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John McCain’s brother Joe McCain will lead a public rally at Liberty University on Friday, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. announced to students during the school’s convocation Wednesday.
Falwell also announced an unprecedented push at the school to distribute thousands of voter registration forms to students, both in the dorms and in the classrooms.
He said students have the potential to influence a tight presidential race in which Virginia is considered a key state.
“We only encourage you to educate yourself on the issues, and vote your conscience,” Falwell told students.
Joe McCain is scheduled to speak briefly at Friday’s convocation service at 10 a.m. at the Vines Center, said Liberty spokesman Johnnie Moore.
McCain then will head to Roanoke for a campaign stop, and return to Lynchburg for a 2 p.m. rally from the campaign’s “Victory Bus” in front of the Vines Center.
Both LU events are open to the public, Moore said.
The school’s chapter of College Republicans helped organize details of the appearances.
“It’s just to get people excited, and get people pumped up for the campaign season,” said Claire Ayendi, chair of the group.
McCain is scheduled to speak briefly at the rally. Then students from the College Republicans will call local voters and talk about campaign issues.
Joe McCain recently spoke in Loudoun County and at the Republican National Convention. Like his brother, he is a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War.
Falwell said that once plans for the campaign stop were finalized, the college also invited Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to hold an event at the school.
That campaign declined, he said.
Under election law, he said, since the school will host a member of the McCain campaign, it also is obligated to invite the opposing campaign to campus.
John McCain previously visited in 2006 to give Liberty’s graduation address. That was almost a year before he formally announced his second run for the presidency.
Joe McCain’s visit comes three weeks after Obama’s campaign stop at E.C. Glass High School. During that event, Liberty blocked access to The Plaza, which it owns, for parking.
Falwell has said that providing free parking could have jeopardized the school’s status as a 501(c)(3) organization, a designation that prohibits partisanship.
Parking isn’t the same kind of issue with Friday’s campaign event, Falwell said, because the school has met IRS regulations by extending an offer to the Obama campaign to come to LU.
Falwell has publicly stated his personal support for McCain, but reiterated Wednesday after convocation that it is a personal decision and not one that represents the university. He instead urged students to get informed about the issues and vote locally.
He announced that the school will distribute thousands of voter registration forms in classes and dorms starting later this week. The school also will cancel classes on Election Day, provide buses to the polls and host an election results party from the Vines Center.
“Groups on campus have done voter registration in the past,” Falwell said, “but I can’t remember a campus-wide voter registration drive in the past.”
In addition to getting their voices heard in the presidential race, Falwell said, students also have the potential to influence local politics and bring to the forefront issues concerning the college.
“Only student voters can give us that voice,” Falwell said.
Reader Reactions
common, what is it like to be a brainwashed falwell person, if the man started snake dancing on stage during his speeches, you would probably call him a visionary. i mean really the people that are claiming that they (lu) are doing nothing wrong by letting the republican speak for free on their campus but then claim they can’t allow parking on their property because it might show politcal favortism for a democrat, it makes zero sense, and only a brainwashed LUser or TRBCer like youself can possibly see this from the warped angle you are looking at it from. do i want to restrict people’s voting rights?!! uh no, but yet again your warped angle on all this is mind boggling! falwell said in the article that he wants the student body to register locally so important issues can be passed that best influence the school, that means he wants people who don’t even live in Lynchburg to become registered voters in Lynchburg while they are here so they can help pass what Liberty wants. That is DIRECTLY interfering with polictics, the school being directly involved in polictics, again a violation of that preicious 501(c) they hid behind for obama, but have completely blasted since then. however should REAL lynchburg citizens that go to Liberty register to vote, to vote on local issues, OF COURSE they should! should dumber than Jerry Sr, Jerry Jr activity speak out and try to influence LU students from Mich, MD, Northern Virginia, Virginia Beach, other places to register locally by using their Liberty University address to show they are living locally (which they will do) to vote on topics that concern Lynchburg citizens NO! This shows that Liberty and the Falwells want to control everything, and they know that the majority of Lynchburg doesn’t support LU.
LIBERTY4OBAMA;;you go man !!my GOD has command me to LOVE,,so i,m not a lu/trbc hater either,,however,,i really have to pray to GOD real hard not to cross that line,,and its come so close,,i swear i see lighting bolts !!but so far i have kept it at a very,very,dislike thing,,you know what i mean,,??now here is my take on OBAMA visit,,if you entertain polotics,,you have to open your doors to both parties or all canadates,,and lu did that,,and WSET ,reported that,,now true the paper work is in the mail to chicago,,but there is no lu violation,,and leaning ,,hinting ,,thats all legal,,falwell cant endorse a polotician from the church altar,,and he has,nt,,away from that altar he can say and do as he pleases,,so trust in your leader,,he,s a lawyer and knows his limits,,and he crafty and smart,,so read what i wrote REHTUL,,since you do overlap each other,,so either move on with more of your kind,,or take a stand and be prepared for the hot water,,and trust me i,ve been there and done it,,i stood up for intergrations,,got my butt kicked every other day,,teachers looked down on me,,i had no friends,,i was made fun of etc etc,,i stood my ground,,until KENNEDY was assinated,,and they surrounded me that day me an shouted,,yea the N-LOVER is DEAD,,well ,,i lost it,,i cried,,something i nevered did before in front of them,,i jsut took their lickins/kickins its not like they took baseball bats or drew any real blood,,but that cut me to the core,,my parents took me out of public school and i went to private,,and the rest is history,,so its a beautifull country with great diversity,,so grasshopper find your path and move on,,myself i,m staying and i,ll write my beleifs and imagine that maybe they might become yours,,thats all any of us can really do,,and you r right OBAMA ,,would,nt come anyway,,i think ,,but thats his choice like its your future and choice what you do with it,,later
REHTUL,,chill out man,,calm down,,take 3 deep breaths ,,look its a free country,,sounds like you did,nt research your colleges before you chose one,,everyone knows what lu is and isnt,,so move on,,go to uc berkeley,,or duke,,or lc,,rc,,va tech,,uva,,or if you wanna stay then dont be so shocked by what you see,,and i,m sorry but private schools,colleges are allowed a lot of personal religious freedom in/of/under the consitutions,,now you either get out,,be brave and bold and start a lu democratic party,,lu cant stop u,,and be prepared to see religion tolorance at its worse,,and what liberty has done many colleges have done and thats build in a small community so as to dominate that community both religiously and politically,,falwell also said that he wanted his students to override city councils addemiuns to his constructions projects as much as he feels that government is killing religion ,,well there are those of us,,me most particular feel that religion is overthrowing our gov,and consitution,,but man read our am.his..it,s an ongoing thing,,and it will mostlikely continue,,lets just hope it never reaches the polotical point of a religious war,like Ireland,,catholic/non-cat.,,or iraq,,sheitt/sunni..or india,,muslin/hindu,,and i dont see that happening in good old usa,,now back to political voting block,,aclu has been all over falwell,,but this time aclu has agreed to defend the rights of students to vote locally,,falwell has also said his jolly warriors could get a civic center built in lynchburg and that lu would rent it as needed,,thus putting the tax burden on poor old lynchburg,,but hey he,s operating fully in his realm,,and as you said wake up lynchburg,,hey thats all you can do man if he overpowers our vote ,,yes it will mostlikely be to the couch potatoes of this city,,but thats fair and square,,we might not like it ,,but i dont forsee a war over it,,and personally i like the idea of a civic center,,that my friend is polotical savvy,,so falwell just might get my vote on that one,,even if we dont agree on a lot of thing,,now to the NEWS/ADVANCE,,hey man what do you call what we are doing now !!i think that ,,that more than conpensates for your opion of bias,,anyway hope this helps,,gotta go chat at liberty for obama,,
liberty4obama, please stop whining. The article says that the school’s chapter of College Republicans helped to organize the event. So there’s no chapter of College Dems at Liberty? Why don’t you start one? If no one wants to join, go somewhere else and start one. Typical liberal, you want something, but don’t want to get off of your lazy butt and do the hard work to get it.
Forget the diversionary reference to 501(c)(3), if the facts as presented in this article are correct, it is my opinion LU is violating the U. S. Constitution.
Reading the article closely (and reflecting on LU’s extensive past record of political involvement) I see this as a brazen attempt to push their political agenda. Note too the statement: “In addition to getting their voices heard in the presidential race, Falwell said, students also have the potential to influence local politics and bring to the forefront issues concerning the college.
“Only student voters can give us that voice,” Falwell said.“
In other words LU intends to not only continue to meddle in national politics but increase its dominance locally.
When is this community going to wake and stand up for our individual rights under the Constitution? Lets start by demanding more objective reporting by The News and Advance. Clearly, this article shows this paper is nothing more than a mouth piece for Falwell’s religious dogma.
junyavasity…i cant be an LU hater because i go to LU..and you should read something as well…its funny when obama came they wanted nothing to do with him…but they want him to come speak at LU…if they want him badly…im pretty sure they would have tried to reach out to him when he came…since it is falwell city, im sure they could have met up and talked something out…the truth is they just want to brain wash us students to vote republican..they want nothing to do with the democratic party…and im pretty sure this is supporting one candidate…you should come sit in a convo and see how much the hint for us to vote for mccain…although its not bluntly said…they are pretty much stating the obvious..vote mccain or die!! so dont come with this bs talkin about obama declined the invitation to speak here…im not sure why he would want to speak her since it is filled with 98% of brain washed republicans…who if u ask to say something they no about mccain..wouldnt have the first dang clue…they jus no its the liberty way to vote for him…
,,HEY JURYVARSITY;;sorry but i put that stuff down years ,and years ago,,and i,ve got the PROBATION OFFICE to prove it,,plus you should,nt say things like that,,you could influnce all my fans to SMOKE POT,,making them think thats how i became so intellegent,,when its higher education and self-education ,,not pot or drugs,,my record shows i,m trin to stop illegal drugs and the illegal mex gangs that run them in ,,,,and here u r pushing them !! !!what a DOPE ur !!
Here we go again with the LU haters. Look, Obama’s campaign never asked to use the property that LU owns. LU would have been in violation. This made national news even here in Florida where all the law experts have agreed that LU did the smart thing. McCain is actually scheduled to be at LU not just showing up and using the property like he is entitled. And LU has done the responsible thing and said Obama could do the same thing if he would like. So its equal playing field. It is not LU’s fault that he has once again declined their invitation. Please actually read the stories and pick out the information, formulate a rational response, and then comment. Or just smoke another bowl like that moron freedom who comments on here all the time
this is a joke….im a student at LU and i dont support this at all. If they cant support one political party because of tax purposes, why haven’t they been cought? This college pretty much supports john mccain. They have college republicans but not college democrats, they gave mccain a whole section in the school news paper when he picked his running mate, and they gave obama a little section with a tiny picture…they pretty much try to get you to vote republican (hence why they want everyone to register to vote in virginia so mccain can win it) liberty needs to stop with the bull.. This is a great place but they just don’t get it….jerry say this isnt the same as the obama ordeal…it is…its simply supporting one candidate ....if you cant get obama to come to liberty ( wish i dont blame him for) get some who works with the obama camp or a fellow democrat other than ted kennedy…and gov. kaine….come on jerry…its not that hard
damalama, my lord you are not a bright person at all. Did you read the article? I’m guessing not. Did you see where the democratic party was invited to participate? So if it was up to you, you would restrict citizens from voting? Real nice. What a patriotic American you are.
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