Karl Rove brought his new book Courage and Consequence to Minneapolis, to the U of M. Invited by the College Republicans to speak, he paid a visit 4/22/10 to Smith Hall and spoke to a couple hundred supporters. A couple dozen protesters, police and press were there to watch too.
I've time stamped the video below, to help you find easily a section to zoom in on.
You'll see he's admired by many, but protesters will interrupt him twice. Then, Peace Activist and FBI Whistleblower Coleen Rowley will confront him directly too.
At the end, I get to ask him : "Will Obama be reelected?"
Courage and Consequence--Karl Rove comes to Minneapolis.
On 4/22/10 Karl Rove visited the U of M in Minneapolis Minnesota, Rove and the College Republicans allow taping of the first 10:00 minutes of Rove's over hour long speech with questions and answers. He speaks for nearly an hour, before he's interrupted by protesters. At the end, Peace Activist and former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley will confront him, giving him a tee shirt, while he signs her book too. She challenges him to a debate, and brings with her an arrest complaint and her hand cuffs. To help you find a bit of the video to zoom in on, here are some time stamps below.
00:15 An audience member before his speech says to me : "I think in a hundred years, he'll be known as a genius, a visionary, a truth teller. Why would a peace protester show up here, makes no sense."
00:30 A couple hundred welcome Karl Rove to the U of M.
00:45 He remarks on the rise and fall cycle of liberals and conservatives.
1:15 "[with Obama], we had a candidate who was a relentless centrist."--Karl Rove.
2:00 Mark of this video, shows how 52:00 minutes into his speech and questions, protesters were led away shouting : "WHO IS A TERRORIST? ROVE IS A TERRORIST." There are perhaps 20 police present, and not all are in the room. During the first outburst, 3 emerged from stage right that had been just outside the door.
2:50 We see and hear Former Republican Senate candidate David Carlson shout out : "GO TAKE A SHOWER" as the first set of protesters are led away. Carlson, has been a bit impulsive before retweeting a racist Obama remark, written up here in MNPublis. http://mnpublius.com/...
3:15 Mark, another protestor bursts out, 20 minutes after the first outburst mentioned above.
3:30 After the speech, Karl Rove signed dozens of books.
3:45 I talk to students with books, waiting to get his signature after the speech. All were asked to leave, then those with books were allowed back in to have him sign. We talked about his speech, and politics in the news. We both agree, on the distortion with the extreme seeming the norm in the news. In a way, this video highlights the interruptions, but I think it could have been balanced out with more of Karl Rove's speech. He spoke with facts off the top of his head for an hour, it seems he'd only be served by more exposure of his entire speech, but it was restricted. Instead, I got to roll on the interruptions because they were news.
4:07 On the interruptions: "I have no problem with their views... " Says the student, but he wishes for more civility.
5:30 Near the back of the book line, I found Peace Activist and former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley waiting with a book for him to sign too. We've all been given post-it notes to help him personalize the books. On hers she wrote : "Address it to Leavenworth Prison"--when I open the cover of her book and look inside. She displays her FBI handcuffs to me, which she wants to show to them to Rove. Before we see Rowley confront Rove, we see the U of M police form a tight circle around Rove. Rowley gives him a tee-shirt and he signs her book. She challenges to return another time for a real debate, but she is chased off by the police. After, the police said no arrests were made.
8:50 And at the end, I walk up to Rove with a book to sign and ask him a question :
"Will Obama be reelected?"
"Way to early to tell"--he responds wisely. I press him though, "from today's perspective?"
"Today he wouldn't, when you're running one point ahead in the polls with Ron Paul that's a problem."--Karl Rove.
Karl Rove remains a polarizing person. Revered by the right, scorned by the left as he makes his way around the country with his new book : "Courage and Consequence".
Craig Stellmacher
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