Leaders of the New School

There has been much said about Jean Rohe's commencement speech at the New School, which preceded John McCain's by-all-accounts canned stump speech, the same he delivered at Falwell's Liberty University and Columbia University this graduation season.

Ms. Rohe was born in 1984, when I was dressing in layered rugby shirts and jean jackets with the collars high, which makes her 22 now. Rather than relying on the brief media accounts, I strongly urge anyone who is interested to read Rohe's post-mortem comments and the full text of her talk at The Huffington Post. And when you're done, scroll down a bit to read the petty, inarticulate comments of Mark Salter, McCain's pit bull (they begin: "I am employed by Senator McCain . . .").

Ask yourself whether Salter would be an improvement over Karl Rove. Armand thinks not.

(Without getting into the partisan politics of it all, I think it's an insult when any politician delivers a transparent campaign speech at a commencement. If you can't drop your own ambitions for a little while and speak from the heart (and not from the focus group) to a new group of graduates, go find the nearest American Legion hall and leave commencement duties to someone with something interesting to say and the nerve to say it.)

UPDATE: Majikthise has more.