Wednesday May 10, 2000; 11:05 AM EDT http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2000/5/10/100744
Hillary Bumps Navy Secretary at Merchant Marine
Commencement
Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig has "graciously stepped down" to
allow Hillary Clinton to deliver the commencement address at the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy's upcoming graduation ceremony, a spokesman for
the Academy confirmed Wednesday morning.
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is located in Kings Point, N.Y., a
state Clinton hopes to represent in the U.S. Senate next year.
News that Hillary bumped the Navy Secretary for the June 19 occasion
first surfaced on Sean Hannity's WABC radio show Tuesday afternoon, when
a Merchant Marine midshipman called in to report the development.
"Our Academy sent three separate invitations to Mrs. Clinton last fall,"
the caller told Hannity, "and after she turned down the third
invitation, we proceeded to get Secretary Danzig to come speak."
Last week, said the midshipmen, the first lady changed her mind and
decided to accept the invite. "She put the Academy in a very difficult
spot. They had to call back Secretary Danzig and explain the situation."
Wednesday morning, an officer who asked to be identified only as a
spokesman for the Academy told NewsMax.com:
"An invitation did go out to Mrs. Clinton in the fall. The Academy
hadn't heard anything for a number of months. We called her office to
find out if she was going to accept or going to turn down the
invitation. At the time, we received word that it looked like she
wouldn't be able to attend, that her schedule wouldn't permit it."
The Academy spokesman said that at that point, "we went to plan B, which
was to invite the Secretary of the Navy."
"Then, just last week we received a call from Mrs. Clinton's office
telling us that she could serve as commencement speaker. The Secretary
of the Navy had already been contacted and had accepted. So the Academy
called him and explained the situation and he graciously said, 'Fine.'"
The Merchant Marine college spokesman added that it was not uncommon to
have a contingency commencement speaker when high government officials
are invited, but acknowledged that this was the first time such a
conflict had arisen.
"Every year we invite the president of the United States on a pro-forma
basis, but when you invite the high-level people seldom do you get a
response in advance, so we always have a back-up person."
But, said the Academy spokesman, this is the first year their back-up
speaker had to be asked to withdraw after their initial choice decided
to accept.
"The Secretary of the Navy was invited knowing that he could be
superseded by somebody else higher in the administration," the spokesman
added.
"As far as we know, as of Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton has accepted and will
serve as commencement speaker. The Secretary of the Navy has graciously
stepped down."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Hillary Hit on Guns and Tobacco at Merchant Marine Commencement http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2000/6/19/183327
It was a scene right out of first lady Hillary Clinton's past,
when - as a Wellesley valedictorian - she taunted her college's
commencement speaker, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke, as an
out-of-touch limousine liberal. Hillary's speech was such an
instant hit with the liberal intelligentsia she was profiled in
Life magazine.
On Monday, as Senate candidate Hillary Clinton was waiting to give
her own commencement address to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
at Kings Point, N.Y., midshipman valedictorian Adam Jay Vokac gave
her some of her own medicine.
As the staunchly pro-gun control, anti-tobacco first lady sat
listening just feet away, Vokac went on a tear about the evils of
big government and spreading federal regulation.
"Guns and cigarettes have been hot topics lately," began the
defiant graduate. "It seems that every day one reads about more
laws and legal actions against these industries. Soon they will be
so restricted as to be essentially illegal."
Hidden behind dark sunglasses, Mrs. Clinton didn't seem to flinch
as Vokac continued.
"I am not a smoker, nor do I own a gun. But shouldn't a
responsible individual be allowed to smoke or own a gun in a free
country?"
The crowd applauded as Mrs. Clinton sat unmoved.
Vokac called it "a basic human right" not to have to live in fear
of the legal system. He challenged his fellow graduates to "strive
to keep and regain our individual liberties promised to us in the
Bill of Rights.
"We must not stand by complacently. The longer we wait to assert
our freedom, the longer it will be to truly obtain."
If Vokac's speech made the first lady nostalgic for the days when
she played the defiant rebel, her own prepared remarks betrayed no
hint of it.
Sounding more like a president than a first lady, Clinton tried to
touch on all the issues Navy Secretary Richard Danzig might have,
had she not bumped him as commencement speaker last month. (See:
Hillary Bumps Navy Secretary at Merchant Marine Commencement.)
Clinton pushed all the right buttons, invoking military pride,
national sacrifice, American security interests and even
burgeoning globalism. Still, the applause she received was less
than frequent and polite at best.
As always, she never missed a chance to tout the "accomplishments"
of the Clinton presidency.
Despite moderately good weather and the star power of a sitting
first lady, there were plenty of seats left empty at the edges of
the crowd. Only a handful of spectators stood when she was
introduced. Fewer still rose to their feet after her speech was
over.
Even before Vokac's remarks, the estrangement between the Senate
candidate and the service academy was apparent. She was introduced
twice as Hillary "Rodman" Clinton.
When her turn came, Mrs. Clinton invoked the memory of another
first lady's visit to the academy, telling the graduates and their
guests:
"You stand in the tradition of the midshipmen that Mrs. Roosevelt
came to pay tribute to. She spoke about the heroics of the cadet
midshipmen, who were at that time waging freedom's fight in World
War II. During the war years, Mrs. Roosevelt kept a prayer by her
bedside. 'Help me to remember,' it said, 'somewhere out there a
man died for me today.'"
Apparently unaware of declining combat readiness and plummeting
recruitment, Mrs. Clinton praised the military of the Clinton
years as "the best trained, best equipped, best led armed forces
anywhere, at any time in history."
And without a hint of irony she announced, "It is time for the
international community to join us in cracking down on terrorists
... from arms dealers to bombmakers to cyber-criminals to rogue
states."
She did not mention the Chinese arms dealer her husband feted at
the White House in 1996, or the Puerto Rican bombmakers he
pardoned last year to help her with New York's Hispanic vote.
Two midshipmen gave NewsMax.com their reaction to Mrs. Clinton's
speech as the graduates waited to accept their diplomas.
"If Secretary Danzig had been the speaker, those empty seats would
be filled," one said, complaining that he thought a Senate
candidate's presence had politicized the event.
"As a New Yorker and a Republican, I probably had a bad attitude
about her coming here to begin with," said the other. "But you saw
how few people stood up when she got here - that gives you an idea
of her support."
The Secret Service was unobtrusive and one agent even agreed to
answer questions off the record. But when asked if he'd seen any
evidence of Mrs. Clinton's notoriously abusive temper, the agent
told NewsMax.com, "I can't talk about things like that."
Hillary Bumps Navy Secretary at Merchant Marine
Commencement
Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig has "graciously stepped down" to
allow Hillary Clinton to deliver the commencement address at the U.S.
Merchant Marine Academy's upcoming graduation ceremony, a spokesman for
the Academy confirmed Wednesday morning.
The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is located in Kings Point, N.Y., a
state Clinton hopes to represent in the U.S. Senate next year.
News that Hillary bumped the Navy Secretary for the June 19 occasion
first surfaced on Sean Hannity's WABC radio show Tuesday afternoon, when
a Merchant Marine midshipman called in to report the development.
"Our Academy sent three separate invitations to Mrs. Clinton last fall,"
the caller told Hannity, "and after she turned down the third
invitation, we proceeded to get Secretary Danzig to come speak."
Last week, said the midshipmen, the first lady changed her mind and
decided to accept the invite. "She put the Academy in a very difficult
spot. They had to call back Secretary Danzig and explain the situation."
Wednesday morning, an officer who asked to be identified only as a
spokesman for the Academy told NewsMax.com:
"An invitation did go out to Mrs. Clinton in the fall. The Academy
hadn't heard anything for a number of months. We called her office to
find out if she was going to accept or going to turn down the
invitation. At the time, we received word that it looked like she
wouldn't be able to attend, that her schedule wouldn't permit it."
The Academy spokesman said that at that point, "we went to plan B, which
was to invite the Secretary of the Navy."
"Then, just last week we received a call from Mrs. Clinton's office
telling us that she could serve as commencement speaker. The Secretary
of the Navy had already been contacted and had accepted. So the Academy
called him and explained the situation and he graciously said, 'Fine.'"
The Merchant Marine college spokesman added that it was not uncommon to
have a contingency commencement speaker when high government officials
are invited, but acknowledged that this was the first time such a
conflict had arisen.
"Every year we invite the president of the United States on a pro-forma
basis, but when you invite the high-level people seldom do you get a
response in advance, so we always have a back-up person."
But, said the Academy spokesman, this is the first year their back-up
speaker had to be asked to withdraw after their initial choice decided
to accept.
"The Secretary of the Navy was invited knowing that he could be
superseded by somebody else higher in the administration," the spokesman
added.
"As far as we know, as of Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton has accepted and will
serve as commencement speaker. The Secretary of the Navy has graciously
stepped down."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Hillary Hit on Guns and Tobacco at Merchant Marine Commencement http://www.newsmax.com/showinside.shtml?a=2000/6/19/183327
It was a scene right out of first lady Hillary Clinton's past,
when - as a Wellesley valedictorian - she taunted her college's
commencement speaker, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke, as an
out-of-touch limousine liberal. Hillary's speech was such an
instant hit with the liberal intelligentsia she was profiled in
Life magazine.
On Monday, as Senate candidate Hillary Clinton was waiting to give
her own commencement address to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
at Kings Point, N.Y., midshipman valedictorian Adam Jay Vokac gave
her some of her own medicine.
As the staunchly pro-gun control, anti-tobacco first lady sat
listening just feet away, Vokac went on a tear about the evils of
big government and spreading federal regulation.
"Guns and cigarettes have been hot topics lately," began the
defiant graduate. "It seems that every day one reads about more
laws and legal actions against these industries. Soon they will be
so restricted as to be essentially illegal."
Hidden behind dark sunglasses, Mrs. Clinton didn't seem to flinch
as Vokac continued.
"I am not a smoker, nor do I own a gun. But shouldn't a
responsible individual be allowed to smoke or own a gun in a free
country?"
The crowd applauded as Mrs. Clinton sat unmoved.
Vokac called it "a basic human right" not to have to live in fear
of the legal system. He challenged his fellow graduates to "strive
to keep and regain our individual liberties promised to us in the
Bill of Rights.
"We must not stand by complacently. The longer we wait to assert
our freedom, the longer it will be to truly obtain."
If Vokac's speech made the first lady nostalgic for the days when
she played the defiant rebel, her own prepared remarks betrayed no
hint of it.
Sounding more like a president than a first lady, Clinton tried to
touch on all the issues Navy Secretary Richard Danzig might have,
had she not bumped him as commencement speaker last month. (See:
Hillary Bumps Navy Secretary at Merchant Marine Commencement.)
Clinton pushed all the right buttons, invoking military pride,
national sacrifice, American security interests and even
burgeoning globalism. Still, the applause she received was less
than frequent and polite at best.
As always, she never missed a chance to tout the "accomplishments"
of the Clinton presidency.
Despite moderately good weather and the star power of a sitting
first lady, there were plenty of seats left empty at the edges of
the crowd. Only a handful of spectators stood when she was
introduced. Fewer still rose to their feet after her speech was
over.
Even before Vokac's remarks, the estrangement between the Senate
candidate and the service academy was apparent. She was introduced
twice as Hillary "Rodman" Clinton.
When her turn came, Mrs. Clinton invoked the memory of another
first lady's visit to the academy, telling the graduates and their
guests:
"You stand in the tradition of the midshipmen that Mrs. Roosevelt
came to pay tribute to. She spoke about the heroics of the cadet
midshipmen, who were at that time waging freedom's fight in World
War II. During the war years, Mrs. Roosevelt kept a prayer by her
bedside. 'Help me to remember,' it said, 'somewhere out there a
man died for me today.'"
Apparently unaware of declining combat readiness and plummeting
recruitment, Mrs. Clinton praised the military of the Clinton
years as "the best trained, best equipped, best led armed forces
anywhere, at any time in history."
And without a hint of irony she announced, "It is time for the
international community to join us in cracking down on terrorists
... from arms dealers to bombmakers to cyber-criminals to rogue
states."
She did not mention the Chinese arms dealer her husband feted at
the White House in 1996, or the Puerto Rican bombmakers he
pardoned last year to help her with New York's Hispanic vote.
Two midshipmen gave NewsMax.com their reaction to Mrs. Clinton's
speech as the graduates waited to accept their diplomas.
"If Secretary Danzig had been the speaker, those empty seats would
be filled," one said, complaining that he thought a Senate
candidate's presence had politicized the event.
"As a New Yorker and a Republican, I probably had a bad attitude
about her coming here to begin with," said the other. "But you saw
how few people stood up when she got here - that gives you an idea
of her support."
The Secret Service was unobtrusive and one agent even agreed to
answer questions off the record. But when asked if he'd seen any
evidence of Mrs. Clinton's notoriously abusive temper, the agent
told NewsMax.com, "I can't talk about things like that."
