A scant eight years ago. . .

. . .the press was in full garment rending mode over the fact that George W. Bush had deigned to speak at Bob Jones University. At the time, the consensus among the mainstream media outlets was that by appearing there, then-candidate Bush was lending credibility to bigotry and hatred, and that to do so was in essence a tacit approval of all the things that America has striven to overcome in the name of racial and religious tolerance and harmony.

Right Wing News has a nice sampling of headlines and snippets of commentary that Bush's visit elicited from the press at the time, and puts it all nicely in context. Do check it out.