Rove apologizes for 'getting weepy' in front of Wisconsin delegation

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove joked with Wisconsin's delegates this morning that Scandinavians don't show emotion.

But by the end of his talk, he couldn't help himself.

Asked about his most memorable experience in the White House, Rove told the delegates the story of a Reno, Nev., family. One son was killed in Iraq and the other was so inspired by his brother that he joined the Marines as well and was preparing to go off to war himself.

While meeting with the president, the father, an orthopedic surgeon, asked for a special waiver so he could join the Navy, which provides medical service to the Marines. The president asked Rove to work on it, and the former adviser said one of his last acts before leaving the White House was writing a letter to the father to tell him how inspiring he was. After getting home to Texas, he realized he needed to write a letter to his wife as well considering she had lost a son, had another going off to war and was getting ready to turn her life upside down so her husband could join the Navy.

Rove said about six weeks later, he received an invitation to the father's Navy commissioning ceremony.

Rove said as wound up as people get about elections, one thing he learned was as long as America continues to produce people like them, "we're going to be just fine, no matter what happens in this election because it is an example of why this is the greatest country on earth," he said before apologizing for "getting weepy."

"It's completely impossible for me to do anything that's useful for these people, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about them. Not a day," Rove said.

Rove warmed up the crowd by recalling his ties to Wisconsin, noting his father was born there. He said he returned to Wisconsin a couple of years ago to carry out his father's last wish of having his ashes spread at a rock on Pike Lake, where his parents' ashes had been spread as well.

The delegates greeted Rove with a standing loud ovation and he asked them several times to sit down before joking, "Don't you know our Scandinavian heritage? We're not supposed to show emotion."

Rove also talked politics with delegates, telling them he still believes Bush won Wisconsin in the 2000 election despite officially coming up just more than 5,000 votes short and loved how the trend lines are going for 2008. He also sang the praises of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, telling them that Palin, a member of the NRA and an outdoorswoman, she "can shoot it, gut it, filet it and fix it for you."

"We've got a ticket of a maverick and an independent, and if you can't sell that in Wisconsin, I don't know what," he said.

He also joked with the delegates about the make up he was wearing, something he said was required for his gig at Fox News.

"Men, don't worry. I'm not going to be grabbing the man purse," Rove said. "This is just what I'm required to do."

Listen to Rove's remarks

Delegates heard from former Calif. Rep Steve Kuykendall, a former U.S. Marine, before Rove spoke.

Listen to Kuykendall's introduction

-- By Staff