Read Street bloggers may? b interested in this interchange- in that it concerns Karl and Md and a recent appearance by him:

I feel that conservatives of all stripes basically have the bully pulpits in the US- they have the power and they have it in publishing and the book business- what little is left. And so- for us leftist writers to get a word in edgewise? We try.

I mean what entitles you to write a book if you're a Palin or a Rove? I would say only the clout you have among your big money friends to get it done.

But why line up - as people do for Palin- to read this stuff?

Karl Rove at Goucher, 9/16/9

9/16—Karl Rove speaks at Goucher College. Wine and cheese liberal President Sanford Ungar introduces him- probably under pressure from wealthy alums to bring a conservative to the campus.

My friend, activist, Max Obuszewski and several others get up to read an inditement of Rove before he speaks. M is ushered out (although, thankfully, not arrested). A contingent of right wingers boos him and cheers as he is led out. They are Rove’s goon/ thug guard. Ungar remarks in ref to Max that Goucher believes in free speech. Tell that to civilians and American soldiers killed in Iraq. Disgusting stuff at a place of “higher learning”. Ungar responds to my letter- lists reasons for inviting Rove.

" I have received your email and voice mail. I am quite surprised you would speak so definitively on this issue, without having attended the event last night. To be honest, I don’t have a lot of time for knee-jerk critics like you, but let me establish a few facts:

1.

As I explained last night, the cost of Mr. Rove’s visit was paid from a fund established by an anonymous donor who wants to assure that we have a broad range of speakers on campus; not a penny of college funds were spent to bring him.

2. We do not have a list of “acceptable” and “unacceptable” speakers. If you do, I wonder how you arrived at the consensus and whether you’ve persuaded any institution to endorse your lists. Goucher College does not have an ideology; it is committed to free speech. Standing up and shouting and trying to prevent someone from speaking is disruption, not speech. Yes, I had the disruptive people removed, and our students – none of whom were among them – were very pleased that I did so, because they wanted to ask questions, not shout.

3. You can easily get a list of people who have spoken at Goucher in my eight+ years as president, and I think you’ll find many progressives among them.

4. We are under no pressure whatsoever from conservatives – what a naïve and foolish suggestion. You clearly know nothing about the college.

5. You dropped my friend Marc Steiner’s name in your voice mail. Although I have not spoken with Marc about this, I feel sure that he shares my understanding of free speech and would have thought it was a very interesting idea to have Karl Rove on campus for a conversation and dialogue.Yours, Sanford Ungar"

I thought it was nice of him to respond. I tend to shoot from the hip (I'm a radical for chrissakes)