Rove's Portland visit draws little attention

About 150 people attended the event at the Embassy Suites, as a couple of dozen quiet protesters stood outside

By Nick Peterson

The Times, Apr 17, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (5 Reader comments)

Jaime Valdez / The Times

Michael from the Portland area walks through a crosswalk on S.W. Hall Boulevard in front of protesters shouting, "Hooray, Sadam is dead." Protesters and counter-protesters showed their support on a sidewalk near the Embassy Suites Hotel where political adviser Karl Rove spoke to Washington County Republicans Friday.

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When Karl Rove visited Tigard on Friday the atmosphere inside the Embassy Suites Hotel where he spoke was a little different than the atmosphere outside.

Inside was a crowd of about 150 admiring, applauding Republicans who paid $50 to $60 to sit in on his speech. There they heard Rove ask them to continue to support the war effort in Iraq and rebound from the defeats of the November elections.

Outside were a couple of dozen not-so-enamored protesters who were more concerned with Rove’s history as a Republican adviser and strategist than with what he had to say in a political speech.

Inside, Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, told those in the tightly packed meeting room that the war in Iraq is “the defining issue in our generation.” He asked people to think back and remember where they were when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took place and said that up until then the nation’s response to terrorists had been weak.

Then, citing what he called new encouraging signs of victory in Iraq, Rove said the Democrats are more interested in “mandating failure” than giving President Bush’s new strategy of increasing troops in Iraq a chance to work.

Outside, the police presence was palpable – about one-on-one with the protesters. An expected high turnout of protesters failed to materialize, although the ones there peacefully made their voices heard.

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