On Wednesday, the Republican electoral architect, Karl Rove, spoke at Syracuse University. Rove’s visit was sponsored by College Republicans. The senior adviser and chief strategist to former President George W. Bush drew an audience of about 250 people.

Conversely, Rove’s presence at the Schine Student Center drew about 30 protesters. In part, the protest was organized by the College Democrats at Syracuse University. Protesters included members of the Syracuse Peace Council, local labor unions and students.    

An education graduate student called for Rove ‘to be taken to Fallujah and killed,’ according to The Newshouse, a publication produced by the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications. It was also reported that the protest crowd broke into a chant: ‘Karl Rove, you can’t hide. We’re charging you with genocide.’

Perhaps the protesters, unable to find two words that would have rhymed and made sense, chose the words ‘hide’ and ‘genocide’ because of the words’ rhyming properties alone.

It is likely that the protesters were referring to a 2010 junk study produced by quack researcher Christopher Busby. This study purports to show skyrocketing cancer and birth defect rates in Fallujah, Iraq, after the United States lead liberation and subsequent conflict with insurgency forces.

It miraculously tracks 10 years’ worth of health data without the use of medical records or official census information. Instead, Busby gathered data by asking individuals about their own 10-year medical history. He then generated his own population figures and control data from thin air, including expected rates of cancer, expected birth defect rates and population.

Further, the study states that its own results ‘do not throw any light upon the identity of the agent(s) causing the increased levels of illness,’ meaning, in the unlikely case that the study is accurate, it does nothing to show a connection between U.S. involvement and negative health effects in Fallujah.

Most recently, Busby made the news for hawking useless anti-radiation pills to the people of Japan after the Fukushima incident.

Admittedly, the percentage of anti-Rove protesters sharing the view that Rove should be deported and killed is undetermined. Additionally, the statement given by the College Democrats to The Post-Standard was peaceful, and it is safe to assume that the greater majority of the protesters are peaceful people. Nevertheless, there is a problem.   

Despite the peaceful rhetoric of most, protesters stood in solidarity with at least one person calling for Rove’s death, and there should be no acceptance for this type of rhetoric at a peaceful protest.   

Aside from Rove, it was reported that protesters were mainly concerned with corporate contributions to political campaigns. They believe that corporations finance campaigns to maliciously control government for their own benefit, turning it against citizens.

If this is the case, then the protesters are demonstrating against the wrong person and the wrong party. Among President Barack Obama’s top 20 contributors in the 2008 election, 15 were corporations or limited liability partnerships and, among these, four were large banks.   

Further, Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign received approximately $190.7 million in donations from the business community. While, on the other hand, Bush received only $107.9 million worth of business contributions in his 2004 election. These figures are reported by opensecrets.org.

In inflation adjusted dollars, Bush and Obama received $131.1 million and $203.3 million from businesses, respectively. Yet, ignoring the fact that Bush trails Obama in terms of these contributions, protesters are against Rove because of his affiliation with Bush.   This implies that the self-acclaimed protesters of corporate campaign finance are not truly against corporate campaign finance. Instead, these protesters are against corporate donations to candidates that they dislike.

As a response to Rove, one might suggest the College Democrats invite Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former chief strategist and chief of staff, to speak. However, if any left-wing groups happen to gather in his opposition, then, as he did in a prior heated strategy meeting, Emanuel might call the liberals ‘f*cking retarded.’

Michael Stikkel is a sophomore computer engineering major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at mcstikke@syr.edu.    

Published on February 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm