Former White House political adviser Karl Rove defended the Iraq war and sparred verbally with hecklers during a contentious appearance before a crowd of about 1,200 people on Sunday at the University of Iowa.
“You’ve got a chance to ask your questions later and make your stupid statements. … Let me make mine,” said Rove, who was interrupted 
frequently by about 200 protesters at the event.
Rove, who resigned last year as President George W. Bush’s political adviser, said he knew the Iraq war was “a controversial war and I’ll defend it.” He said he had been impressed by the passion and commitment of U.S. soldiers involved in the conflict.
“Have you shed a single tear?” shouted one heckler in the crowd. Rove replied: “I’ve shed a lot of tears.”
Rove received support from some in attendance and was questioned about his new book and his relationship with Bush.
University of Iowa journalism professor Frank Durham moderated the lecture and asked his own question, telling Rove, to applause and cheers from the crowd, that cable television host Keith Olbermann had named him “the worst person ever.”
“Ever?” Rove asked, wondering aloud how he could have trumped Hitler, Stalin and Mao. “Worse than the person who introduced aluminum baseball bats?”
-Reporting by Kay Henderson inIowa
-Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg (Rove after announcing resignation)
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19 comments so far
the karl rove story the mainstream media didn’t get
- Posted by David Goodnerhttp://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pb cs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=c 93e5f51e57d4a1696a5e44246b6eb53&plckCont roller=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScr ipt&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPerson aPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3ac93 e5f51e57d4a1696a5e44246b6eb53Post%3abd8f ae27-92e3-426b-a23c-d5df55e2f80a&sid=sit elife.desmoinesregister.com
Youve got a chance to ask your questions later and make your stupid statements. Let me make mine, said Rove,”
Rove is right his statements are stupid!
- Posted by Ang915Hecklers are there for no reason other than to disrupt for the sake of disruption. Stand outside with your signs where everyone will see you then go back to your stinking room, study like you are supposed to, graduate, GET A JOB and start paying some taxes. Then, maybe, you’ll have something to say I might care to hear. I can guarentee you one thing, you hecklers out there, you do not get your point across. You make fools of yourselves. Nobody is listening when people are yelling.
- Posted by SandiDon’t worry. No one here at the UofI really takes David Goodner seriously apart from a few other on the fringe loony left. What does it say when the “leader” of the UI anti-war movement is a 26-year old undergrad. There were 1100 respectful people who wanted to hear what Rove had to say, and maybe 100 self-proclaimed “activists” there. Rove ruled, the activists drooled.
- Posted by wadkLet’s be honest here: Rove is the fat kid at school that got beaten up his whole life. So he basically spent the past 30 years trying to pay back by playing tough guy. But the reality is that he is still a fat weenie and always will be. If you want to see what Rove looked like as a kid, check Martin Prince in the Simpsons.
- Posted by Chris“Rove is the fat kid at school that got beaten up his whole life.”
Let’s ‘really’ be honest here. The person who made that comment has accomplished nothing in this life and perceives the world through the depth of his/her own experience - which unfortunately has been defined by the Simpsons.
- Posted by Charles“Hecklers are there for no reason other than to disrupt for the sake of disruption.”
That’s right, so let’s all accept
- Posted by Yizmo Gizmothe Neo-con decisions and blows to civil rights and this wonderful war in Iraq. Dissent is bad bad bad.
Eveyone must drink the cool aid.
Rove deserves to be vilified by history…the worst of the worst for idiotic ideas.
- Posted by zodSandi how can you say they didn’t get their point across and no one is paying them any attention?
It made the national news and got you to type about it. It was obviously quite effective. If it wasnt you wouldnt have read the story.
Anyway, Rove is a corrupt and evil sub-human being. I will not call him a man. The only people who support him are Jesus Freaks and inbred southerners who think that the “MOOZ-LIMS” are evil and “jealous of our freedom” and other moronic political neo-con taloking points designed for the 30% of professional retards who still support the Moron-in-Chief.
- Posted by DarcOK, I give up - where’s the story? Seems like the same old nutty protesters that show up all the time at any event that gives them 30 seconds of fame. *YAWN*
- Posted by PatrickKarl Rove is the linchpin in the real “axis of evil” (Rove, Bush, Cheney). He’s the reason the United State’s has had to endure the Bush administration for nearly eight years; by extension, he put us in Iraq, undermined the economy, made the United States a pariah in the eyes of the world, raped the Constitution and ruined this country for the next four generations. Is he worse than Hitler? He might be. Over the next 40 years, more than six million people might die unnecessarily due to his tactics; millions more might suffer but not die; the greatest nation in the world will become a Third World country. Karl Robe is less than human.
- Posted by Bill ClaytonOn Monday 8 American soldiers died in Iraq.
I was not at this event, though Rove and the Administrtion can act with contempt towards those who oppose them, they can call us stupid, but can they answer why American soldiers continue to die in Iraq? Can they tell us what goals are being met? Can they tell us the actions of the Iraqi government to get a handle on corruption and police violence necessary to bring their own country under control? Can they tell us how many more years and how many more American lives will be spent on this intractable conflict? Can they tell us when the exhausted, over deployed soldiers will get to stop going to Iraq, can they tell us when they will start honoring the promises made to Iraq veterans? Can they tell us how they can continue to spend 12 billion a month and not bankrupt the country for generations to come?
Rove talks about tears, everyday I cry for my son lost in April 2004. He was number 720, today the number is 3983. Can Rove tell me why my son died looking for the weapons of mass destruciton long after everyone knew there were none? and why the 8 died yesterday? He can call me stupid for opposing him, he can hold all of us in contempt who oppose him- it will never make this war right, or ever bring back my dear son.
- Posted by celeste zappalaCeleste Zappala
mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker KIA 4/26/04
Well said, Celeste. You are in my prayers.
- Posted by Virginia GurleySandi says: “GET A JOB and start paying some taxes. Then, maybe, youll have something to say I might care to hear”
Sandi, millions of tax-paying Americans with jobs are critical of the Bush administration and the Iraq War. If you support Rove and this administration, you are in a shrinking minority.
I am heavily taxed. Around $8000 of the money I send to Uncle Sam goes into military spending every year. I want to know why people like Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Feith aren’t being investigated for knowingly misleading us and sinking the country into an unjustifiable war in Iraq. Given Congress is doing nothing, I fully support every jab tossed at Karl Rove by the protesters.
Sandi, how much more of your children’s money are you going to borrow from China to pay 150,000 Blackwater mercenaries and profiteers in Iraq? That’s where most of the tracked money goes. They’ve “lost track” of billions of dollars and noone is held accountable. That money should be going into VA hospitals for injured troops, not thieves pockets.
Anyway, hope you have a change of heart.
- Posted by J. Bailey“Sub-human” or “Axis of evil” - sounds like hatred to me, and so if you disagree with policy or beliefs other than mine, you are a evil, bad or person. Where is the intelligence or truly “human” aspects of these statements?
- Posted by Barry BaileyReasonable points have been made and now the neo-cons are sinking into near baby-talk responses to fuel more hate. It is sad that there is an undercurrent of doctor-shopping, self-righteous, Limbaugh wanna-bes driving the far right. Let’s just move around them and keep up the good fight. Let’s turn this country around. America is worth it.
- Posted by SamSome of the comments here defending Rove are amusing. Whether any of these people like it or not, this jerk is truly despised — and for good reason. You feel sorry for Rove? I sure don’t. He is a despicable individual.
- Posted by ElaineDeal with it.
You’re only problem with Rove is he beat you weak leftists in two elections!!!! Ha, ha, ha. Looks like the Republicans will control both Houses and the White House in 2008. Sorry suckers.
- Posted by Franklin[…] Rove heckled in Iowa over Iraq war Reuters March 11th Fox News March 20th […]
- Posted by 1 Boring Old Man » busy boy that Mr. Retired Karl Rove…