Columbia Encounters McCain Controversy

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  • 03/02/2023

Senator John McCain (R-AZ): maverick or mistake? That's the question at least one person is asking at Columbia University.

According to an opinion piece written in the Columbia Spectator, Nick Cain says that the senator’s planned visit next month as the Class Day speaker will bring shame to Columbia's campus.

The senator's visit was initially met with enthusiasm, but Cain believes students should now voice their opposition to McCain's appearance. What could taint the "maverick's" visit to campus? According to Cain's column, it's the senator's speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University three days prior to his New York trip.

Within the column, Falwell is referred to as a "radical Christian conservative," and "hate-monger" whose views should be rejected by Columbia students. Cain writes, "Falwell has consistently attacked gays, lesbians, pro-choice activists, and women's rights advocates."

And so, McCain's willingness to speak at Falwell's university only days before his scheduled speech at Columbia is cause for concern according to Cain.

"By accepting speaking invitations from both Liberty University and Columbia College, not only is McCain sullying his own integrity, he is also taking the first of many steps in the well-choreographed political dance of a future presidential candidate. He can cozy up to the right and pull the wool over the eyes of the left, just by talking to a bunch of college grads. Class Day, however, is not the time for Senator McCain to be scoring political points at our expense. Welcoming a conservative Republican leader to our left-leaning campus would have represented an openness that we as a student body could be proud of. But accepting Senator McCain's presence at Columbia just days after his tacit validation of the fanaticism and ignorance propagated by Falwell would be nothing less than shameful. …It is now our turn to speak up. To sit idly by while our Columbia legacy and our day of celebration are steamrollered by Senator McCain’s self-serving political pandering would be simply unacceptable."

This piece in the Columbia Spectator proves that McCain's wish-washy politics and luke-warm conservatism will be his downfall. His attempt to please and gain acceptance from both sides of the political aisle will only bring forth more contridictions and controversy. The senator has long since alienated himself from the Republican base, and now it's evident that the Left is also enraged with his pandering politics.

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