Where do we go from here, Paul?
I grew up in Minnesota, worked for Paul Wellstone's campaign, wrote about his ads for the local alternative weekly (City Pages) and jumped on the bed so violently the night he won the friggin' thing collapsed. And I just cannot contain my grief today. He was a man of conscience who chose to work within the system, and achieved more than anyone could have anticipated through cooperation and persuasion; in his book he talks about getting Ashcroft on his side to pass an important piece of legislation.
And, speaking of Ashcroft: Forgive my paranoid maniac conspiracy-theory-mindedness, but this was just on Yahoo!:
"Wellstone's death was eerily similar to the circumstances surrounding the October 2000 plane crash death of another Democratic Senate hopeful, Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan (news - web sites). His plane crashed in bad weather in that state killing him shortly before that year's election. He was elected after his death and his widow was appointed to take his seat."
originally posted by judlew
Comments
You aren't the only one thinking paranoid maniac conspiracy-theory thoughts. It was the very first thing that came to my mind. Too much of a tough fight, too critical of a race, too coincidental. Do you still have the yahoo page? I would feel better if I knew *someone* was asking questions.
Posted by: clroy | October 28, 2002 6:42 AM
I found this Reuters story be searching at dailynews.yahoo.com for 'eerily similar': http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021026/pl_nm/crash_wellstone_dc_8
Posted by: sudama | October 28, 2002 7:14 AM
Hmm, I'm to the left of Wellstone, and while I admire the attempt (which must be excruciating) to get the Democrats to do something even *liberal* -- and I've long since thought that Nader, for example, should run for the Senate, since one determined, pissed off Senator of the left *could* cause lots of trouble in a good way -- I'm at a loss to point to a *single significant legislative achievement* which Wellstone secured at the cost of his willingness to compromise.
Surely there's something? If not, why not? Was Wellstone not particularly good at the legislative wrangling (which someone like LBJ was the master of)?
Or maybe I just missed Wellstone's notable legislative achievements?
Posted by: kendall | October 28, 2002 2:30 PM
Jeez, I'm glad I'm not the only paranoid person around here. It was the first thing that came to my mind.
Posted by: dargie | October 28, 2002 7:59 PM
kendall, I forgive your inappropriateness. I do not forgive your staggering ignorance.
There's this search engine called Google. It's really worth learning how to use!
(Answer: Mental illness. Family violence. Veterans' rights. Education reform. Farm bill . . . )
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=wellstone+%22senate+approves%22+act
Posted by: judlew | October 31, 2002 11:17 PM
Judlew, I believe Wellstone was a good man who stood for a lot of the right things. But I feel like his tenure also illustrated why it's impossible to work within the system. It comes down to that eternal quesiton of "idealism" vs. "being realistic." Moreover, some of his votes were simply inexcusable, namely, his support of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and the U.S. PATRIOT Act.
Posted by: zagg | November 1, 2002 10:27 AM
zagg, as hard as you try, you will never get the whole world to think as you do, believe what you believe, stand for what you stand for. Well -- I take that back, you can; it's called fascism.
We need instant runoff voting so we can have a more expressive democracy. We need proportional representation so we can have a broader diversity of interests represented in our legislature. But we also need a system of law-making, and any system is going to be imperfect by someone's measure.
(And I, frankly, would be terrified to live in a country run by the current incarnation of the U.S. radical left. I've been to the conferences and training camps and planning meetings, and it sure didn't look like democracy to me.)
Wellstone fought for the underserved and for economic justice. He was also very traditional morally. There are plenty of examples of his valuing the nuclear family in a way I consider irrational. He got married at 19, spent his formative adult years at a conservative college in a conservative part of the country. I would expect that he would cast some regressive votes for things like marriage and family. He certainly wasn't right about everything.
Neither is Nader. Neither is Medea-my-heroine-Benjamin. Neither is Michael Moore, especially since he makes stuff up.
But that wasn't the argument, was it? The statement made was not that Wellstone made some votes many people on the left find "inexecusable," but that he accomplished nothing. And that's the statement I responded to.
Posted by: judlew | November 1, 2002 11:20 AM
judlew for president.
Posted by: david | November 1, 2002 2:59 PM
If you think Ashcroft killed Wellstone you're, well, loony. The last time a Dem died in a plane crash before an election (Carnahan in Missouri) it probably cost Ashcroft the election. Go outside. Kiss a girl (or boy). Do something. Sheez.
-nikita demosthenes
http://nikita_demosthenes.blogspot.com
Posted by: nikita demosthenes | November 4, 2002 3:43 AM
You must be a little clueless or walk with your eyes closed to not think that both Carnahan and Wellstone were intentionally killed. Wellstone - 2 weeks before election...Carnahan - close to the same amount of time! Both in tight-run elections where the GOP heavily financed their candidate with corporate monies. Let alone what happened with our last presidential election.
Keep your eyes open. This is no coincidence.
Posted by: ahjii | November 6, 2002 9:30 AM