Republicans decry service as partisan [LOTT WALKED OUT!!]

Wellstone memorial service

Posted By: Chris Galdieri
Date: FRI, 10/25/02, 9:37 p.m.

Kate and I just got back from the memorial service held at the state capitol building in St. Paul this evening. It was a spectacular event. The front steps of the building were covered by supporters and mourners, many of whom wore green in an echo of the green school bus that was Wellstone's trademark. Green hats, green sweaters, green scarves, green jackets, even green ribbons worn in the style of red AIDS ribbons.

Thanks to traffic, we arrived just as the prayers were ending. After that, people milled around, not wanting to leave but unsure what to do. Some people started singing; I caught a few verses of "We Shall Overcome, "Amazing Grace," "This Land Is Your Land," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and others I didn't recognize. I didn't join in -- I can't sing in a voice that would have done justive to the occasion and I didn't really know many of the lyrics -- but it was truly moving to see and hear.

We ran into the professor who teaches my political theory seminar on the steps of the capitol building. He said that the political science department was devastated today. Many professors knew Wellstone quite well, and many students have been volunteering for his campaign.

I was struck by how hard so many of the people at the memorial were hit by Wellstone's death. It was not uncommon to see people in tears, hugging one another or holding hands or trying to be supportive. I am in awe of the loyalty and devotion Wellstone inspired in the people who supported him. Even his political opponents have said they respected his passion and dedication and commitment to his principles.

Former vice president Walter Mondale appeared around six-thirty and as he made his way up the steps into the capitol people started cheering for him. There were quite a few cries of "We need you, Walter!" from the crowd. I think he was slightly embarassed but it was a stunning thing to watch.

The bus was there, the ancient green school bus Wellstone rode around the state in during his first campaign in 1990, parked in front of the capitol, covered in flags and banners and campaign signs. The hood was covered with candles; the windshield was covered in flowers, held in place by the windshield wipers. Inside the capitol rotunda people had lain flowers and buttons and candles on a roped-off circle on the floor. One was a piece of paper attached to a button. The paper said "Wellstone made me" and the button read "proud to be an American." A candle had a button pinned to it, urging people to call Senator Wellstone to vote against increasing the beer tax. That brought a much-needed smile to my face.

As we drove home, we passed the campaign headquarters. An impromptu memorial "wall," covered with signs and posters and flowers, has already sprung up in the chain-link fence next to the campaign building.

Neither Kate nor I felt like making dinner tonight, so we went to our favorite local pizza place. I had a Coke and Kate had a beer, and we drank a toast to a man we were privileged to have as our representative for too short a time.

Chris

http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:ln8_HhG_yvIC:www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/+wellstone+memorial+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

I saw parts of it and was absolutely disgusted. It WAS a political rally. Just more proof that the RATS have no class.

I think you're right. Instead of saying "I see Clinton in all of this", I should have said "I see THE CLINTONS in all of this, with all their lackeys Carville, Shrum, MacAuliffe etc"

Funny, there was never any cheering or booing at any of the memorial services I went to.

Exactly! Iwas just waiting for Bill Clinton to get up on stage and play his sax.

I caught the "memorial" on CSPan this morning and I am sick to my stomach. This is an amazing display of what the Dems will do to keep control of the Senate. Such crass and disgusting behavior has to be punished.

I fear that the tone of this memorial is going to be the future of our country if the general public doesn't wake up and fight this lunacy with a strong vote.

About as non-political as a Palestinian Authority funeral!!!

We ought not politicize the death of Paul Wellstone. It's wrong. It's wrong.

Even NPR reported that the memorial service quickly degenerated into a political rally.

Bill Clinton is too busy screwing whatever is standing nearby ..

A line copied from a previous thread that I thought was hilarious..

"Maybe Clinton will get lucky with some chick..
Maybe the disgraced ex-president will too"

Does that mean Ramstead is a Democrat infiltrator?

Mondale acknowledges crowd's approval, then lays low
David Peterson
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 30, 2002 MOND30

A crowd that had been sitting and waiting for hours came alive Tuesday night at Williams Arena when Bill Clinton came into view at the head of a long procession of national political figures. It burst into applause again for Ted Kennedy, for John Glenn, for several other famous faces.

But when Walter Mondale appeared, the response was explosive. This time not only hands but feet were at work, stomping a deep bass across the "Barn." Mondale smiled.

And then . . .

He disappeared.

He wasn't on the dais. He was tucked away in a corner of the building. He wasn't surrounded by cameras, and he wasn't greeting crowds. The man whose 1978 eulogy for Hubert Humphrey was one of the memorable moments in Minnesota politics, never came to the microphone.

From time to time a television camera would zoom in on him as he listened, reminding the crowd, which watched huge video screens suspended from the ceiling, that he was still there. But for all that, he was just a suit in the crowd, a distant face in a sea of Washington faces, far more so than a viewer from home could probably grasp. And that was intended, said those involved in planning the memorial service.

"If Fritz were not going to run," said a campaign operative who asked not to be named, "he would have been asked to speak and he would have accepted. But under these circumstances, we knew that the moment he spoke the focus would shift away from Paul and Sheila and the others. Everyone immediately reached the same conclusion, that it wouldn't be right. This is not a political event."

That notion was debatable from the start of the event, and grew downright wrong as the evening went along. More than a memorial service, it felt like a campaign rally, with many lines designed for applause. Some of the most intense responses came in response to calls to win the election campaign that Wellstone had been waging against Republican Norm Coleman when his plane crashed Friday.

At the end of a video tribute, for example, Wellstone's statement, "I intend to win this Senate race," was greeted by a standing ovation. A later speaker, Rick Kahn, implored the crowd so insistently and so often to "win this election for Paul Wellstone," that moderator George Latimer, the former St. Paul mayor, teased him for it.

Mondale, however, was merely a spectator, and that was an excellent idea, said University of Minnesota historian Hy Berman.

"Particularly in light of all the controversy Sunday and Monday over premature campaigning," he said, "I would certainly understand a decision to make Mondale's presence at the memorial service low-key. I assume that's the major reason and maybe even the only one. Republicans nationally and talk-show hosts are saying the very fact his name is mentioned is campaigning, so there's reason to be cautious."

Under these delicate circumstances, Berman said, it is easy to alienate the voters by making a false step.

National Republicans must be cautious about being seen to step into the fray, he said, "or it'll boomerang in big way, so much so that it could even elect Roger Moe, not to mention Walter Mondale," he said. "This is quite a different political setting than New York or even California."

But the Democrats must step carefully too, he said. "We have a long history of experience with these kinds of tragedies in election campaigns, and it has always worked to disadvantage of that party which seeks to take advantage."

-- David Peterson is atdapeterson@startribune.com.

This is the same group of people who disinvited Chaney because the Administration (or RNC ?) sent out a mere, 1-page letter (privately, not aired on t.v.) to focus on what to do with the campaign issues pending over the next week in MN due to Wellstone's death?

What absolute hyprocrites.

Wellstone Memorial Turns Into Rally

By PATRICK HOWE
Associated Press Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)--Tears gave way to foot-stomping and cheers at a memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone as friends and relatives urged Minnesotans to honor his memory by putting a Democrat in his seat. [snip]

For the first two hours, speakers remembered the eight with poignant anecdotes. But when Wellstone's friend and longtime campaign treasurer Rick Kahn took the stage, he adopted the late senator's fiery speaking style and abruptly demolished the leaky dike that had held back most political speech since the accident.

``If Paul Wellstone's legacy in the Senate comes to an end just days after this unspeakable tragedy, our spirits will be crushed, and we will drown in a river of tears,'' Kahn said. ``We are begging you, do not let this happen.'' [snip]

Even some Wellstone supporters in the crowd said they were a bit uncomfortable. ``I think Kahn probably crossed that line,'' said Tom Moore, a University of Minnesota employee. ``He can be forgiven, though. He was basically preaching to the choir and the choir needed to hear it.''

Added Sharon Rezac, attending with a Democratic women's group from Park Rapids: ``With Paul, you can't separate the personal from the political, and this was his night.'' [snip]

Does anyone see a difference?

Mark Wellstone at "Memorial Service".