Karl Rove is coming to a CT school near you...

An excerpt from a Masthead Editorial in The News, Choate's school paper in Wallingford, Connecticut:

Rove in '08: We Think Not

The News deeply objects to the appointment of Mr. Rove to speak this June. At Commencement two years ago on June 4, 2006, Headmaster Shanahan asked graduating seniors to think of their responsibilities to themselves, and to others. He lamented how “responsibility to others and for oneself has been all but forgotten in certain circles.” Mr. Shanahan alluded to various public figures who have been exposed for scandalous activities, noting that in spite of their lack of ethics and sense of responsibility they were all found to be “not guilty.” At that Commencement Mr. Shanahan posed a very important and pressing question: “How can so many moral, ethical and legal laws be broken and still no one is guilty, no one assumes public responsibility for having chosen to do wrong?”

It is ironic that the man who issued those words two years ago has chosen a commencement speaker who has gained infamy in many circles for less-than-ethical decisions and actions.Thus far, Mr. Rove has not been indicted for any major crimes. But, many would argue that he is as culpable for the compromised situation the country finds itself in as any other figure of the Bush administration.

snip

Helping to send the U.S. to war in Iraq is not the only thing Mr. Rove is infamous for. For example, he has acknowledged being a source for an article that disclosed the identity of former C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame (although he did not use her name in conversation). However, the point of this article is not to recount a long list of unethical decisions. Mr. Rove would be a very interesting speaker, and having him give a Special Program address could make sense. However, he is unfit to deliver our graduation address. The point of the graduation ceremonies is to celebrate the seniors and the unforgettable time they have spent at Choate and to bring the community together around the climactic moment on the school calendar. Instead, we will be deeply divided. A graduation speaker should inspire us. More importantly, he should represent the values of the school and serve as a role model for the graduates as they enter the adult world. Rove does neither of those two things.

What kind of message does hosting Mr. Rove send to the student body? Do we wish to condone his behavior? It would seem that students are being told that the ends justify the means. The News urges Mr. Shanahan to reconsider his decision. While it is gracious of Mr. Rove to offer his services as Commencement speaker, The News asks that the school kindly reject the offer.

In another article from their school paper:

Karl Rove is widely believed to have been instrumental in the current administration’s decision to go to war with Iraq. He chaired the White House Iraq Group, which, according to CNN and Newsweek, was created with the objective of publicizing the threat posed to the U.S. by Saddam Hussein prior to the Iraq War.

Additionally, Mr. Rove has been accused of leaking the identity of undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plume, in retaliation for her husband’s op-ed piece in The New York Times that criticized the evidence that the Bush Administration cited as justification for the War in Iraq. Rove has also been accused of corruption and conflicts of interest in cases where he helped shape administration policies on energy while holding stock in energy companies such as Enron.

Although Rove was never formally indicted on any charge, there is widespread anger towards the school administration’s decision to invite Karl Rove to speak on campus. “Beyond the fact that his being a widely believed Federal criminal stands against most of the principles that we claim have on campus, it is more than disappointing that the decision was made with so little consultation of other members of the Choate community and that Mr. Shanahan chose to invite such a divisive figure to say the least,” observed an angry Alessio Manti ‘08, a member of the graduating class.

Obviously, they have been paying attention to politics in their school. Though, they might want to note that outing Valery Plame, likely, had less to do with retribution against her husband, Ambassador Wilson, for his actions on the Niger documents than it does with stolen state secrets, nuclear secrets, being sold on the black market and the outfit that would have been investigating this issue, Brewster Jennings and Associates:

Edmonds had told this newspaper that members of the Turkish political and diplomatic community in the US had been actively acquiring nuclear secrets. They often acted as a conduit, she said, for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s spy agency, because they attracted less suspicion.

She claimed corrupt government officials helped the network, and venues such as the American-Turkish Council (ATC) in Washington were used as drop-off points.

The anonymous letter names a high-level government official who was allegedly secretly recorded speaking to an official at the Turkish embassy between August and December 2001.

It claims the government official warned a Turkish member of the network that they should not deal with a company called Brewster Jennings because it was a CIA front company investigating the nuclear black market. The official’s warning came two years before Brewster Jennings was publicly outed when one of its staff, Valerie Plame, was revealed to be a CIA agent in a case that became a cause célèbre in the US.

But, at least those kids at Choate appear to be on the right track in life, knowing right from wrong, and acting on this knowledge in an ethical manner. For those of you unfamiliar with recent developments in the Plame case, here are some more thoughts to chew on... Some more of Karl Rove's criminal Conservative buddies.