Phil Donahue is a bitter, bitter man:

Talk show pioneer Phil Donahue got catcalls and cheers Saturday for a politically tinged commencement address at N.C. State University.

A handful of the nearly 4,000 graduating at N.C. State walked out of the ceremony at the RBC Center when Donahue began listing "what liberals believe."

Donahue said constitutional rights and privileges have been eroded and he made a backhanded reference to the war in Iraq.

"Only Congress can declare war," he said to some cheers and boos, "and not just one man, the president."

The basic liberties of citizens are being undermined by the war on drugs, Donahue said, and by a "trend toward the sword rather than a trend toward civility."

Hey Phil, Congress did give the president the OK to wage war. This is a growing issue. Why do commencement speakers have to inject politics into their speeches? I was at my sister's commencement at Rider, they had a speaker, Graeme Schulke, whom received an honorary doctorate. He had to bring politics
into his speech. To paraphrase him "War does not solve anything, and diplomacy can not take place from the deck of an aircraft carrier". Why not tell the graduates to strive for a better future, blah, blah, blah...