Wellstone was an Unapologetic Liberal

Associated Press ^ | 10.25.02 | Jesse J. Holland

[wallcrawlr]

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, one of the last unapologetic liberals left in Congress and known among his friends as a ``pied piper of modern politics,'' died Friday in a Minnesota plane crash. He was 58.

Wellstone's wife, Sheila Ison Wellstone, and daughter Marcia also died in the crash. Three campaign staff members and two pilots also perished.

[BibChr]

I am (A) more than glad to do that, and (B) cherishing no false hopes, barring a last-millisecond I'm-really-going-to-die repentance.

Dan
How Can I Know God?

[dfwgator]

Ya just know that this thread is gonna be talked about over yonder at DU.

And DU will be about as kind to Reagan when he passes. We are both part of the same hypocrisy.

[Notwithstanding]

The Wellstone legacy:

[Mudboy Slim]

"We need someone with his level of passion and enthusiasm in the conservative side of things."

Senator George Allen, Jr. (R-VA)...MUD

[Gritty]

This is a tragedy for his family. We wish them comfort in their bereavement!

That said, it is passingly strange that all the exhibited grief, public handwringing and ringing kudos toward Wellstone and his potty ideas are inundating the airwaves. I don't remember any of that when Paul Coverdell (R-GA) passed away suddenly a few years back. There was nary a wimper from the Media - just a mad and gleeful scramble to appoint a Democrat successor.

Let's put things into political perspective. The ACU rates Wellstones' tenure;

Senate

Senate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	2001	2000	YOS	Life
Mark Dayton (D)	-	-	-	-	-	-	+	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4		1	4
Paul Wellstone (D)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	4	11	4

This article states;

... known among his friends as a ``pied piper of modern politics,''...

Touching. Didn't the fabled pied piper entice the rats also?

A former champion 126-pound wrestler from the University of North Carolina (graduated in 1965)...

Imagine. This prime physical specimen somehow managed to avoid the draft, any military service, and the Vietnam War. Whooda thunk it?

Labeled by a magazine, Mother Jones, as ``the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate,''

Well, I guess we know whose side he stood on in the Vietnam War while may some of us were actually fighting it. Some "Patriot", eh? For North Vietnam, maybe!

Paul Welfare may have been a likeable human being with a lot of humor and a sense of family (his own, not those still in the womb). Big deal. He was part of the Socialist cabal which has been shredding our Constitution and America freedoms and culture for years. His death is tragic on a personal level only. Unfortunately, his real legacy will live on for a long time. It is not a good one.

RIP.

[Terriergal]

I haven't seen much of him yet. :-( I'll keep my eyes open for him , thanks!

[Terriergal]

That reminds me - off subject here - just was listening to a Catholic tape series (got from a coworker of Cyrano's - we are not Catholic) on Islam called Islam Exposed from St Joseph's Press I think... Ex protestant speaker, had been in the Marines, really good speaker. Talked about how Islam teaches that you CANNOT know 'Allah.' You just obey him. Very informational series and the speaker is quite good.

[BibChr]

Eeegh, an apostate talking about Islam? Brr-r-r-r, that would be a strange experience!

Dan

[Terriergal]

heh that's NOT funny.

[F16Fighter]

"The libs are gonna politicize the hell out of this death for all it's worth."

Sympathy + Mondale = another electoral Democratic illegal shananagan.

Why Jean Carnahan was allowed to have taken her husband's place, and Frank Lautenberg and the Democratic Party was allowed circumvent election laws is beyond me. Maybe it's because the GOP remains a political party of eunuchs.

[F16Fighter]

"Posts #53, 54, 55 ==> AMEN! Preach it, brother!

LOL -- sorry about the quad post...

"Let's not forget that wellstone was caught red-handed in the post office scandal, but his constituency is apparently so liberal, or so unaware, that they didn't care, and continually re-elected him. That's what his "principles" were."

That's exactly what's so maddening about the Democratic Lemming Party -- their constituency has only a selective memory, are moral relativists, and apparently have minimal expectations of their representatives' character as well.

[F16Fighter]

"A nasty boil on the American political scene...!!"

I musta missed that lead-in for Wellstone's obit on either the CNN or in the NY Times :-D

[3AngelaD]

Actually, I have found Marcy Gordon to be very accurate, fair and even-handed. What's my jackpot prize?

[Mudboy Slim]

LOL...of course not, according to the Vast LeftWing Medyuh Whore'd, Wellstone's being fitted fer Sainthood...but he really, really was an absolutely IGNORANT DOLT!!

May Paul and his over-hyped reputation RestInPeace...MUD

[1L]

I disagreed with Senator Wellstone on just about every issue, but he was a liberal who really believed in what he was doing and stood for his principles and fought for them. I'd like to see more people like this on both sides.

This is just wrong to me. A "liberal who really believed in what he was doing" is like someone who really believes the moon is made of green cheese. Wellstone wasn't someone who belived in the classical liberal ideas of inalianble rights, he was a modern liberal who wanted government enforcing his ideas of social engineering. Like other modern liberals, his tools of the trade were lies, hypocrisy, going back on his word, and being mean spirited to name just a few. Wellstone and other modern liberals would never say a conservative "stood on his principles" because modern liberals simply don't believe one can truly disagree with them, or at the least, those that do are Nazis. Someone fighting for principles that are not only wrong, but proven dangerous, is not in my mind someone to be praised. We can all be sorry he died (as I do), but let's please stop this praise of a terribly misguided person who sought to bring the whole country down with him.

[Consort]

...an Unapologetic Liberal...

Anyone his age who hasn't learned how to apologize will never mature like a normal adult.

[TBP]

I agree with you that Wellstone's principles were misguided and dangerous. However, he had the courage of his convictions, as not many people in Washington on either side have (Bob Smith comes to mind, and Ron Paul, but I can't think of many others) and while he worked passionately for his misguided principles, unlike most liberals, you weren't his enemy if you disagreed with him. That is a kind of civility that our political process could use.

And liberals do sometimes say this about conservatives, but usually only when they're dead. They will almost all say it, now, about Barry Goldwater.

You know, Barry had many friends on the other side of the aisle. One of them was JFK. In fact, it's been widely written that Kennedy and Goldwater were planning to do a new type of campaign in '64, one in which they would have spent at least part of the campaign doing a whistle-stop tour together, with Kennedy speaking first at one stop and Goldwater rebutting him and then reversing the order at the next stop.

What these men shared, and what Wellstone apparently did as well (as do the most principled people on our side), was a belief in civility in politics -- fervent, pratisan, principled, fierce disagreement, but not the slash-and-burn that characterizes most politicians.

[1L]

unlike most liberals, you weren't his enemy if you disagreed with him. That is a kind of civility that our political process could use.

That's fine, and I don't have any problem pointing out his good points.

They will almost all say it, now, about Barry Goldwater.

That may not be the best example since later in life, Goldwater pandered to liberals.

fervent, pratisan, principled, fierce disagreement, but not the slash-and-burn that characterizes most politicians.

Again, that's fine and commendable. I'm sure he was a good husband and father as well. I was simply responding to him being labeled an icon by some, or a great man by others. I'm sorry, but great men don't aspire to have government take over the lives of millions, holding them dependant on politicians and government workers, also dependant on politicians, for their day to day lives -- all while calling it compassion.