Rove addresses U.S. politics

Karl Rove, SPEC's spring keynote speaker, shares his political views and know-how in an onstage conversation with Penn Political Science professor Donald Kettl and a packed Irvine Auditorium.

Shortly after the 2004 presidential election, Republican political strategist Karl Rove found himself on the list of Barbara Walters' Top 10 Most Fascinating People. It has been a few years, but at Irvine Auditorium last night, Rove proved people are still fascinated by what he has to say.

College freshman Mark Pan noted that he was "torn between supporting a man I strongly disagree with . and attempting to gain a better understanding of his perspectives."

Pan ended up attending the event, as did over 1,200 other members of the Penn community. Rove, the architect of President Bush's two successful White House bids, spoke at the anticipated SPEC-sponsored event.

He was introduced as "a driving force in American politics" but was quick to remind the audience that this had not always been the case. Rove characterized his first political campaign with George W. Bush in Texas as a "one-car caravan."

These earlier travels were juxtaposed with Rove's trip on Air Force One the morning of Sept. 11. After receiving word of the terrorist attacks, Bush and his staff got in the air "as fast as a 747 could." They then traveled to a command center with a screen, "floor to ceiling, displaying the world."

The discussion then quickly turned to the 2008 election. When asked what advice he had for Sen. John McCain, Rove replied that McCain needs to "reintroduce himself" by focusing on the people and places that have shaped his character.

Penn Political Science professor Donald Kettl, who moderated the event, quoted presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama as saying that he wanted to end "Karl Rove politics," which lead Rove to recount a confrontation the two had on the back steps of the West Wing. According to Rove, Obama's book allegedly attributes the quotation "we are a Christian nation" to him, which Rove denies ever saying.

Rove went on to read a series of quotations making the case that Iraq likely possessed weapons of mass destruction. He then revealed that he had just quoted Al Gore, John Kerry and Bill Clinton. This riled an audience already polarized merely by Rove's presence.

Absent from the White House since August, Rove used the opportunity to defend the Bush administration's foreign policy. America, Rove said, fights "not for the purpose of conquest but for the purpose of freedom."

As the discussion drew to a close, Rove advised the crowd, "If you ever get a chance to work in the White House, do it."

Certainly, this is one piece of advice McCain, too, would not mind taking.

Comments (10)

As an alum, I can say that I will never give another dime to Penn for allowing this wretched piece of human waste another platform to defend the Bush Administration. Rove has done some serious damage to our political system and our country. Let's reward him with another opportunity to lie without impunity! Nice job, Penn.

In Response to Peter - If you are too narrow-minded not to realize the educational value of getting to hear the other side of the story from such a controversial figure, then you shouldn't be a penn alum in the first place and I'm sure Penn will do fine without your money In response to the article - How can you neglect to mention the idiot who called the guy a "cancer eating away at our civil liberties" during the Q&A.; It was an embarrassment to the school and its stupid stunts like that that a) make penn students look dumber than they are b) make it harder for organizations like SPEC to land interesting, controversial, and influential speakers.

Jonathan, You can allow Rove his freedom of speech without giving him the dignity of a huge auditorium and paying him tens of thousands (which Penn probably did.) No one is denying Penn students Rove's ideas. But it is indefensible to pay a man whose lies contributed in the suffering of millions in order to give him a platform. I doubt Columbia paid Amadinijad (sp) to speak. Penn alumni should seriously consider whether to financially support their school after this event.

Karl Rove represents everything a Penn student is not -- smart, quick, conservative, straightforward, capable, strategic, realistic. No wonder the wannabe-hip-liberal idiots at this school take such offense to anything that isn't bullshit.

It was fun watching Karl Rove flex his intellectual muscle and demolish every single uninformed Penn liberal who tried to tear him down. If you ranted or asked a question last night, you got mauled and looked like an idiot. I agree with the alum, by the way; I will no longer provide financial support to a University to grants speaking rights to those with views other than mine. It really sets a terrible precedent!

Yes. And it's downright hilarious to see conservatives so starved of any recognition for their capability of producing an intelectual class of theor own, that they continue to insist that Rove's designation as "Bushes Brain" is any more flattering than "Turd Blossom". FYI,it isn't. In fact they both refer to his ability to lie so convincingly that he was capable of convincing enough conservative American's that voting for Bush would be in their own best interest, when in reality it served to turn a turd (Bush) into a blossom (the President). I realize that as a conservative you are, by definition, a person lacking the empathic skills neccesary for any real depth of understanding in sociological matters. So, in much the same manner you must now follow those who say they're capable of leading you safely through the bewildering maze of human interactions, you will also just have to take my word for what I say as well. And what I say is that academia does not consider "Bushes Brain" to be a flattering statement or one that somehow reflects on an outstanding intellectual achievemnt. But that you thought it did is simple confirmation of a series of metrics establishing a very steep decline in political sophistication among American voters in recent years.

[QUOTE id="8df30cce-c928-4323-9e77-9ebcda9428e9"]Yes. And it's downright hilarious to see conservatives so starved of any recognition for their capability of producing an intelectual class of theor own, that they continue to insist that Rove's designation as "Bushes Brain" is any more flattering than "Turd Blossom". FYI,it isn't. In fact they both refer to his ability to lie so convincingly that he was capable of convincing enough conservative American's that voting for Bush would be in their own best interest, when in reality it served to turn a turd (Bush) into a blossom (the President). I realize that as a conservative you are, by definition, a person lacking the empathic skills neccesary for any real depth of understanding in sociological matters. So, in much the same manner you must now follow those who say they're capable of leading you safely through the bewildering maze of human interactions, you will also just have to take my word for what I say as well. And what I say is that academia does not consider "Bushes Brain" to be a flattering statement or one that somehow reflects on an outstanding intellectual achievemnt. But that you thought it did is simple confirmation of a series of metrics establishing a very steep decline in political sophistication among American voters in recent years.[/QUOTE] Academia is for weirdos who couldn't make it in the real world.

Tell us how you became such a successful liar, Mr. Rove. Was Kissinger a speaker at Irvine last year, or the year before? At any rate, this is the second time in 2 or 3 years that SPEC has invited a war criminal to speak. Proud day for Penn. Rove isn't "fascinating." What's fascinating is that we reward his lawbreaking not with time in prison but with a plum speaking gig.

Kerry, Clinton, Hillary, and Gore gave the speeches and supported the war, as Mr. Rove noted. If they're invited, are they considered war criminals too (especially since Hillary and Kerry voted to authorize the war)?

Yeah...Academic weirdo's and those irritating facts that they keep insisting we use when trying to get at the truth of things, eh? I mean, if our preacher says the world is only 6000 yrs old.... I believe him!! And when my President says a Moslem plans to spread a version of Abrahamism with...get this!!..*an extra "prophet"-guy thrown in, then I'm with the President when he says Al Queada is even more scary than all those Soviet Bloc nukes. So if he says he needs harsher measures to beat him, then I believe him too! I mean, so what if personality profiles show us conservatives to be (1.) more militant or violence prone than the general population (2.) less educated (3.) significantly more fearful and shy during childhood, with (4.) fears they were unable to define early on now manifesting as very real threats (to them at least) directednot just at them, but at their family , their beliefs, their morals, jobs, country, race...etc. etc. etc. But where were we? People who can't handle reality...that's right! yup, it's obvious Bo, that education makes people stupid or that stupid people tend to be educated for some strange reason. Heh! I'll bet those weirdo scholar types would know, huh? Idiots! But we know better, eh Chuck? Yeah, we know that just because OBL commamnds a combined armed forces that only consists of a jungle-jim, cell-phone and plane ticket, that doesn't mean nuttin! We saw big-building fall down go BOOM! which means he's more dangerous than a multi-warhead nuclear submarine sitting 20 moinutes off the California coastline. So if the Constitution needs trimming, the Bill Of Rights gets shredded along with the Geneva Conventions, by golly, it's worth it! We need torture! Think about it! Where would we find anyone willing to risk being charged by the NYPD with assualting some guy when trying to stop a nuclear holocaust? Not you or me, eh Luke? I mean...We're law-abiding, god-fearing, patriotic Conservatives who see everything much more clearly than those muddle-headed people with their fancy names and girly handshakes, eh Festus? Yeah, I knew you'd agree. That's cuz us conservative types can see things other folks miss all the time. What's that? No, no. I'm not talking to you right now. I'm talking with my friend Jed here, so go away. Please? Thanks.

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