June 30, 2007
WHACHOO TALKIN' 'BOUT, WILLIS?:
Presidential scholar confronts the president: Gives Bush letter decrying torture (Claire Cummings, June 30, 2007, Boston Globe)
Usually, the high school seniors who win the federal government's highest honor just go to the White House, pick up their Presidential Scholars medal, and get their picture taken for posterity with the president.Mari Oye had other ideas.
In the Georgetown University dormitory the night before the big moment, the newly minted Wellesley High graduate persuaded 49 of her 140 fellow scholars to sign a letter she and a dozen others had drafted and she had just written longhand on notebook paper, calling on President Bush to reject torture and treat terrorism suspects humanely.
Before the scholars posed for a photo with Bush on Monday, she handed him the letter. He put it in his pocket and took it out after the photo shoot. Reading silently to himself, the president looked up quizzically at Oye and said, according to her, "We agree. America doesn't torture people."
The "quizzically" is perfect in that it nullifies her entire protest. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 30, 2007 6:21 AM
Any Omahans reading this may remember that the World-Herald covered this a few days ago. A couple of Prep guys signed it.
President Bush needs some kind of ready-made letter he can hand back to people like this. It could ask them to please stop defrauding orphanages or embezzling money from their employers. No follow-up questions, please.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at June 30, 2007 7:44 AMWhy the emphasis of the letter being "hand written"? That alone would make me suspicious. Kids nowadays don't write things out on paper.
Sounds more like it was written by some technology hating relic of a ivory tower dweller who doesn't even know how to turn on a computer.
Posted by: erp at June 30, 2007 9:51 AMThese days, lefties have stretched the word "torture" the way feminists expanded the definition of "sexual harassment" to mean that photo on your desk of your wife in a bathing suit.
Posted by: PapayaSF at June 30, 2007 1:21 PMMatt: I saw it in the OWH. Prep seems to lacking in some areas these days.
Posted by: pchuck at June 30, 2007 4:40 PM