A McCain-Palin campaign official snubbed the president of Penn State University who inquired about attending a campus speech Tuesday by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, university officials told ABCNews.com.

"He's a big Democrat. Why would he want to meet Palin?" campaign aide Russ Bermel allegedly asked a school employee who was hoping to make arrangements for president Graham B. Spanier to meet Palin, according to Spanier's office.

The McCain-Palin campaign has been working overtime to become competitive in Pennsylvania, where the Obama-Biden campaign has enjoyed a double-digit lead in the polls.

Some might say that makes it an odd time to snub the president of the state's largest university. The school enrolls 40,000 students and counts a quarter-million alumni living in Pennsylvania alone.

"I welcome eminent visitors to our campus everyday, including lots of Republicans, but {the McCain-Palin campaign} didn't want me to greet her or even attend the event," said Spanier.

Gov. Palin spoke Tuesday night before about 7,000 people at a "closed" event at the school's Rec Hall that was open only to people invited by the campaign.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6142173&page=1

Gee, how quickly basic manners got thrown out the window. Russ Bermel's mother must be so proud.

I guess at 'invited' events, they are: 1. certain of the numbers; 2. fairly certain she won't get booed; and 3. certainly getting more like * by the day.

They don't want CODE PINK or anyone else with contrary ideas there

Only PUKE sheep

They spent $8000 to preach to the choir.

Another genius move from McCain's Keystone State Cops!

The only thing I can think of is to get a shot in the arm from the true believers.

Note to self: read first, post later. Perhaps think in between.

I don't know if this is the same event, but MSNBC said that at one event a majority of the people were school children who were bussed in.

I am not a graduate of Penn State but I have many friends and professional acquaintances who are.
There is no group in the country, let alone the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who are a prouder, more totally involved alumni group than Penn Staters. They will be apoplectic at this insult to the University's president. The Nittany Lion will be roaring on the internets across the state about this insult. It would be like somebody pissing on the Golden Dome for Notre Dame alumni.

Great move, McCain/Palin/staff. Tell us again, Grampa, how you know how to reach across the aisle!


And I add this fact-filled comment from a Penn State alumni on HuffPost:
Penn State is the largest university in the state of PA, with an enrollment of over 80,000 across 24 campuses, making it one of the largest universities in the nation.

PSU has an economic effect on the state of PA of $6 billion on a budget of about $2.5 billion.

The PSU Alumni Association has over 450,000 dues paying members all across the US, with about half of them in PA. It is the largest alumni association in the world.

PSU students, faculty and staff, and alumni are among the most fanatical in the world. At athlectic events, social events, and just walking down the street, they greet each other with "We are...Penn State. We are...Penn State. We are...Penn State. Thank you! You're welcome!" I've had it happen to me walking in Times Square, in Hawaii, and Santa Barbara, not to mention hearing come from one dive boat to another in the water off Cozumel. From people I've never met but who noticed my Blue and

That's really gonna help in PA.

In case you were wondering, if John McCain really is a maverick bipartisan who can reach across that aisle and work with
Democrats on the tough issues....

Are these asshats really that crass and oblivious?

I hope this move alone, costs them 10 points in Pennsylvania. Rendell needs to get on this.

I can't wait until McPalin travels to Orlando, and snubs Mickey, Cinderella and Tinkerbell---because they're too liberal.

Nimrods.

... boorish and unmannerly.

this article would have bothered me. does anyone ever remember a sitting senator fall so fast from grace as this douche-bag? not quite old enough to remember but, joe mccarthy maybe?

Anyway, care to guess why both McCain and McCarthy took hard falls? Probably because instead of offering hope and direction, they offer scorn and derision. Calling someone a "socialist" and/or "marxist" may have worked from in 1950, but these days it just makes people think the emperor has no clothes...

Welcome to DU by the way

:wave:

like mccain would be so willing to disgrace himself - especially after what bush did to him. shamefully, i used to be a repub until 2000. my liberal friends tell me the message of hate, fear, and anti-everything has been the gop trademark for some time. i believe mccarthy was also a repub, so there you go.
anyway, thanks. du is fantastic!

Wisconsin Senator Joe (Tail Gunner)McCarthy was looking for a re-election gimmick in 1950.
He made a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, where he claimed to have a list of 205 people in the state department who were members of the Communist party. In actuality, the 205 people on the list were classified as security risks, which could have been for reasons other than Communism, and many of the people listed no longer worked for the state department. McCarthy later amended this statement to say that he had a list of 57 people who were members of the Communist party who worked for the state department. Aided by the FBI, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, McCarthy began his search for Communists. People were called before Congress to testify about their loyalty to the US government. They were asked to name names and report their friends, neighbors and family.

Even though McCarthy lent his name to the era, the red scare did not start with him. The investigation of Communist infiltration of the US government started long before he became a senator. In 1938, a temporary committee was created in the US House of Representatives to investigate anti-Americanism and subversive activities. It was called the Special Committee to Investigate Un-American Activities and Propaganda in the United States, but it was often called the Dies Committee after its chairman, Martin Dies. In 1945, the committee was replaced with the permanent House Committee on Un-American Activities. They started their own search for communists, including an investigation into the activities of the motion picture industry in1947.

The search continued through the early 1950s, with elements such as Hollywood, books in libraries, the State Department, and private citizens being investigated and/or banned. Then, in 1954, McCarthy accused the Army Signal Corps Center, located in New Jersey, of Communist infiltration. The army countered with a report accusing McCarthy of seeking favorable treatment for his colleague, David Schine. In 1954, as Americans watched the televised Army-McCarthy hearings, McCarthy began to lose his credibility as people observed, first-hand, the actions of the senator from Wisconsin. At the end of the hearings, McCarthy’s tactics were not seen in a favorable light, and in December 2, 1954, he was formally censured by the US Senate for his methods of investigation. He continued to quietly serve out the rest of his term until his death on May 2, 1957, at the age of 48.


President Eisenhower defended his refusal to denounce McCarthy publicly, claiming that to do so would only further polarize the nation and reward McCarthy with additional publicity. To his aides, Eisenhower vowed, "I will not get into the gutter with this guy." By the end of 1953, polls indicated that at least half of all Americans had a favorable impression of McCarthy and his tactics. Emboldened by such support, McCarthy set out to widen the scope of his investigations. This time, however, he would go too far.

When McCarthy, armed with little more than hearsay and innuendo, set out to expose communists within the U.S. Army, Eisenhower decided enough was enough. He instructed his staff to present information that would discredit McCarthy. It was revealed that McCarthy had petitioned the Army to award preferential treatment to his assistant, David Shine. Finding himself on the defensive, McCarthy demanded notes of meetings between Eisenhower administration personnel and Army officials. Eisenhower established a presidential precedent by invoking executive privilege in refusing to turn over the notes. Claiming that matters of national security might be breached if administration officials were forced to testify under oath, Eisenhower robbed McCarthy of the opportunity to perpetuate his inquisition. From that point on the Army-McCarthy hearings degenerated into a series of increasingly unfounded and paranoid accusations.

Eisenhower quietly exerted pressure on Republican senators to go forward with a censure of McCarthy. In December 1954, the Wisconsin senator was condemned for conduct unbecoming a Senator. Eisenhower had been successful in undermining McCarthy by employing "hidden-hand" tactics, but critics contended that more decisive action could have prevented many innocent people from being forever tainted by groundless charges.

my dad was a huge ike fan but i never remember talk about mccarthy. it is sad that so many are so paranoid in this country. anyway, thanks again

unlike most Republidicks he's not 10 years old.

Regardless of party, Palin is running for vice president, and there's always a chance that she and McCain will succeed.

Once a president is elected, partisanship is supposed to go by the wayside, and the president is supposed to lead ALL Americans. That means that ALL Americans should have equal access to events where the president is speaking. By extension, a candidate for president (or vice president) should speak to ALL Americans, instead of just to the people who are likely to vote for him or her.

What's the point of holding a political rally if you're not trying to gain new voters?

The campaign told the president of the university where Palin was speaking that he was not allowed to attend the speech or meet her!

I've literally never heard of such a thing. They come on the man's campus and treat him with contempt???

You betcha.

I mean, look at how their entire campaign drips with contempt for the American people's intelligence.

smb

Vel, the last 8 year the american public have not exactly been swimming in intelligence.. Rather the opposite I may say.. But if after 8 year, the intelligence in the american public are waking up again.. Then good.. But after mr Bush, it would be a long time before I would use the word Intelligence and the american people in the same sentence..

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

I do agree with your ideas.
Hopefully, by electing Obama we will regain some stature around the world.

Takk skal du ha.

BrklynLiberal

Thank you . I do my best, and I manage it better and better it looks like

Hopefully you would elect Obama, and that with a so great a landslide that the neo cons would be thrown out of the Republican Party, så they can work hard, to rebuild what the neo cons have destroyed the last 30 year or so.

Ah, you can some Norwegian to?: Bare hyggelig BrklynLiberal Hyggelig og høre fra andre siden av "dammen" Have you ancestors from Norway, Denmark or Sweden?


Diclotican

SOrry my bad english, not my native language

I cheated. I used this translation site...

http://www.e-freetranslation.com/

BrklynLiberal

Ah . Right, good then you have this translating service .

Diclotican

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

We don't hear about it happening as much now, but remember when Bush would go out in public and talk to people? You pretty much had to have your GOP voter registration card with you just to get past "security." And that was AFTER he was elected!

Sorry, but I didn't throw away my American citizenship just because I didn't vote for him. That's how it felt, though.

I hope that the university president makes a big deal out of this. He certainly has the right to do so.

The sooner we send those two home, the better off our country will be.

I'm looking forward to a united country again, or at least one that's not so bitter and hateful.

because she had gone to one of Clinton's book signings that summer? I mean just the fact that they KNEW that was scary enough.

When was the last time Chimpy did a public speech or one of those town halls he used to do anyway?

And yes, I found it disturbing, to say the least.

They don't let Chimpy out very much any more. That bothers me even more than seeing him--what are they trying to hide?

disgusting. No, we most certainly do not need these imbeciles running the White House. This is not how you treat people. So much for that ol' "reaching across the aisles" myth.

Obama is all-inclusive. The others...

You'd think they would at least accommodate this "big democrat" in the final hours of their campaign. They could afford to snub him after the election.

Those mavericks sure talk a good game about "reaching across the aisle" but when push comes to shove, they don't miss an opportunity to demonize and insult the other side.

Is it any wonder why they are dropping like a rock with independents. They are phonier than a $3 bill.

What a bunch of liars...like we didn't already know that.

If they are unwilling to meet with the president of a university that they're speaking at, who else will they be unwilling to speak with?

They've just alienated a lot of Penn Staters.

One of my good friends is a fellow Penn State alumni, strong supporter of her amazing Nittany Lions and Clinton supporter. She was still undecided and reportedly leaning Obama, last I heard. I just emailed this news item to her and hope it will really open her eyes.

<<

He gave a seconding speech for GHW Bush at the Republican convention in 1988, I believe. At one time the Republicans were trying to get Joe to run for governor. Interestingly, his son, JayPa, is a big Obama supporter. I received a robocall from him earlier this week.

both the Penn state and Fla state coaches are big rethugs,why do black parents let their kids play for those two is a mystery to me.

http://www.newsmeat.com/sports_political_donations/Joe_...

his son may have been an influence.

He just is very pragmatic. He's an old school R of the Eisenhower mold. I suspect there are a lot of them voting for Sen Obama.

-Hoot

his history, this is a very positive step out of the darkness.

I knew he was a big Republican, but his contribution to Obama is a very pleasant surprise!!!!

in Pennsylvania.....never underestimate the appeal of a hugely popular sports personality! A friend of mine's grandfather was running for mayor of a town in Alabama, and it was a close race...until Bear Bryant said he'd be a "fine man for the job", then it was a landslide.

Deal. With. It.

mikey_the_rat

See, when you get elected President, you're President of the whole country, not just the parts and the people you like. And the next president will have to get along extraordinarily well with a very large Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

given the way he and Palin have run their divisive "pro-American sections of the country" campaign?

The president of the university absolutely has the right to greet whoever is there to speak - whoever they are.

That's incredibly rude, and I hope the people who were spoken to understand what was done to their president.

They couldn't imagine the president of the university would simply behave politely. What a concept!

the only word for them

You are trying to win an election. You are behind in every major battleground state, and your advisors act like a 3 year old. I feel no pity for them come next wednesday morning.

faux frenchified Americans.

seems like mccain-palin only reaches across the aisle to slap someone in the face or stab them in the back

Is just a "reach around"

who has respect for EVERY American, regardless of politics.

If anyone had any doubts as to how McCain/ Palin would govern, the answer is right there. No one but repugs would have a seat at the table, and our trip down the road to ruin would continue.

and convincing them to vote for McCain and Palin. Their campaign is only about drumming up hate.

Hmm, one of the points of fascism, is it not?

The only thing worse they could have done was push JoePa down a flight of stairs. Dicks.

The president of the university is not allowed to attend the speech taking place at his own university???

WTF???

Even so, I have never, ever heard of a group coming to a major university campus and refusing to meet the president of the university.

This McCain-Palin staffer was incredibly rude, too. Read the whole article - it's unbelievable!

Rip open his dress shirt to reveal an Superman "O" t-shirt, jump up on a chair, scream, and unfurl a big "Barack Rocks" banner

Not the jumping on chair sort, but, then, what presidents of huge state universities are?

I hope so. I can't believe the PSU president was not ALLOWED to meet a vice presidential candidate, ON HIS OWN CAMPUS! The mind reels!

Dulcinea
Penn State Class of 1987

This will piss off a lot of Penn Staters and they live in a lot more places than just Pennsylvania.
It certainly pisses off this Maryland Penn Stater. Of course McGrump never had my vote in the first place and this probably won't actually change many votes but it has to help Dem turnout and may push some leaners toward Obama. Way to go McGrump!

Thats the fascist I know and hate.

That's an insult?????

More like a badge of honor.

McCains say anything to get elected speeches will go right out the door if he and his Eva Braun VP are elected. It will be the same old partisan governing that we have lived with for 8 years. Maybe McCain will let Palin pick the next supreme court justice, someone along the lines of James Dobson.

-- Palin -- who refused to support her mother-in-law for mayor because the mother-in-law wasn't Christian enough for Sarah.

Todd's mom ran for mayor of Wasilla after Sarah was term-limited out. Sarah supported her opponent because Todd's mom wasn't Christian enough.

This is what we're dealing with.

That's the first I've heard of another, in a long, long line, of her utter stupidity. Maybe her MIL will vote against *her* now, since she just might consider McPalin's form of "Christianity" a very dangerous thing, indeed?

Karma can be such a bitch.

I'm thinking the McNasties are about to find out the bloody truth of that.

VOTE!!!

They say they haven't decided who they're voting for next week, but they like that Obama fellow.

'The spokespeople (from McCain campaign) said they understood the campaign had invited Spanier, but that "there's always the chance there was some miscommunication." Spanier's office denied that account.'

'"At a time when both campaigns are appealing to independents and people of the other party in our state, it seems like a strange decision," Spanier said.

Spanier is a well-known figure in Pennsylvania, overseeing a university with 40,000 students and an annual budget of $3.6 billion. He often substitutes for the Penn State Nittany Lion mascot at football games and joins the marching band on to the field wearing a drum.

He is chairman of the Association of American Universities and received an award last week from the FBI for his role as chair of the National Security Higher Education Advisory Board.'



Wow. Major faux pas in a crucial battleground state in last week of campaign. Indicative of the crappy campaign McGrump is running. You can be sure that Obama's campaign does not make this kind of mistake. So who are we supposed to trust with the Presidency - a candidate who seems to have done just about everything right or a candidate who seems to have done just about everything wrong?

Translation: We just found out how stupid we look, and are scrambling into damage-control mode.

Keep on backpedalin'. We know what you're about.

It sounds like Spanier is popular, too. I'd certainly be impressed with a university president who joins the marching band on the field!

Oh, and "miscommunication" is another word for "we screwed up."

sucks."

They can go right on making stupid mistakes from now until Tuesday. Wednesday morning, it won't matter any more.

But what do they fear from a university president? Maybe it's that marginal-student-on-the-back-row contempt for the whole rational, intellectual process, as embodied by the university catholic (small "c"), that I posted about yesterday. Perhaps the contempt for a university president who happens to be a Democrat is not that far removed from the contempt for the "radical professor" of Palin's uninformed rants.

Well, what should I expect from a pair of fanatics and zealots? To paraphrase Winston Churchill: Fanatics can't change their minds, and they won't change the subject.

Or did you forget that?

McCain-Palin prefer the small almost microscopic non-influential Democrats like Joe Lieberman.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20081025/obama...

Well, at least the lunatics part is correct!

Even if you never attended Penn State, virtually every resident of Pennsylvania considers themselves to be an alum. What a stupid move, but what do you expect from Ms. Palin?

a proud member of the alumni association - which has members in all 50 states and worldwide. Once a Penn Stater, always a Penn Stater.

I imagine it's because the McCain campaign claims it never happened - that it was a "rogue" spokesman, or that Spanier's office "misunderstood". As an alum, I'm going to send them the link to the abc.com article, but with little hope they will do anything about it.

Interesting that Clinton's visit was open and free to all, and therefore no rental was charged, but Palin's visit was closed, so the university had to charge them. Wonder why they couldn't open it to all? How sad is that, that the VP pick is so disliked that they had to close her visit to all but invitees?

In 1999, Pat Buchanan took a campaign swing through Wasilla. Palin, then the mayor, attended a lunch for him and wore a Buchanan button.

Palin was criticized this year for having supported the anti-Semite Buchanan. She responded that she had attended only in a sort of official capacity. She pointed to a letter she'd written to the Anchorage Daily News soon after the Buchanan event, in which she said, in part:



Her letter is quoted here about two-thirds of the way down.

The head of Penn State is in a similar position (except, of course, that Penn State has about six times as many students as Wasilla had citizens). A national candidate was on his "turf" and he wanted to attend the event. The Palin view is that attendance at a candidate event is limited to the candidate's supporters.

So I guess, retroactively, we can conclude that she really was backing Buchanan for President in the 2000 election. Alternatively, we can conclude that she's just saying and doing whatever the McCain campaign's Rove-trained operatives tell her to say and do.

... and they told him to get spayed.

Palin is a mavericky maverick who supports bipartisanship, but she refuses to meet the president of a university simply because he's a Democrat? That's not bipartisan, it's hyper-partisan. She's basically said that a McCain-Palin administration would not care at all about anyone who's not a Republican.

She's the Maver-ICKY sidekick of the Maver-ICKIEST!

Appalling? - yes. Surprising? - not in the least.

"let's not do anything"

the reason why nothing has gotten done for years in goverment...is due to their inability to "play well with others"

pissing off on the president of Penn State only a few days before the election, yeahhhhh that's the ticket

Dumbass just gave away Pennsylvania to Obama

Beaver Stadium!

-Hoot

Under a McCain administration. He's a total tool, and it sounds like he's all set to work for Republicans "from day one"

From the article:

"According to an account provided by Spanier's office, campaign aide Bermel called Spanier's office in response to an inquiry from school security about arranging for Spanier to greet Palin. Bermel said that Spanier was not on the invitation list and that the campaign had not been previously told of his interest, and he "demanded" to speak with Spanier directly, according to the account. Bermel indicated that he "had escorted President Bush to meet with kings, and that therefore there should be no barriers to speaking with the president of Penn State," according to Spanier's office."

From the comments section:

"And remember, that if McCain is elected next Tuesday it is people like this staffer who will be running the executive branch day-to-day. If McCain/Palin allow or are incapable of preventing staffers from engaging in this sort of activity during the course of their campaign, can we really expect they will be able to manage them while they are busy leading the free world? Think about it."

Snub the President of the school who's hosting you.

Too funny!

extreme disrespect for THEIR HOST.

I see I decided wisely when, in the wake of the Clinton impeachment, I vowed to never even consider voting for a Republican again as long as I draw breath (I had voted for a couple in minor offices over the years, I think). These freaks have absolutely NO CLASS.

What are the GOP so afraid of?

Turning the sound system off in a hearing
Saying 'no' to John Conyers needing a hearing room so he had to meet
in the basement.
Requiring that K-street lobbyists had to be GOP or the entire lobbying agency would be cut off from government/Congressional access.

This Penn State situation should show all of us what is in store of McCain wins. More of
the hateful, divisive Republican way of governing.

If Americans elect McCain it will be all over for sanity in America.

I won't meet with that guy because he's Jewish, or Hindu, or black, or hispanic, or Catholic, or foreign, or not rich enough.

McCain-Palin CAN'T win because they can't face the people squarely. 7000 people hand picked. Yep, that's getting the message out.

They're campaigning in Pennsylvania but they will only speak to people who are already going to vote for them? What is the point of campaigning then?

and McCain/Palin has no endorsements at all from big Democrats. I can't imagine Obama behaving in that uncivil fashion.

told the president of PSU that, Mr. Spanier should have responded by suddenly discovering the campus venue the speech was scheduled for was unavailable due to a leaking pipe or some other problem and then offer them Happy Valley to meet in.

actions speak louder than words.

BTW, repukes are welcome at Obama Biden events, no? Isn't the idea to appeal to voters who are not part of the base? Some of the worst decisions ever, have been made by the McCain/Palin campaign.

they cant evet meet a university president who doesnt vote exactly like them

Think about it. One one hand, the McPalin campaign wants you to believe that Palin only attended at Pat Buchanan event in Alaska, and wore his pin, because she 'is the Governor and attends events where even candidates with opposing views are featured' Yet.. unbelievably, they SNUB the PRESIDENT of Penn State because he is a Democrat.

WTF? Oh how I wish a media type would point out this hypocrisy. I mean.. WHY would Palin, as Governorn, want to attend a Pat Buchanan for President event and wear his button... ???

except Democrats.

About 35 miles South of State College. We had a banifit for the local Art's Council held at the theatre one year with a Dixie Land Band. Spanier showed up and played the warshboard for the band -- he is just a neat kind of person. No attitude, talked to everyone. I did not even know who he was when I was chatting with him (While I was dressed as Harlequin)

will reach across the aisle to bring America together? How on earth will they work on international diplomacy, when they snub their own host, because he may not be of the same political persuasion? Petulant children.

No "Big Democrats" (not even small ones) allowed. Gotcha!

Just like shrub only letting invited people to hear him speak....excluding everyone else......I'm sure there's probably loyalty cards being signed too! And just how do they think having closed events is going to help deliver PA to them?????