Well, Dick Cheney was being his regular obnoxious self again. In mid-May, Cheney’s staff approached Westminster College President Fletcher Lamkin about giving a “major foreign policy address” at his university. Obviously, any college would be greatly interested in having such a speaker, and Lamkin approved.

When Cheney showed up, however, he delivered no such address. Instead, he used the opportunity to bash and smear John Kerry for most of the speech.

Lamkin, a former administrator at West Point, describes himself as independent, and a little bit right of center. “I must admit that I was surprised and disappointed that Mr. Cheney chose to step off the high ground and resort to Kerry-bashing,” and that the second half of the speech “was all about politics and a political stump speech and in that respect it was disappointing.” Lamkin claims that Cheney’s people misled him about the content of Cheney’s address: “Nothing was said about a stump speech.”

Wishing to maintain a balanced set of viewpoints on campus, Lamkin has invited Kerry to come and speak at the university as well. Kerry has accepted the offer and will speak there on Friday.