John McCain throws one back at Villanova

The national attention being afforded to Villanova over the past weeks have left me with a great warm feeling. First it was a dance to the Sweet Sixteen from our twelve-seed Wildcats. Now it's a visit from John McCain to the Pavilion as part of the MSNBC Hardball College Tour. With MSNBC meeting Villanova, how can I not comment?

Of course, McCain's visit to the Pavilion and subsequent interview with Chris Matthews hasn't gone into the pile of day-old campaign media without a bit of sophomoric fun from one of the Villanova students picked to pose a question to the Senator and presumptive nominee of the GOP. First, the clip. Advance to 2:56 for the question to which I'm referring.

Mustering up his share of undergraduate male machismo, the Junior questioned: "I'm sure that you saw one of your Democratic opponents, Hillary Clinton, recently drinking whiskey shots with some potential voters.  Now, I was wondering if you think that she's finally resorted to hitting the sauce just because of some unfavorable polling.  And I was also wondering if you would care to join me for a shot after this." Of course the Pavilion went wild and students wondered if the Augustinians running Villanova broke into a cold sweat under their habits.

As is often the case, things aren't exactly as they seemed. In this week's Villanovan, we've got an interesting piece from Tom Nardi:

Viewers and audience members wouldn't know, but those four questions weren't the only ones that students wanted to ask.  I would know; I was question No. 6. Staffers pre-screened 12 questions that afternoon from students and placed them in the order that students would be able to ask.  But the first two questions we got to were set up to be softballs.

I always find it disappointing when I learn that the spontaneity of live television isn't so...spontaneous.

Comments

[Justin]

Great clip, Jeff!! I couldn't believe that guy asked that question (even the first question made me sweat too), but it was definitely a fun moment and McCain responded very well.

Agreed- excellent press for Villanova U. as of late!