Update: Palin Snubs President of Penn State University, Gets Booed by Baseball Fans in Erie
Update: Another bang-up day for Gov. Palin. You would think that she would learn to saty away from sports references after her puck-dropping debacle in Philly. I guess she thought she would make up for it by praising the Phillies during her Erie, PA, stop later today. Unfortunately for the good Governor, Erie is smack dab in the middle of Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians territory. Better luck next time, Guv! Is there anywhere else in PA you would like to stop and insult the locals? Maybe you could stop in Pittsburgh and sing the praises of the Eagles? Please?
*****
As a graduate of dear old Penn State, I take faux offense at this!
A McCain-Palin campaign official snubbed the president of Penn State University who inquired about attending a campus speech Tuesday by Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, university officials told ABCNews.com.
"He's a big Democrat. Why would he want to meet Palin?" campaign aide Russ Bermel allegedly asked a school employee who was hoping to make arrangements for president Graham B. Spanier to meet Palin, according to Spanier's office.
The McCain-Palin campaign has been working overtime to become competitive in Pennsylvania, where the Obama-Biden campaign has enjoyed a double-digit lead in the polls.
Some might say that makes it an odd time to snub the president of the state's largest university. The school enrolls 40,000 students and counts a quarter-million alumni living in Pennsylvania alone.
"I welcome eminent visitors to our campus everyday, including lots of Republicans, but [the McCain-Palin campaign] didn't want me to greet her or even attend the event," said Spanier.
40,000 studetns and a quarter-million alumni in PA alone. Way to make friends with the locals, Sarah. I guess Graham didn't meet the "pre-conditions"? Not only does State College, PA, stand as one of the largest population centers in PA, it's smack-dab in the middle of the rural part, far from Philly and Pittsburgh. I wonder if Joe Pa was given the cold-shoulder as well.
Well that does it. That's the final nail in their coffin.
(P.S. Did you read about the riots at PSU last week!?)
October 30, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, every time PSU wins a big game, the students rampage through the town. I was there in '92 when they stomped on the car hoods and tried to tip a bus over. Hooligans!
October 30, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha! I was there for the ones in 2001, during the sweet 16. I lived in Penn Towers, so I got to watch from afar without the dangers of pepper spray. ;)
I heard they set couches on fire again this time. I remember hearing about the ones in 98, during Arts Fest, when apparently people were throwing burning couches off the balconies on those apartments. Damn sorry I missed that one.
October 30, 2008 7:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice. That's how the Seton Hall dorm fire got started in 2000 (also after a sports victory), and kids got killed.
October 31, 2008 9:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
Also, I'm pretty sure Centre County isn't one of the pro-America parts of Pennsylvania. Probably there and Philadelphia.
October 30, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
State College and PSU are pretty conservative. I was surprised to hear that Spanier was a Dem. I think this is going to be another batch of bas PR for Palin in PA.
October 30, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
"bad"
October 30, 2008 6:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, there's just no point to denying him access. It achieves nothing but getting bad press. It's not like he's Michael Moore - I really don't think he was going to be in there shouting anything.
But PSU isn't conservative - it's actually the one part of the county that isn't. Centre went almost 50/50 for Bush/Kerry in 2004, and as I'm sure you know, most of the area around State College is the stix. (Not that that's a bad thing!) Very rural, and very conservative. When you look at the county results map, it's the lone white county in a sea of red. A lot of the students do vote absentee though. And most of the academics/professor there are liberal (as is the case with a majority of higher education institutions). I actually recently saw a story that a group of conservative students there began a group to protest the "liberal bias" in the classes. Which I found rather amusing.
October 30, 2008 7:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I left with my PhD in '96, but I've been back a a few times. It's no small town anymore, I can't believe how much State College has sprawled, and how much the campus had expanded.
October 30, 2008 9:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
No kidding. Even in the 5 years since I left. They say Beaver Stadium will be the center of campus in 20 years or so. Insane.
October 31, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
hey check this video out. Its happening now and you need to be apart of it. "McCain Voter Fraud" on youtube.com. Heres the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGF-HEd6XnA
October 30, 2008 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
That was just plain dumb!
October 30, 2008 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the booing vid. I can has schadenfreude?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT6jUmslqDA
October 31, 2008 9:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does it come with cheezberger?
October 31, 2008 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
They were booing right behind her. haha
and who was she introducing, Joe (Sam) the (unlicensed) plumber?
Doesn't matter - insults just bounce off her teflon coating. She's on a mission ordained by her G_d, you betcha.
October 31, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
So - PSU still has that old school spirit -- back in '66 student mobs tried to overturn a Greyhound bus headed to Pittsburgh. PSU had just beat Ohio State and Pitt was their next game.
Bet something like that happens every year.
October 31, 2008 11:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Too bad she didn't snub Joe Paterno. Now THAT would have lost PA by about 25 points!
October 31, 2008 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a snapshot of Mccain-Palin's America. Like at the Cedar Falls Mccaibn event where people were kicked out because "they might" protest or "didn't look right". If you look right and promise to agree with them, they might let you in...the event, the discussion, the country. No wonder Obama's view of "one people, in the United States of America" unity and shared responsibility, is finding such a receptive audience after these years of divisiveness. VOTE!
October 31, 2008 1:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
She comes to the Penn State campus to give a speech and refuses even to shake hands her nominal host, the University's president, because he's a Democrat? Nice manners, Governor Mooseburger! Where I come from, that is Rude with a capital R!
October 31, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope that PSU grads across the country take note and send Palin back to face her ethics problems in Alaska.
October 31, 2008 2:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sure that he was going to start yelling and try to disrupt the event, even though he is the president of PSU.
October 31, 2008 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink