Hat tip Daily Caller
"MacDonald did say he thinks it’s wrong to upload unedited video on YouTube of a member of Congress speaking."
(Worse than edited video?)
Concordia University has several campuses around the US. It is a Lutheran institution. In fact, I actually taught part-time at the Irvine campus for a couple of years. That's why this story surprises me-a bit. After all, it is still a university, so I guess a degree of political correctness is in order.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/25/double-secret-probation-student-threatened-with-punishment-after-filming-democratic-congressmans-abortion-answer/
This brings to mind a similar problem we had at UC Irvine a few years back when the Muslim Student Union tried to block a Republican politician named Chuck DeVore from filming one of their events. A university official even tried to stop DeVore until he was reminded that he (DeVore) had every legal right to do so at a public event.
In this case, it appears Concordia values liberal politics above the right to life. At any rate, when a politician comes to give a speech at a university-private or public- and doesn't want to be recorded, something is wrong. For the university to try and enforce that is doubly wrong.
Shame on Concordia.
There is no reason the congressman should have been in the least embarrassed or found the tape objectionable. He freely says that the RTL organization declined to endorse him because he would not vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (People who support affordable health care have proudly adopted the label "Obamacare" bestowed initially by opponents, sort of like the Continental Army adopting the British parody "Yankee Doodle Dandy," or Christians adopting a Roman instrument of execution as our symbol.)
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing "pro-abortion" about his stated position.
The college administration seems to have some warped notion that guests on campus should be treated with respect and filming them somewhat covertly is not proper hospitality. That's not on a par with Hermann Goering, but, its a tad overdone.
Upon reflection, they seem to have recognized this, and backed off. However, as a private college, they have wide latitude to set standards that public universities do not have. On the third hand, if they accept federal financial aid money, they almost certainly come under all kinds of restraints they otherwise wouldn't.
All in all, this is definitely NOT a big deal. But thin skins are not recommended for any citizen engaged in politics, much less office holders and university officials.