It's personal in Minnesota

This was posted by Mary in one of my message boards, but it deserves wider viewing:

"Several of these [comments] posts implied that GW Bush didn't know who Paul Wellstone was. I beg to differ. This was written up in the May 9, 2002 issue of the Nation Magazine:

Paul Wellstone is a hunted man. Minnesota's senior senator is not just another Democrat on White House political czar Karl Rove's target list, in an election year when the Senate balance of power could be decided by the voters of a single state. Rather, getting rid of Wellstone is a passion for Rove, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and the special-interest lobbies that fund the most sophisticated political operation ever assembled by a presidential administration. "There are people in the White House who wake up in the morning thinking about how they will defeat Paul Wellstone," a senior Republican aide confides. "This one is political and personal for them."

Paul Wellstone was a powerful voice against the Bush agenda. I for one was not surprised to see the "faint" praise from Pres. Bush. And why am I not surprised to see that he will be travelling to Minnesota this weekend to compaign once more for Norm Coleman? So it is personal and political for me too. I'll vote to honor the legacy of Wellstone."

I shed more than a few tears tonight watching the memorial. It's not often that liberals get to proudly wear their stripes in public. As Sen. Harkin spoke of helping those who can't help themselves, the poor, the workers, the handicap -- my wife turned to me and said "how can anybody be against those ideals?" It's beyond me.

A couple of things struck me --

1. Wasn't this Tom Harkin's performance of a lifetime? If he wasn't already safely cruising to election, this would've sealed the deal. He held up Wellstone as the Democratic Party ideal -- and then launched into an impassioned defense of liberalism. Liberalism of the sort that I doubt Harkin himself practices. True liberalism, not DLC mushiness.

2. Both of Paul's sons have a future in politics. I have a feeling the Wellstone name will one day be a Minnesota dynasty.

3. I wonder how many people showed up to the pilots' funerals. Everyone seems to have forgotten they died also.

4. The MN DLF got a massive jolt of energy, resembling more a revival than a funeral. I can't imagine this won't translate into both Senate and Governor race victories.

5. Bill Clinton was awesome. Just sitting there, enjoying the event, smiling a smile of pure joy, emitting massive doses of charisma rays. Those rays are deadly to Republicans, yet are soothing and contain healing properties to unreconstructed Clinton fans like me.

6. The crowd LOVED Fritz. And while I do believe Lautenberg looks old, I thought Mondale looked great. "Fresh" was the word that immediately came to mind.

I miss Wellstone more than ever, but I am proud of him and of his family. And I am proud to say that I am a Wellstone Democrat, from the Democratic Party wing of the Democratic Party.

Amen.

Posted October 29, 2002 10:52 PM | Comments (73)