On July 28, 2003, just a few weeks after Rove had the now
infamous phone call with Matt Cooper confirming Valerie Plame worked for the
CIA, the 55th biennial College Republican National Convention was
underway.
Two weeks after Novak’s Time magazine article hit the
newsstands and people realized they were reading something they shouldn’t be
reading, the identity of a covert CIA agent, Karl Rove was kicking off the
convention at a black tie banquet.
“Somewhere in this group is the next Karl Rove,†boasted
the real Karl Rove. Do you think these young Republicans, looking forward to a
future in politics, were applauding a person involved in the ousting of a CIA
agent? I am sure even if they knew he would of still been a welcomed speaker,
after all he is the “architect†as George Bush so humbly puts it.
That same evening, the young, naïve republicans gave the
Lee Atwater Memorial Award to Karl Rove. Lee Atwater, for those who don’t
remember, is best known for his campaign tactics of “push pollingâ€ÂÂ, or altering
the facts of actual polling to gain political momentum.
To further add insult to injury, the following day while
the convention was going full force, Jack Abramoff was invited to speak. “You
never know if the person coming up to your recruitment table is gong to be the
next Karl Rove,” Abramoff said. Two short years later and Jack Abramoff finds
himself at the middle of a scandal that cost Indian tribes over $80 million.
Hopefully the young Republican’s that attended the
convention two years ago realize now that two of their key speakers are not
people to aspire to be. Both are the center of major investigation and could
very well be facing jail time. One did it for money; the other did it for power.
It doesn’t matter; we now know who these people really are. They are the
slimiest element that Washington can generate.
The convention just passed at the end of June this year,
and since I am sure planning is underway for the next one let me offer a
suggestion on who to invite. Randy “Duke†Cunningham is available. He is not
worried about a re-election now so go ahead and invite him to be your speaker.
After that, you could go ahead and bring Scooter Libby in to really get things
going. After all, your previous speakers are now the center of scandals so why
not get some that are already involved in scandals. Limit the anticipation!