Karl Rove got interrupted during an appearance at George Washington University on Friday by demonstrators calling for his prosecution as a war criminal. Rove, who had nothing to do with war planning or execution — he ran the political side of the White House — seems greatly amused by the accusation when he answers a question from the audience about why he provokes such strong reactions from his demented detractors (via The Other McCain):

I’ve met and talked with Rove twice now, and he’s been kind enough to cite me specifically as one of his must-reads in the blogosphere. His critics assign far too much power to Rove. The man’s genius lies in his ability to process and retain vast amounts of electoral information and to generate successful political campaign moves with them. He isn’t an eeeeeeevil puppetmaster or a diabolical author of anything except three straightforward national electoral victories, at least one of which the Democrats handed to him on a silver platter.

In person, he’s one of the mildest, friendliest people in politics, and fairly humble and grounded as well. The last minute of this video gives viewers a much better portrait of the personal Rove than the media or his detractors have painted. People who have expressed surprise at how mellow he appears on Fox as a political consultant have just begun to realize that the persona most people assumed of Rove is a fantasy.

His memoirs will make fascinating reading, because I suspect his book will focus much less on himself than the notables that surrounded him over the last ten years. (h/t: Shawn)