Karl Rove Drops Prep School Speech

WALLINGFORD, Conn. — Following protests from students, former presidential adviser Karl Rove has withdrawn as this year's commencement speaker at a prestigious prep school, the school's headmaster said Monday.

The choice of Rove as speaker for the June commencement at Choate Rosemary Hall had led some students to plan to walk out of the ceremony. Others had sought to bring comedian Stephen Colbert to campus for an alternate speech.

Instead of commencement, Rove now will speak at the school on Feb. 11, headmaster Edward J. Shanahan said. Shanahan said he will deliver the commencement address at the school, the alma mater of John F. Kennedy and Adlai Stevenson.

Shanahan said he had asked seniors for their opinions on the proposed commencement speech and many said they wanted to hear from Rove _ but at some time other than commencement.

He said they also were concerned that outsiders might disrupt graduation if Rove appeared in June.

In an e-mail to students and staff Monday, Shanahan quoted Rove as saying: "I would not want 12 minutes of remarks to be used as an excuse by a small group to mar what should be a wonderful day of celebration for the members of the 2008 graduating class and their families, so I am delighted to instead accept Choate's invitation to speak on campus Feb. 11."

"He was more than understanding," Shanahan wrote to the students. "He was gracious and generous in his thinking about you and 'your day.'"

Rove, one of President Bush's most influential advisers, left the administration last year.

Comments

[malrubius]

I guess future smear campaign political hacks will have to come from other rich kid prep schools.

[Clarabell]

Good deal! The last I heard he was still on. I hope that he continues to get his "due."

[lungfish]

Great, now he can respond to subpoenas and the call of his country...­.

[LoriB]

"He said they also were concerned that outsiders might disrupt graduation if Rove appeared in June."

In other words, rowdy leftist "outsiders" would disrupt Rove's speech. The upstanding conservative students who attend this school really want to hear what he has to say.

It's so easy to spot a Republicon.

[plages]

Let's hope that the students at some point are the jurors at the many trials! The you will hear from the judges, "Guilty as charged, for crimes against humanity!"

[Beve83]

Wow, who was responsible for extending the invite in the first place??

[wcfar]

In my opinion he has been implicated in the Plame matter, to what degree I do not know. I know he politicized the bureacracy to the point of ineffectiveness, and I know I didn't vote for him. If he has more divisive things to say, more propaganda for his republican tribe rather than offering some wisdom to these students he is doing them a disservice. Free to speak? Yes, of course but I think in this setting he has a greater responsibility to the students than cheap partisanship.

[grannysharp]

A wise judgment call by all. and best wishes to the class of 2008

[DietrichMoody]

Wow this guys couldn't get into an Elite prep school as a kid and can't get into one even AFTER working in the White House as and adult.

No wonder Rove, is anti-Elitist, they won't let him in to their circle. waaaaa waaaaa...

Mr. Rove, who cares about this stupid elitist circle anyway, the drinks are never that strong, and the talk is usually about the weather.

[fierp]

Is he going to teach them SLASH AND BURN politics? He should be worrying about his Boss without Legacy.

[osage]

The educated and informed people are speaking. Rove can fool the blind, ignorant and blissfully uninformed, but the educated intelligentisia of America will always and have always rejected his ends justifies the means political immoralities. Rove is hated just as much as Bush is. Their days in the sun are over.

[Coyote2]

Ha ha ha ..........­...bitch

[WilliamWallace]

Good, perhaps the youth of America will now continue to rise up and run these dangerous S.O.B.s out of town.

[A Meat Beetle]

Americans on the left have been brutalized and even murdered for the beliefs they hold. This disgusting little punk can't even run a gauntlet of protesters to give a speech. So much for the strength of conservative convictions.

[satyriasis]

This is good. I hope the students and faculty at Stanford engage in a massive enough protest to prevent that war criminal Condoleeza Rice from returning.