Despite fears of unruly behavior, a talk by Karl Rove in Call Auditorium on April 13 went smoothly. Former President George W. Bush’s senior advisor and campaign manager was brought to campus by the Cornell Republicans and the Cornell University Programming Board to speak about his thoughts on the upcoming 2012 presidential election, with as he admitted, “a certain prejudice.”

Kent Hubble began the talk by reading responsible speech guidelines and reminding the audience that the speaker has a right to speak and the audience a right to hear. The rules did allow for peaceful protest, such as leaving the talk. Hubble’s reading reinforced what the many security guards around the room were there for—to maintain order. The audience was mostly respectful and showed their beliefs by clapping or refusing to clap. One woman made a few brief shouts of disapproval, to which Rove responded with several remarks to indicate he understood her opinion about him.

To maintain order during the end question and answer time, questions were asked on index cards given out in the programs. The Cornell Republicans said they were only screened for legibility. Hubble asked Rove a selection of the audience’s questions.

Rove opened his remarks by telling stories about former President George H. W. Bush, whom Rove first met during a contested College Republicans election. Rove won after Bush, who was chairman of the Republic National Committee at the time, certified the election result. Bush later loaned his boat to Rove’s College Republican campaign manager to impress a girl.

Before moving into his discussion of 2012, Rove warned the audience, “You can’t stop me. I’ve got the microphone.”

As there is currently no front runner in the race for Republican nominee, Rove discussed what he felt were “the same three challenges for everyone,” what their narrative is, why Obama shouldn’t be elected, and why they should be the nominee.

In midst of his discussion of 2012, Rove made one possible Freudian slip. He said, “2012 will be bought…I mean fought”

Rove discussed the current economic issues and his problems with how Obama has handled them. He believes “Congress needs adult supervision from the President,” and that Obama made a major mistake by outsourcing the drafting of the regulations to Congress. He also believes the bill “wasn’t a stimulus bill” as it contained many provisions that won’t help create jobs. According to Rove, the bill includes $5 million for smoking cessation and obesity, to which Rove responded, “I have yet to meet an out of work fat counselor.”

Other controversial statements were made when Rove discussed the efforts to reform health care and immigration. Rove claimed that the funding for the Affordable Health Care Act, which was passed in December 2009 to reform the current health care system, was “Bernie Madoff-style economics.” Rove is also strongly against giving any benefits to illegal aliens. He said, “Giving benefits to illegals devalues citizenship.”

Through out his remarks, Rove made a few negative remarks towards Cornell. When discussing the bill to reform health care, he said, “I’m a simple guy. I’m not an Ivy Leaguer.” He also remarked semi-jokingly about the chair he was given for the question and answer session. He said, “[Cornell] has the most uncomfortable chairs in the Ivy League. Harvard had comfortable chairs.” However, at the end of his remarks when asked about how to get involved in politics, Rove said that getting a good education like Cornell students get, is a good start. He stated, “I didn’t get a college degree. I was in the last generation stupid enough to get away with it.”

Written by Jennifer Schlesinger