So what?

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Paul Wellstone is dead and the Republicans want equal time.

Go figure.

Sounds like the 2000 soreheads all over again. But this time they want to gripe before the election is held. Will Democrats ever learn to lose graciously?

I suppose Republicans could arrange for their candidate to have a little, uh, "accident."

Dean:

I didn't want to say it, but now that you bring it up, it would make a great Twilight Zone episode, wouldn't it?

;^)

Paul Wellstone is dead and the Republicans want equal time.

Go figure.

I read your comments and I thought - Ara must not have heard about that "Memorial" last night. Then I realized that you made your little sarcastic remarks this morning.

That Memorial/Pep Rally was the most discusting spectacle I've EVER seen.

It was not in the spirit of Paul Wellstone, at all.

As a democrat, you, should have been discusted with that display more than I was...

The Vice-President was told not to come. Every Republican that came to speak about their friend Paul Wellstone was booed, including the junior Minnesota Senator.

Republican challenger Coleman received death threats if he showed up.

Gov. Ventura walked out in the middle of it - he said that "When Rick Kahn got up I left the building halfway through. What he was doing, I feel used, I feel violated and duped over the fact that that turned into nothing more than a political rally."

Jeff Blodgett apologized this morning..."I just want to say as the head of the Wellstone campaign I take responsibility for that and I deeply regret it."

I think that says it all.

BTW, there were a lot of smiling faces and plenty of back slapping at that memorial.

How would you have felt, if, the 911 memorial looked that way?

It was a somber occasion that turned into a political circus.

The Republicans want equal time?

I guess it don't hurt to ask.

Maybe they'll get it.

Maybe they'll win the election.

I have no idea.

All I know is Paul Wellstone is dead and the Republicans are upset because....well, allow me to quote Doug Grow of the Star Tribune:

"Let's see. There were more than 20,000 people on hand to honor a unique politician who wore his passion on his sleeve.

"Most of the 20,000 were true believers in Wellstone and his causes. The people who were closest to him -- Rick Kahn, a devoted campaign worker and friend, his two sons and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa -- delivered the eulogies.

"They pleaded with Wellstone supporters to keep up the senator's fights.

"This is shocking?"

You quoted Blodgett's comments accurately if not in full context. Here's the full context:

"It was not our intent to inject that into the service," campaign chairman Jeff Blodgett said of comments made at the Tuesday night ceremony. "I take responsibility for that and I deeply regret it."

The guy is a class act.

By the way, "that" was referring to the comments of Wellstone's best friend and campaign treasurer Rick Kahn who said, in part:

"We are begging you to help us win this election for Paul Wellstone."

He even pleaded with Republicans -- specifically U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad -- to work for Wellstone's Democratic replacement.

How did Ramstad feel about "that?"

Ramstad struck a conciliatory chord. He's still supporting Republican Norm Coleman for the Senate, but he said he's also grieving the loss of "a great, great friend" in Wellstone. He said he wasn't bothered that Kahn singled him out.

"I think it's unfortunate that a memorial service has become a center of controversy.

"Last night was about paying our final respects to six wonderful people and beloved Minnesotans who perished in a terrible tragedy. That was where my focus was.

"People get carried away sometimes with emotions. We all get carried away sometimes with emotions. Just let it be," Ramstad said.

Let it be. Wise words.

Other reports went like this:

Blodgett said the event at the University of Minnesota was not scripted and the comments of individual speakers were not previewed. Organizers simply asked participants to speak from their hearts, he said.

"I regret if people took offense or were taken by surprise ... We are a hurting bunch here," Blodgett said,

"...a hurting bunch..."

No doubt.

So, when Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, Jesse Ventura, et. al. whine about the event, it kind of pales in comparison to the loss of Wellstone, the man.

Did you hear State Republican Party Chair Ron Eibensteiner complaining about the "great political imbalance" created by the broadcast?

The imbalance caused by the broadcast pales in comparison with the imbalance caused by the death of your candidate, your friend, your father.

Life is occasionally cruel. We know that. But that knowledge doesn't fully prepare us to cope when we have to experience the shock, the loss, the crushing disappointment of an instance like this.

So I guess I don't begrudge 25,000 people their 3-hour cathartic outpouring.

Go and ask Wellstone's family, friends and supporters this question -- if you could choose between getting your guy back and giving up three hours of raw cathartic emotion in return...well, which one would you choose?

As for your other comments:

It was not in the spirit of Paul Wellstone, at all.

I dunno. Neither do you. But I would bet that his surviving family knows best of all what the spirit of Paul Wellstone would want. I trust them.

The Vice-President was told not to come.

I heard Mary Matalin yesterday. If she was mad, she wisely kept it to herself. This wasn't about Dick Cheney.

Republican challenger Coleman received death threats if he showed up.

Hm. I hadn't heard that. Where'd you pick that up?

Coleman, who surely wants to stay alive, stayed away from the event.

But in a truly bizarre turn of events, Coleman continued his campaign the next morning by getting on a private plane nearly identical to Wellstone's.

BTW, there were a lot of smiling faces and plenty of back slapping at that memorial.

Are you telling these people how to grieve?

How would you have felt, if, the 911 memorial looked that way?

Which 9/11 memorial are you referring to? 'Cause I remember one where a NYC firefighter told 25,000 people that Osama bin Laden could kiss his royal Irish ass.

...And the crowd at Madison Square Garden went...insane!

I wish conservatives and Republicans would stop their whining about the Wellstone/Mondale event. It was hosted by Democrats for Democrats. What in the hell do you expect them to say? "We want Republicans?"

Whining about this does not help Norm Coleman one single bit. It merely makes Republicans appear as losers BEFORE the election. Nobody will fault for appearing as a loser AFTER you lose an election. Doing so beforehand, however, does not improve your chances in the upcoming election in four days.

The Republicans would have done better to use this time to their advantage to campaign for Coleman. They should be phone banking and door knocking their little asses off. Coleman should have appeared with American Legionaires or at some VFW event.

The Republicans instead simply allowed themselves to be duped again by the Democrats. This time they were fooled into not campaigning at all while the Dems instead were the ones who got all the air time. Hey, if the Dems can use the truce time to their political advantage then so can we.

I can just scream at Coleman for allowing himself to be used so easily. He should have known better. Everybody knows Democrats will do ANYTHING to win. This no campaign pledge was merely a clever little deception to keep Republicans from seizing any advantage from an hiatus in Democratic campaigning.

Everybody knows Democrats will do ANYTHING to win.

YeAh, ThE pEsKy BaStArDs WiLl EvEn OfF oNe Of ThEiR OwN cAnDiDaTeS tO gEt SoMe FrEe AiR tImE!

Ara,

You are a fool.

Interesting that the Democrats are printing and mailing out absentee ballots with Mondales name in DIRECT VIOLAT(ION OF THE LAW and with NO CHANCE that these ballots can be returned by election day.

Why on earth do you suppose they are doing that? (Hint: wait for Mondale to lose an then watch the lawsuits.)

Gary:

If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his self-approved wisdom.
Lord Byron

Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
William Shakespeare

I know you are but what am I?
Pee Wee Herman

Ara,

If you had expressed any doubt at all at the Democratic performance at the Wellstone rally, I would not have called you a fool.

That you can uncritically defend this performance, simply because the participants are Democrats, marks you as a fool. Not a doubting fool, simply a fool.

Perhaps I should have called you a TOOL instead, it would probably have been harder to find a glib quote that fails to refute that assertion.

Gentleman, Chicolini here may talk like an idiot, and look like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you. He really is an idiot.
Groucho Marx

Thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson,obscene, greasy tallow-catch!
William Shakespeare

Nature abhors a moron.
H.L.Mencken

So nature abhors you, and you BOAST of it?

Read this....

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_920.shtml

I read the link. Thanks for the heads up.

It sounds pretty scary.

I hope Atty Genl Ashcroft and the FBI are looking into this.

[one Democratic political operative who spoke only under promise that his name not be used said,] "We needed to draw attention to the election. Between the sniper and Iraq, the election has been lost in the news. And then we needed to energize the Democratic base and Wellstone supporters in Minnesota."

I had no idea the Democrats were so devious. Can you imagine? What has this country come to?

Sources within both committees also said the Wellstone event is only the beginning of plans for media-generating activities through the election next week.

I think it would be wise to put US Marshals on every private plane between now and next Tuesday.

"This is war," one operative said. "The Republicans are too busy planning war on Iraq. They won't even see us coming."

...and the bastards have the nerve to say they are for gun control! What a bunch of hypocrites.

I'm voting straight Republican next week.

How else will we be able to put this country back on the right track in time?

Finally, Ara! That's the smartest thing I've ever heard you say...

;-)

Now if they'd just FINALLY get to the bottm of that Vince Foster thing, once and for all.

>>"I had no idea the Democrats were so devious..."

Yeah, that has been obvious from the tenor of your posts.

Somehow, I suspect you still don't have any idea.

And why do you care about Vince Foster? He's just another dead Democrat. A Hero of the Party, no doubt.

Ara,

You defend yourself quoting Shakespeare, then Marx. I suppose you will next quote Lennon!

:-)

Luckily for the us and the land of the giant gopher, Coleman has no, NO NO NO chance of winning this election.....

However, I do feel strange cheering for a state that elected a professional wrestler to the highest state office....only thing worse than that might me electing an actor president....of course I could be a hypocrite because I believe that Tom Hanks will make a great president one day...at least he is a good actor.

Tim

Kevin:

Imagine.
John Lennon

[sigh] I suppose I'm fighting a losing battle. I have no real control, and our threads are getting long enough that it's impossible for me to stay on top of them all. I only started reading this thread today.

But I really would appreciate it if folks would avoid direct name-calling. At least when it's aimed at each other.

Mort Kondracke reported that Coleman got death threats, by the way. It was on the air so I don't have a link. Kondracke has subsequently reported that internal Democratic polling showed that the event backfired badly for Democrats among Minnesotans, which may have something to do with the next day's apologies.

From what I saw of the event, I don't believe that either the Clintons or Fritz Mondale were mourning at all. Just a personal observation, based on what I saw. I could be wrong.

Tim,

One of the talkinghead shows says that Mondale had a 5-6% lead early in the week, but by Friday it had dropped to dead even.

I wouldn't be so confident about Coleman not winning if I were you.