Reporter Jim Rutenberg got a full story ("Visit by Bush Tests Beliefs and Hospitality of Students at a Catholic College [1]") out of the no-doubt shocking news that Bush received a less-than-unanimous welcome when he delivered a commencement address Friday ata Catholic college campus inPennsylvania.
"Ordinarily, there would be nothing notable about the chancellor of a small Roman Catholic college in a reliably Republican county telling President Bush, as he did on Friday, 'Know, Mr. President, that you are very welcome on this campus.' This should especially be so when the college president is Jim Towey, the former director of Mr. Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives."
Since obviously not all the students at St. Vincent [2]hail from or voted in Westmoreland County, Pa.,the fact that Bush won the county by a 56-44 margin doesn't necessarily saymuch about the political makeup of the school itself.
"But these are far from ordinary times for President Bush. In yet another sign of the troubles he is facing, even in places where he once could have expected none, the news that he would give the commencement address at St. Vincent College here on Friday was not universally welcomed on the campus, which is about 35 miles east of Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County."
The actual protest was a damp squib, which makes one wonder why the whole incident merited a full story: "But the protest was muted on Friday, with most of the discontent expressed at a candlelight vigil Thursday night."