Posted on 11/04/2002 6:36:24 PM PST by pad 34
SAYING GOOD-BYE TO PAUL MILLSTONE
THE CONSCIENCE OF A THREE-RING CIRCUS
By: John Guthmiller
The Paul Wellstone memorial service held Oct. 29 was a fitting tribute to a man who died as he lived -the conscience of a three-ring circus. The Knute Rockne halftime speeches and glad-handing conviviality would have been more appropriate at a convention of novelty salesmen. You should have known the event would lack gravitas when the undertaker was wearing a joy buzzer and there were whoopee cushions on the seats. But it's further evidence that the hedonists of the Left don't know the meaning of the word "dignity," and that "Democratic PARTY" has multiple meanings.
The perfect earthly farewell for Paul Wellstone would have featured songs by Joe Hill, PT Barnum reading from "Das Kapital," and a valediction by Karl Marx. But since all those guys are dead, he had to settle for their ideological clones. There was Bill Clinton, a man welcome only in houses where honor does not dwell, schmoozing Tom Daschle like sisters at a sorority reunion. And Joe Lieberman with his perpetual goofy grin looking for all the world like he belongs in cap and bells at the end of a jack-in-the-box's spring. And Walter Mondale looking like he slept in his face.
But most odious of all was Tom Harkin, the embattled Iowa senator whose patrician smarm has inveigled old ladies and bureaucrats to elect him to three consecutive terms. It was largely Harkin who turned the somber proceedings into a socialist pep rally:
"We must continue Paul's journey for justice in America. So tonight I ask you all, will you stand up and join together and board that bus? Say yes!" Harkin exhorted, doffing his suit coat. "For Paul Wellstone, will you stand up and keep fighting for social and economic justice? Say yes! For Paul will you stand up and keep fighting for better wages ...? Say yes! For Sheila will you stand up and be fighting for families so women and children will be free from domestic abuse? Say yes! For Paul will you stand up and keep fighting for cleaner water and a cleaner environment for our future? Say yes! For Paul will you stand up and keep fighting for peace and understanding and stop the exploitation of women and children around the world? Say yes! For Paul will you stand up and keep fighting and end discrimination ...? Say yes! For Paul, will you stand up and keep fighting for the poor the homeless and those left on the poor side of life? Say yes! Now let's all get on that bus together, that green bus, that bus of hope and keep it moving for a better America. Keep standing up, keep fighting, keep saying yes ... for Paul, for Paul, for Paul."
Pass the Zofran ...
Let's cut the treacle. "Paul's journey for justice" was a socialist pilgrimage. Every one of Harkin's exhortations is a plank from the Manifesto, from his vague Marxist rhetoric about "social and economic justice" to the crocodile tears shed on behalf of "the poor, the homeless, and those left on the poor side of life." So any sympathy for the unfortunate death of Sen. Wellstone was swallowed in the bombast of a proletariat workers' rally.
It is disingenuous to pretend that I'm sorry Paul Wellstone is dead. I wouldn't have wished his premature death; I don't like to win that way. I would prefer a conservative victory on merit to a pyrrhic celebration over a smoking plane wreck. But since God saw fit to snip Paul Wellstone's life thread, conservatives are left with one less foe on the field. I don't mourn the passing of Paul Wellstone for the same reason I won't mourn the passing of Fidel Castro.
It would have been in poor taste to break out the champagne and party hats, however. As much as Paul Wellstone's death advanced the causes of freedom and liberty in this country, conservatives at least had the decency to wait until the body was cold before measuring his Senate office for new drapes. Wellstone's Republican challenger, Norm Coleman, promptly halted his campaign upon news of the liberal's demise. He didn't have to; no law requires that one respect the dead. But common civility respects the tender sentiments of the aggrieved, and forgoes certain liberties it takes for granted in less trying times. The enemy, those mean-spirited, scorched-earth Republicans, pulled up short and let the funeral procession pass. Folks who had every reason to parade Paul Wellstone's head around on a pole stood mute and bareheaded in the rain, out of respect for a worthy adversary.
Meanwhile, the Democrats' camp had all the decorum of a Turkish flea market. Saint Paul's demise was the perfect forum for some old-fashioned stump speechifyin', and a rally to the party faithful. His memory can only be preserved by a Democrat victory in November; any other act defiles his legacy and spits in the faces of his heartbroken children. In other words, Paul Wellstone must accomplish in death what he was close to losing in life: he must retain his Senate seat for the Democrats.
Hard duty for a dead man.
Even now, Jeff Blodgett, the organizer of the event (whose funeral has an "organizer??") has apologized for its sheer tackiness, stressing that the stirring tributes were not scripted but came "from the hearts of the speakers." Of course, it's just damage control. But it's tellingly absurd that anyone would have to do damage control because of a debauched funeral. Only in the world of the Democrat does that concept even make sense.
And it's a pretty feeble defense anyway. The implication is that, left to their own discretion, Democrats will turn a funeral into a bacchanal with all the somber dignity of a Bourbon Street strip joint. They have no sense of time, place, or propriety. Every dais - even a catafalque - is a stage on which they caper and cavort for the amusement of their hooting horde. They find validation in the chanted slogan, the wild-eyed mob, the frenzied whirl of the satyr's dance. If the family and friends of the Dear Departed are willing to turn his passing into a vulgar hootenanny, why should his enemies owe him any more?
Saddest - but truest - of all is the defense offered by arch lackey Robert Reich. Feigning surprise at all the consternation generated by the embarrassing spectacle, Reich shrugged his shoulders and declared: "Paul would have wanted it that way."
That's precisely the point.
John Guthmiller is a freelance political writer and a staff columnist for Ether Zone.
John can be reached at: sfs01@cox.net
John's articles are also published on the Free Republic Website.
Published in the November 11, 2002 issue of Ether Zone. Copyright © 1997 - 2002 Ether Zone.
Leni
So, how did his memorial turn into anything but a reverential event ?
It's more fundamental than that. The Left has no concept of the word "honor" -- throw that one at them and their minds will, I am sure, register the semantic equivalent of white noise.
Fritz is the antithesis of the populism that the 1990 Commarad Wellstone spoke. I disagreed with Paul then, but he was an “honest” Marxist (then he promised only 2 terms).
God has a sense of humor.
It's more fundamental than that. The Left has no concept of the word "honor" -- throw that one at them and their minds will, I am sure, register the semantic equivalent of white noise.
Yeah, that guy has a gift, nicht wahr? :)
Leni
They'd get more of their base energized if they fell in behind Clinton with the war cry of "Win One For The Dripper".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.