Posted on 10/30/2002 12:02:11 PM PST by William McKinley
Honor & Civility: R.I.P.
A memorial service for Paul Wellstone becomes a DNC pep rally as the Democratic party reaches a new low. by Fred Barnes
10/30/2002 2:10:00 PM
FIRST, Democrats in Minnesota used the death of Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone in an attempt to silence the Republican Senate candidate, former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman. Then, they turned a widely televised memorial honoring Wellstone into a partisan political rally for electing ex-vice president Walter Mondale to Wellstone's Senate seat. And now, they're planning to make Mondale as inaccessible as possible in the closing days of the campaign, so he can ride the emotion of Wellstone's tragic death in a plane crash to election victory on November 5.
Cynical? It sure is. But it shows how desperate Democrats are to keep control of the Senate, which they currently hold by the slim margin of one vote. Even outside Minnesota, Democrats are citing Wellstone's death as a reason for stepped-up Democratic campaign activity. In New Jersey, Republicans accused Democratic Senate candidate Frank Lautenberg of saying voters should honor Wellstone by electing a Democratic Senate. In Iowa, Senate majority leader Tom Daschle said Democrats are more active and energetic in the week before election as they grieve for Wellstone.
The exploitation of Wellstone's memory began within two days of his death. Several prominent Democrats, including Senate whip Harry Reid of Nevada, called Coleman the most viciously negative Senate candidate in the country. The gist here was that Coleman had attacked Wellstone not only relentlessly but also unfairly and should stop his criticism at once--even criticism of his new foe, Mondale. Other Democrats were more explicit, insisting the campaign stay positive in the final days, if only to avoid dishonoring Wellstone. Of course this would help Mondale by keeping his own record as a senator, vice president, and Democratic presidential candidate in 1984 free of a rigorous critique by Coleman and Republicans. In fact, when former House speaker Newt Gingrich criticized Mondale on TV on Sunday, the Democratic state chairman in Minnesota declared this inappropriate.
The memorial service was shameless in its partisanship. It started with emotional remembrances of Wellstone, a politician loved by liberals and respected by conservatives. But then Rick Kahn, a friend of Wellstone, turned the event into a partisan pep rally. Democratic celebrities, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Teddy Kennedy, and Al Gore, were cheered wildly. When Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott and former Republican senator Rod Grams of Minnesota were shown on the TV screen at the service, there were boos. When Mondale was shown on the screen--he didn't give a speech--he was cheered amid chants of "Fritz, Fritz, Fritz."
Kahn told the crowd of roughly 20,000: "We are begging you to help us win this Senate election for Paul Wellstone." He urged Republicans to give up their opposition and let Mondale win with bipartisan support--a clever invocation of bipartisanship to achieve a partisan end, the election of a Democrat. Kahn even called on a Republican House member, Jim Ramstad, by name, saying he should help Democrats win the Senate race.
Both Gov. Jesse Ventura, an Independent, and Republicans were furious over the transformation of the memorial service into a highly partisan event. Ventura and his wife walked out, shaking their heads, during Kahn's speech. "What a complete, total, absolute sham," Vin Weber, a former House member from Minnesota and now an adviser to Coleman, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The Democratic party "clearly intends to exploit Wellstone's memory totally, completely, and shamelessly for political gain. To them, Wellstone's death, apparently, was just another campaign event."
The Coleman campaign has asked for five debates, one a day until the election. Mondale has agreed to none and, according to media reports, will limit his campaigning to a few speeches. What Republicans fear is that this tactic will allow the race to be about Wellstone and not about Mondale, who hasn't been on the ballot for statewide office in Minnesota since 1972. His views on major issues--Iraq, the war on terrorism, the Wellstone agenda of left-liberal issues--is largely unknown. In this case, that may aid his election.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.
He is. Literally. He really is.
I saw part of a speech where he was very critical of some Republicans, including Phil Gramm, where he said, in effect, "How could I have ever been in the same party as that guy?"
He is just another Dasshole/Leahy. I'm sure he always has been at heart. Apparently, the people of Vermont are spineless for the most part. Traitor Jim should have been recalled at once.
He is. Literally. He really is.
I saw part of a speech where he was very critical of some Republicans, including Phil Gramm, where he said, in effect, "How could I have ever been in the same party as that guy?"
He is just another Dasshole/Leahy. I'm sure he always has been at heart. Apparently, the people of Vermont are spineless for the most part. Traitor Jim should have been recalled at once.
The average American voter is as dumb as a turkey dropping.
Caption this: Mark Wellstone chants 'We will win' at the DNC funeral pep rally
Do not, however, open it on a full stomach.
Members of the Democrat Party...
Don't you SEE your Leadership is CRAZY?????
I just heard repeats of the rally last night at Wellstone's memorial.
***WE WILL WIN!!! WE WILL WIN!!! WE WILL WIN !!!*** they ROARED with glee and excited emotion at the thought that Wellstones DEATH will lead to Victory!!
Victory? ? Do you think that they are just thinking of this 2002 Senate Race? No! This was a RALLY CALL to the TROOPS that Queen Hillary will soon be installed in power as President of the United States! They've dreamed of it happening but this Fortunate Death of one of their Comrades is going to make the Dream a Reality!
Who on earth CELEBRATES the Death of one of their own so that ANOTHER can RULE???? DemonRATS...you're Americans too. The leadership of your party is DRUNK with power! What are they going to DO with that power??? Do they REALLY represent what you care about? While you work hard to raise your family, these ELITISTS are drinking champagne and having whoopee in a back room in glory over the very thought of POWER!
Look back a few years...66+...and while MILLIONS were being slaughtered in Nazi Germany, Hitler and Eva celebrated much like we saw last night in the Memorial. While MILLIONS were starved to bones and gassed to death, the ELITE partied and filmed home movies of their Celebrations too!
STOP supporting this craziness! Vote out this bunch of crazies, and look to replace them with true Statesmen and Stateswomen that reflect YOUR dreams, and not their OWN DREAMS of Glory!!!
Words of Wisdom from Ms. Angela...MUD
When a caller asked what the problem with the "service" was, if this was what the family wanted, he said that her question was indicative of the problem itself, that we used to have common standards of decency, of "how to go on" in certain situations, and we have lost that.What this did was slap a cold hand of reality across the romance stricken faces of the voter who had bought into the myth of Wellstone as being this great principled liberal of conscience. Although it isn't really being said much, everyone realizes that the problem isn't that Wellstone would have been appalled at the display; quite the contrary, had Tom Harkin been the one dead instead we likely would have seen Wellstone leading the partisan display. This is who they are. This is what Democrats teach their kids about respect and dignity and propriety, as shown by the juvenille populist cry of "we will win" from the junior Wellstone. The problem is that the Democrats don't know any better, can't see what was wrong with what they did, and simply don't understand that America not only doesn't share their outlook and attitude, but that America is repulsed by it whenever America sees it clearly.
Last night was Paul Wellstone's legacy, and it put the progressive liberalism of the Democratic party into clear focus, and the people are repulsed.
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