Alicia Leonard
SoWal Insider
Poor lady. Must have had enough..............
Karl Rove in SF: Protestor attempts citizen's arrest
At the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers' Assn., former White House guru Karl Rove debated the 2008 presidential election -- and the current economic meltdown -- with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.
Up on the stage walks a well-dressed woman, name as yet unknown. First she complained that there was no woman on the panel. Then she drew out handcuffs and tried to arrest Rove for treason.
She was quickly ushered off the stage.
Protests, shouted from the audience, continued during the debate, described by one local television reporter as "a very lively back and forth."
Rove tended to blame everything on the Democrats, including deregulation that led to the subprime mortgage mess. "So the regulators in 2005 were the Republicans, and the deregulators, the anti-regulators, the let-them-do-anything-they-want crowd, were all Democrats, with all due respect," said Rove.
None taken.
Anyway, perhaps the most remarkable exchange was when Rove tried to claim that the Democrats were being unduly negative in their attacks on Republican standard-bearer John McCain. He said:
-- Johanna Neuman
Karl Rove in SF: Protestor attempts citizen's arrest
At the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers' Assn., former White House guru Karl Rove debated the 2008 presidential election -- and the current economic meltdown -- with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.
Up on the stage walks a well-dressed woman, name as yet unknown. First she complained that there was no woman on the panel. Then she drew out handcuffs and tried to arrest Rove for treason.
She was quickly ushered off the stage.
Protests, shouted from the audience, continued during the debate, described by one local television reporter as "a very lively back and forth."
Rove tended to blame everything on the Democrats, including deregulation that led to the subprime mortgage mess. "So the regulators in 2005 were the Republicans, and the deregulators, the anti-regulators, the let-them-do-anything-they-want crowd, were all Democrats, with all due respect," said Rove.
None taken.
Anyway, perhaps the most remarkable exchange was when Rove tried to claim that the Democrats were being unduly negative in their attacks on Republican standard-bearer John McCain. He said:
Yesterday John Kerry, your nominee of your party in 2004, stands up and said if John McCain was asked the question of whether he wears boxers or briefs his answer would be Depends. I think that is pretty much under-the-table and pretty nasty.
Mitchell could barely suppress a bemused smile. Perhaps he was thinking about all the dirty tricks that Rove is alleged to have committed -- including against McCain -- while running two presidential campaigns for George W. Bush. The Maine Democrat said:
I have to say I feel like Dorothy in the Land of Oz, hearing you lecture about negative campaigning.
KGO-TV in San Francisco has the video, which you can watch here.
-- Johanna Neuman
