Karl Rove's "Heated" Exchange with Hollywood over Global Warming

It sounds like an episode of MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch. In this corner, hailing from Washington DC, we have "Hot" Karl Rove. And in the other corner, fighitng out of liberal Hollywood, we have Inconvenient Truth producer Laurie "The Meltdown" David and her cut specialist, singer Sheryl Crow. Here's the blow-by-blow replay of what went down at Saturday night's White House Correspondents' Association dinner when David and Crow cruised over to Rove's table to talk global warming. According to the Washington Post, the exchange was "suitably heated."

"I am floored by what I just experienced with Karl Rove," David reports. "I went over to him and said, 'I urge you to take a new look at global warming.' He went zero to 100 with me. . . . I've never had anyone be so rude."

Rove's version: "She came over to insult me and she succeeded."

Things got so hot that Crow stepped in to defuse the situation and then got into it with Rove herself. "You work for me," she told the presidential adviser, according to singed bystanders. "No," was his response. "I work for the American people."

Not one to let Rove get the last word, David and Crowe have posted their account/dramatization of the donnybrook here on Huffington Post, where David has blogged in the past.

In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, "Don't touch me." How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, "You can't speak to us like that, you work for us." Karl then quipped, "I don't work for you, I work for the American people." To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, "We are the American people."

At that point Mr. Rove apparently decided he had had enough. Like a groundhog fearful of his own shadow, he scurried to his table in an attempt to hibernate for another year from his responsibility to address global warming. Drama aside, you would expect as an American citizen to be able to engage in a civil discussion with a public official. Instead, Mr. Rove was dismissive, condescending, and quite frankly a bully.

Wow, this is great stuff. Even better than Stephen Colbert at last year's Correspondents' dinner. My favorite part is David's take on why Rove rebuffed Crow's healing hands. How "removed from reality" indeed.

According to Variety, "David apparently had better luck with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. 'I told her one of the biggest national security concerns is global warming,' David said. 'And she agreed.'"

Another fact that both sides can agree upon is David and Crow's dedication to the cause. Here's a piece about their recent college tour to raise global warming awareness from USA Today.