SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.–Republican political operative Karl Rove, speaking to an insurance group here yesterday, found himself defending the Iraq war after a challenge from an audience member.

Mr. Rove, the former senior advisor to President George W. Bush, who was generally well received by members of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) at their annual meeting here, got the negative feedback during a question and answer session.

Earlier he had praised the courage of a family that had two sons serving as Marine officers. He said that after one of his boys was killed in Iraq, the father, a doctor, after a condolence visit by President Bush, secured an age waiver so he could serve in the Navy Medical Reserve.

If the United States keeps providing such families, Mr. Rove said, “we will continue to be the greatest nation.”

In answer to another question, Mr. Rove criticized Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama for a tax plan that he said would heavily impact small businesses–a major generator of jobs–and would stifle entrepreneurship.

“He does not understand the small business part of the economy,” said Mr. Rove said of Sen. Obama.

But a member of the audience–who described his business at the time of its start-up as so small that he served as messenger and had worked out of a phone booth during a telephone strike–told Mr. Rove that as a one-time small entrepreneur who built up his business from nothing and had always voted Republican, he could not support the GOP.

He said he would not vote Republican because President Bush had misled the country into war with Iraq and was now leaving the country with an economic mess that would burden future generations.

He added that he had served in the military and said he did not want any more Americans to die in Iraq.

In response, Mr. Rove said that President Bush had acted on the most up-to-date and available intelligence that indicated Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction–a notion the former Iraq ruler had taken pains to foster.

Saddam Hussein, Mr. Rove said, had repeatedly thumbed his nose at the United Nations. If he had not been removed, he said, the United Nations would be worthless.

Mr. Hussein also had harbored Al Qaida and provided a base for terrorism camps, Mr. Rove said, adding that in years to come, “we're going to look back and say, 'thank God we removed this guy.'”

While he spoke against Sen. Obama from a tax standpoint, Mr. Rove was quick to correct a member of the audience who asked why the GOP did not attack Mr. Obama for being born in Nigeria.

“This is a rabbit hole; it's fabricated. There is no evidence he was born in Kenya,” Mr. Rove said, referring to the home of Sen. Obama's father.

At other points in his talk, the GOP politician noted various factors that make the election difficult to predict.

He said the number of currently undecided voters is enough to swing the election and there is no way of knowing how they will vote.

Mr. Rove pointed to past failures by prognosticators, noting predictions that Mr. Bush would lose in 2001 and the media projections on 2004 Election Day that Mr. Bush would lose.

At this point, Mr. Rove said, the election is centered on Sen. Obama–who in a poll last week was viewed as unqualified by 43 percent of respondents. That, he said, is “a sign why this election is closer than it should be.”

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Rove Hears Objections To Bush From PCI Attendee

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