Rove & Gibbs at IU and Rove's race-baiting comment

I don't know how I missed this last week:

During a discussion with Politico’s Mike Allen on Monday, Rove made it clear that politics had actually become more racialized since the country elected its first black president.

“Obama has no chance of carrying Indiana,” the Fox News contributor explained. “I was having dinner with [Indiana Gov.] Mitch Daniels this spring, and I said, ‘Mitch, is there a white Democrat south of Indianapolis who’s supporting Obama who’s not a college professor in Bloomington?’ And he stopped for a minute over his green beans and says, ‘Not that I can think of.’”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/28/rove-counting-on-white-democrats-to-vote-for-romney/

Mike Leonard wrote a great column in the Bloomington Herald-Times. It requires a subscription to read online, but here's a snippet:

"Clearly, neither Daniels nor Rove is so clueless as to think that statement was literally true, so we can assume they were just chortling over how clever they are, and how pleasing it is for them to see Indiana reassert itself as a “red” state. Beyond that is the insidious undercurrent of racial politics and the insinuation that Hoosiers, particularly in southern Indiana, will not vote for Barack Obama because he is African-American. Not because they don’t like his politics or policy, but because he’s black."

"Essentially, Rove and Daniels called us bigots."

"Racism exists, to be sure, and a person would be a fool to think that there aren’t people who won’t vote for Obama because of race. At the same time, we should expect leadership from so-called leaders, and there was no hint in this discussion that Rove or Daniels rejected or condemned the notion that voters will vote on the basis of skin color. Rove laid it out casually, as if it’s just something that’s accepted."

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"But as a native Hoosier and a resident of southern Indiana for more than three decades, it’s offensive for me to hear even the suggestion that no white Democrat south of Indianapolis who is not a college professor in Bloomington will vote for a black man. It’s particularly disgusting that our governor didn’t protest Rove’s remark — if Rove indeed recounted his conversation with Daniels accurately."

"And Daniels? Come Jan. 1, 2013, he’s Purdue’s problem."

Of course, Rove is sharing the stage at the IU Auditorium with Robert Gibbs on Oct 18.
http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=88095
He might just hear from a few white Democrats south of Indy who are not IU professors who are supporting Obama!