Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (54794)	10/26/2002 7:55:20 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

Tributes to Sen. Wellstone, family From staff, news service reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 10/26/02 accessatlanta.com "Paul Wellstone was a man of deep convictions. He was a plainspoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country. May the good Lord bless those who grieve." -- President Bush -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Jimmy and I are deeply saddened by the sudden death of Sen. Paul Wellstone. We also mourn the loss of his beloved family members and colleagues who were with him. I worked closely with Paul as he took up the banner of fighting to end the discrimination against those who suffer from mental illnesses. "He was an outstanding champion for all people in need. His integrity and steadfast exercise of political courage, even when his positions were unpopular, will be remembered and missed by the people of Minnesota and the nation. Jimmy and I send our condolences to his family, his staff, and all those he represented. " -- Rosalynn Carter -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "My heart goes out to the families of Paul Wellstone and the other victims of today's tragic plane crash. Paul Wellstone was one of the most courageous men I have ever known. He was a distinguished member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and he fought hard for those who fought for our country. He felt there was nothing more important in life than serving his fellow Minnesotans. "We will miss him and those who perished with him terribly." -- Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This is a terrible, terrible loss for Minnesota and for the nation. Paul Wellstone was a very principled person who brought enormous, heartfelt passion to everything he did in the Senate. I had so much respect and affection for this fellow senator and fellow college professor, and I join with the rest of the Senate in mourning the death of this great man and his wife and daughter." -- Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "He was energetic. He always had a sense of vigor. He was a man of hope and optimism - he beamed of hope and optimism. He was always up. He'd say, 'Let's talk about this. Let's do this.' " "It's so tragic. It's so sad. It's a tremendous loss to the Senate, to the Congress, for the people of Minnesota and for the country really. He was a man of great principle. He was one of the most liberal members in the Congress. I had a sense of kinship and spirit with him. You knew where he stood and he always stood up for the little people. He would take on his own party and his own president, on welfare reform and other issues. He was the only member in a very tough race who voted against the war with Iraq. When it came to issues of health care, looking out for people on welfare, he was there." Lewis noted that Wellstone wrote a blurb for the back cover of his autobiography, "Walking with the Wind." Wellstone wrote: "'Walking with the Wind' is a beautiful, powerful book, not just about our past, but about our future." Said Lewis of Wellstone's note, "It was a beautiful thing." -- Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Paul Wellstone was the soul of the Senate. He was one of the most noble and courageous men I have ever known. He was a gallant and passionate fighter, especially for the less fortunate. I am grateful to have known Paul and Sheila as dear and close friends." -- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Today, the nation lost its most passionate advocate for fairness and justice for all. All of us who knew and loved Paul Wellstone in the Senate are devastated by his loss. He had an intense passion and enormous ability to reach out, touch and improve the lives of the people he served so brilliantly." -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "For the people of Minnesota, this is too heartbreaking for words. For the entire United States Senate, this is a death in our family. For all of us, this is a reminder of the dedication of the men and women who serve their country in public office." -- Senate Republican leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "At this time of great sorrow, I extend sincere condolences and heartfelt prayers to the families of Paul, Sheila and Marcia Wellstone, the pilots of the plane, and the three members of the Wellstone staff. The prayers of the Church are with them and with all Minnesotans, whom Senator Wellstone served for over a decade. "This is a great loss for our local community, state and nation. Our continued prayers remain with the families of all those lost, and for all political and civic leaders who have answered the call to serve." -- Archbishop Flynn, Archdiocese of St. Paul -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The world has lost a passionate fighter. Senator Paul Wellstone was the liberal leader of the Senate and a champion for those who could least defend themselves. The American people, the Senate, and the State of Minnesota have lost one of the best and brightest. He was a defender of peace, advocate for mental health care, and crusader against violence against women. He always fought for what he believed was right without regard for political consequences. -- Americans for Democratic Action -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Wellstone stood up for the little guy. He was tireless and unapologetic for championing the rights of working men and women -- even when he stood alone, and he often did." -- AFL-CIO President John Sweeney -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "He was a profoundly decent man, a man of principle, a man of conscience." -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We were saddened to learn about the tragic passing of Sen. Wellstone, his wife, daughter and staff. He was a passionate legislator and supporter of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship." -- American Israel Public Affairs Committee

To: JohnM who wrote (54794)	10/26/2002 8:40:24 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 281500

A Liberal With a Wrestler's Stance By BILL HOLM Editorial The New York Times October 26, 2002 Paul Wellstone was an unlikely politician in a place like Minnesota — land of walleyes, cornfields and phlegmatic Scandinavians. He was an urban Jew, son of immigrants, a college professor at the fanciest of Minnesota's private colleges. And, probably worst of all for his non-talkative constituents, he was a passionate orator, a skilled rouser of rabble over issues he loved and an unapologetic populist liberal. How did this man, who was killed yesterday in a plane crash in northern Minnesota, ever manage a triumphantly successful political career in which even many Republicans and conservative Christians quietly scribbled the Wellstone X on their ballots, hoping their neighbors wouldn't catch them behaving like lefties? When I gave readings of poetry and essays, I often shared a podium with Senator Wellstone at various rural conventions and political gatherings. It was a remarkable experience, and I learned very well to precede rather than follow him. He worked a house as well as Hubert Humphrey ever did. I remember a Farmers Union convention in St. Paul: Paul Wellstone, a pugnacious 5-foot-5, stood at the dais between the Farmers Union chairman and me, both 6-foot-5 Scandinavians. "It's nice to join my Norwegian cousins here in St. Paul," he said. He then proceeded in 20 minutes to bring the audience cheering to its feet. If this had been a monarchy, the farmers would have crowned him. I was next, with a few small and sensitive rural poems. I had a sinking feeling that a master had bested me. Whatever Paul's height, he was one of the largest men I ever met. He filled rooms when he entered them. Size in a public man is an interior, not an exterior quality. Paul charmed — and sometimes persuaded — even those hostile to his unashamed liberal ideas by listening with great courtesy and attention to unfriendly questions. He answered without dissembling, without backing down from his own principles, but with a civil regard for the dignity of the questioner. And he had the politician's great gift: an amazing memory for names. I saw him once pluck a vote with this gift. He answered questions for 45 minutes in a room full of ordinary citizens whom he'd never seen before. He began his last answer this way: "Your question reminds me of Mary's concern." Mary, in the back row, was 45 minutes ago. Mary, likely a rock-ribbed Republican, blushed a little and smiled. One more vote. Even those who continued to disagree with Paul did not question the sincerity of his idealism. He was sometimes attacked for naïveté (as in his brave vote against authorizing the president to go to war with Iraq), but never for dishonesty. He voted, as he spoke, from the heart. It's often forgotten that Paul, nearing 60 with a bad back and a respectable batch of grandchildren whom he treasured, began his rise in the world with a college wrestling scholarship. His working-class parents had no money for school, so wrestling earned him a doctorate. He preserved a wrestler's sensibility in both his academic and political life. In 1998 I met Paul at a reception at the Governor's Mansion just before Jesse Ventura, a professional wrestler by trade, first occupied that house. How curious, I told Paul, that the two most interesting politicians in Minnesota at the moment should both be wrestlers. He replied with a wry smile: "But I'm a real one." He thought himself an athlete, not an entertainer, and I suspect he saw his whole political life in that metaphor. He wrestled with the power of big money, military adventurism and penny-pinching against the poor. He meant to fight fair, but he meant to win. Not only Minnesota, but the whole country will feel the absence of his voice and his bravely combative spirit. We say with Walt Whitman: Salud, Camerado. We look for you again under our boot-soles. ____________________________________________________ Bill Holm, a poet and essayist, teaches at Southwest State University. His most recent book is "Eccentric Islands: Travels Real and Imaginary. nytimes.com