Novak & Noonan Say Wellstone Was Good Man -- What Are the Odds?

Houston Chronical & Wall Street Journal ^ | 10/25/02 & 10/26/02 | Novak & Noonan (Separately)

[clintonh8r]

I think Wellstone would have proudly called himself a Communist if he thought it wouldn't prevent his election.

[pgkdan]

It reminds me of when I was in High School. I had a friend who was largely ignored by most of the student body. He was a very average student and athlete, but he lived next door to some friends of my parents, we became friendly as kids and stayed friends. I may have been the only friend he had in school. One day it was announced before 1st period that my friend had been killed the night before in a car accident. I was shocked and very saddened, but not nearly as shocked as I was at the way everyone in school reacted. Girls who wouldn't have given Tony the time of day if he'd ever screwed up the courage to ask for it were crying and sobbing about what a great friend they'd lost...teachers too. It seemed like everyone wanted to be part of something sad, like they wanted to gieve and felt good doing it.

Ever since then I've looked at these outporings of post mortem adulation with a very jaundiced eye. The makeshift memorials that spring up all over the place now wherever a tragedy occur always make me wonder just how genuine the emotion on display is..how much it has to do with the victima nd how much it has to do with people wanting attention.

[Utah Girl]

Well, excuse me for being so paranoid. Let's wait and see what happens. Seems to me when the US House wanted to send birthday greetings to President Reagan a couple of years ago for his 90th birthday, many dem members wouldn't. And weren't reprimanded or even called on it.

[Fester Chugabrew]

It's amazing how cordial people can be towards you when you've just bought the farm.

Death has a way of leveling the field. What amazes me is that pure devotion to one's own agenda is somehow worthy of high praise from all quarters. So the guy was devoted and unabashedly so. He was still wrong.

[clintonh8r]

You nailed it. It's a culture of death and grieving. As Jimmy Durante (for those who remember him) used to say, "Everybody wants ta get inta da act!"

[Reagan Man]

Yes, Paul Wellstone was a good liberal. Respected and well liked. He was a principled ideologue and would argue passionately in support of his values and beliefs. Wellstone didn't allow his politics to turn personal.

I'm sure when the time comes and Ronald Reagan leaves this world, many liberals will be dancing in the streets and celebrating. So be it.

Let's not forget, many in the opposition party may have respected Reagan, but even more on the leftwing, feared Reagan and that counts a lot more in my book.

[Utah Girl]

So true. I did admire Paul Wellstone, even though I disagreed with his politics. He was consistent and stood up for what he believed.

And I have heard a few liberals who liked and worked with Reagan. However, most feared him and hated him. I guess we will see when he dies. May God rest his soul.

[AlaskaErik]

It's amazing how cordial people can be towards you when you've just bought the farm.

Well, I'm not going to be cordial. Wellstone was an enemy of the State...of Alaska. He lapped up the eco-terrorist party line hook, line and sinker. I, for one, will not miss his meddling in Alaska. Now onward to victory in November and then the opening of ANWR.

[sinkspur]

Liberalism is evil, and those who practice it are evil.

To the mewlers and pukers here at FR... He's dead. He can't do any more damage to our country. Bury what little is left of him and saddle up.

And you're a thoughtless jerk. But, then, you demonstrate it every time you open your yap.

Your mother didn't teach you any manners, did she?

[RightWhale]

Wellstone was an enemy of the State...of Alaska.

If character counts, he apparently had plenty of that. So does Jimmy Carter, another enemy of Alaska. But, Wellstone did it the way he saw it honestly. That he saw things wrong is just one of those things. Like a photographer with no depth perception.

[Pushi]

You're right. It's like the guy who arrived a little late at a funeral. He sat there uncomfortably and listened to all the glowing remarks made about the deceased guy lying up there in the front of the funeral parlor. When the service was over, he went up front and looked in the casket to be sure he was in the right place, because what was said didn't fit the Joe he knew.

[MHGinTN]

Wellstone didn't allow his politics to turn personal. Paul Wellstone's speechy defense of partial birth abortion had a very personal effect on every child aborted by such means since he helped to keep the heinous serial killing method legal! That's pretty damn personal in my book as I speak up for the little ones.

Good man or bad, he is now in God's hands ... and it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.

[SAJ]

Doubtless numerous ordinary Germans at one point admired Herr Hitler for being honest about his core beliefs. Equally without doubt, the entire CPSU admired Dzugashvili for being honest (dubious proposition) about HIS core beliefs.

Couldn't care less about your 'Critter. You either believe that government has UNLIMITED rights to your, my, and everyone else's property, or you do not.

Given your commentary, it's rather obvious which choice you've made.

[wardaddy]

He was sincere and appeared personable....that's it in a nutshell. Yes he was indeed an unreconstructed 60s radical.

Let's now say our amens and work to get that seat for our side.

An even more bizarre case would be Ted Kennedy. He is pure anathema to most of us here but I have been told by more than one conservative Senator and Congressman that he is very well liked in the capital even by his foes.

Sometimes, personality reaches over dogma or even obvious serious character flaws as in the case of Ted.

I'm only relaying what I've been told. I don't much care for him or the now departed Wellstone but I will refrain from pissing on Wellstone and his family's grave. Game over for them.

[Nogbad]

He was a nice guy.
If his time had come,
there would have been tears in his eyes
when he voted to send you to a 're-education camp'.

[TC Rider]

It's amazing how cordial people can be towards you when you've just bought the farm.

If Jesse Helms had been struck down in his prime, I doubt we would be hearing from Bill Press, Daschle, and Wellstone about his convictions, honor, etc.

They'd be dancing in the streets from Chapel Hill to the Castro district of San Francisco.

[Brimack34]

Wellstone stuck too his core beliefs when it suited him.
For war when a democrat is president. For guns when his but is on the line. Against pack money accept for him. For term limits unless for him. Lies about people he runs against. against money for the military unless he needs the support from voters. Rest his soul, but these people are making him into Elvis.

[lavrenti]

I concur completely with your thoughts regarding what had happened to your friend. I am sorry not only for his loss, but also for the degrading aftermath of the phony grief that must have made it worse for you and his family. Fakery, in all its forms, is easy to see through, and in that situation make the grieving and sense of loss all the more worse.

[john in missouri]

Perhaps I can sum up this thread in a way that will be satisfactory to most of us.

Basic human integrity and decency have gotten to be so damn rare in the Democratic Party that if you find even one liberal that seems to actually have it, it's hard for many of us not to feel appreciation and extend hearty congratulations.

[MarkL]

What are the odds that liberal would be a good man?

I believe that it's possible. IMHO, there are two types of liberals: a) The type who really believes in what they say b) The type who uses the words of socialism to bring power to themselves.

I used to believe that Wellstone was merely misguided, like the people I described as type a. However, given his breaking of his term limit pledge, he may have been edging over to the type b liberal... On the other hand, it's possible that he was just doing what he believed was needed to combat encroaching liberties on his beliefs... It seems that most liberals believe that if they do what's for the "greater good," then a criminal act can't be wrong, for the ends always justify the means...

Mark