Posted on 09/25/2005 8:08:40 PM PDT by MplsSteve
The Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site opened to the public Sunday, drawing an appreciative crowd of supporters -- and the late senator's famous green bus, of course -- to a remote, wooded area near Eveleth where the plane carrying the senator and seven others crashed in October 2002.
For most of the crowd Sunday, it was their first glimpse of the area where Sen. Paul Wellstone; his wife, Sheila; their daughter, Marcia Markuson; three campaign staffers, and two pilots died. They read the markers and walked the grounds with a mix of sadness and smiles.
"I didn't know how I'd react when I saw this," Mark Wellstone, the younger of the Wellstones' two sons, told a crowd of several hundred people. "But it turned out really, really nice. And it felt really good to see all the [familiar] faces today."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
There was coverage of it in tonight's local news.
I'm at a loss for words. What happened was a tragedy.
But the whole Wellstone thing has approached cult of personality status.
Opinions anyone?
Useless leftie parasite.
How's that?
Just waiting for the inevitable "I drank the water at the Wellstone shrine and it cured my cancer!" reports....
I think his memorial service turned political rally will always overshadow anything he did at the national level.I think it was truly a defining moment for the Democratic Party...and cost them a great many votes.
the wellstone memorial service gave us the victory in 02, 04, and I predicit 06 etc...it uncovered the liberals for the whole country to see, and they didn't like it one bit. I hope they keep going.
(Subtitled "Electric Boogaloo")
It's Time to Park the Bus
The funerally wasn't enough...
I can never get enough of this brilliant piece by Nick Anderson :)
Now I know where to take a piss, the next time I visit Northern Minnesota.
"I forget, what, exactly, did he accomplish in the Senate?"
Depends on what you mean by "accomplish." If by that you mean "get in our way" and "serve as a nuisance," I'd say yes. He held up the bankruptcy bill for like a decade or more. He shut down the Senate every time we tried to pass that bill. He also passed a pretty stupid bill with Pete Domenici involving "mental health parity," which means telling insurance companies how to run their business. He did do a good thing with a human sex trafficking bill, I'll give him that.
"Would George Bush have been elected president without the crassness of the Wellstone Funer-rally?"
Since Bush was elected two years before Wellstone died, I'd say yes.
I didn't like Wellstone's politics, but I do recall that in worker-bee polls of Senate employees while he was still alive, Jesse Helms and Paul Wellstone were regularly named the nicest Senators.
People of the World, join in!
Form a Love Train, Love Train...
People all over the World, join hands!
Start a Love Train, Love Train...
Google for date of event and then post.
Nam Vet
And he's still DEAD..PERISHED..INERT..EXPIRED!
I can't believe how many Wellstone stickers I saw Sat. at the protest.
Maybe some folks don't recall that he was a great veterans' advocate. This synopsis is how I choose to remember Senator Wellstone. He helped countless veterans.
"Dead Friends by James Glaser
October 30, 2002
I had a good friend die this weekend. Senator Paul Wellstone, while not a close personal friend, was a very good friend to all Veterans. Senator Wellstone made Veteran Health Care an integral part of his entire Senate career. Senator Wellstone was not out to help just Minnesota Veterans, but every veteran that has served America.
*snip*
Many people always thought of Senator Wellstone as anti-war and he was, but he certainly was not anti-veteran. Over the years more and more veterans learned just how hard this anti-war Senator fought for them. Constantly Wellstone was badgering those supposed military hawks in Washington, to give Veterans what was due to them.
It came slow, but Veteran groups started to respect this Senator from Minnesota. In 1995, both the Vietnam Veterans of America and the Minnesota Paralyzed Veterans of America honored Senator Wellstone. The VVA gave Wellstone the "Legislator of the Year" Award and he told me that he was very proud of that.
Later on Senator Wellstone received Awards from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, American Ex-P.O.W.s, Amvets, Military Order of the Purple Heart, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, and the Forgotten 216th.
Not one of these organizations gives out their award lightly and to give such awards as these, to a man openly and actively seeking to stop war, made these awards all the more special. Veterans like to honor veterans, Senator Wellstone was not a Veteran and fought hard to stop the Vietnam War. These organizations came to see that even though they disagreed with Wellstone on the value of war, they both agreed on the value of the service rendered to our nation by veterans and both agreed on the Nation's debt, owed to these men and women."
http://www.jamesglaser.org/2002/p20021030.html
It goes beyond "cult of personality" to "cult of deity".
My neighbor (50 year old high school art teacher, male pattern baldness with a pony tail) has a "What Would Wellstone Do?" bumper sticker on his pickup truck.
(The truck was purchased with his inheritance from his mother.)
Yeah, and your point is...?
He served our veterans very well!
Either you are not aware, or too young to know better, or don't care.
Paul Wellstone did proud for veterans! Did you ever know about him? Didn't think so. Did you even read the article posted? Didn't think so,
Paul Wellstone was the vereran's advocate. Educate yourself about it, before dismissing it. I'm surprised MplsSteve if you are really from Minnesota.!
Pretty obvious, MplsSteve.
Maybe some folks don't recall that he was a great veterans' advocate. This synopsis is how I choose to remember Senator Wellstone. He helped countless veterans.
Don't care to read? Your problem!
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