Camera: Karl Rove and friends duke it out for the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies

By Pasquale Casullo | Photography by George Pimentel

Allstream Centre, May 29. Some 2,100 guests of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies gathered for what promised to be a rollicking debate. The resolution: “The world is safer under Barack Obama.” James Carville opened with a zinger: “I’m staying at the Trump Tower. They asked for ID when I checked in, so I showed them my passport. They said they needed to see my long-form birth certificate.” Donna Brazile joined Carville in defending the commander-in-chief, while their right-leaning frenemies Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee begged to differ. The Republican side was victorious by a whisker (51 per cent to 49, by audience vote), but the big winners were co-chairs Paul and Judy Bronfman, who raked in $2.58 million for the centre.