Yesterday the Virginia College Republicans held a rally near the Rotunda to support President Bush’s re-election. UVa Democrats, demonstrating their commitment to free speech and reasoned debate, tried to shout it down, “brandishing signs with slogans such as ‘Too dumb to be president’ and ‘Bush is a weapon of mass destruction.'” As Stephen Messenger, a College Republican who attended the rally observed, “apparently they think that freedom of speech only applies to their side.”
Andrew Connors, a UVa undergraduate, emailed this report from the front lines:
… the interesting part was that a huge group of
democrats showed up with signs and chanted and yelled as
loud as possible during the event SO AS TO DROWN OUT THE
SPEAKERS (the speakers did not have microphones.) It was
incredibly immature and rude. Those who had gathered in
support of Bush, including myself (as a libertarian for
George Bush), decided not to stoop to their level. From my
perspective, the event came out making the Democrats look
like a bunch of jerks, but on the other hand, the Democrats
did outnumber the pro-Bushies, so my opinion may not be the
majority one.
how is this democrats being anti-free speech? seems to me that holding two rallies of opposing viewpoints is a better example of free speech than one group holding a rally and then complaining when a group of the opposition also holds a rally nearby.