Dems Nearly Have Another Wellstone Moment

The very first time I ever contributed to a political campaign was in 2002, the day after the Paul Wellstone Memorial Rally. If you remember, Wellstone was killed in plane crash during the campaign and a memorial event was held in a Minneapolis stadium. The event, which should have honored Wellstone's life, degenerated into as crass a campaign rally as you'd ever hope to see, and instead of memorializing Wellstone, only served to denigrate him and everyone who took the stage that night. I was so outraged by what I heard that for the first time in my life I went online and contributed $100 to Norm Coleman's campaign. Coleman went on to beat the tired retread Walter Mondale that the Dems woke up and rolled out to try and save the election, and now I get a Christmas card from Coleman every year (I'm sure it was my $100 that put him over the top).

Yesterday Rosa Parks was laid to rest, and her 8 hour memorial service in Detroit very nearly slipped over the edge into a Wellstone moment. I'm glad it didn't, because the lady certainly didn't deserve to have her accomplishments minimized by a cheap political stunt. Although most of the speakers maintained the appropriate demeanor for the event, there were a couple of exceptions.

Deroy Murdock reports at National Review about the comments of none other than Jesse Jackson:

Among Rosa Parks' 37 eulogies was one delivered by none other than the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Mainstream Media's de facto president of Black America. He proposed a White House Conference on Civil Rights, then smacked its presumptive host. President Bush Monday "put forth an anti-Rosa Parks judge", Jackson said, presumably referring to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. "He [Bush] sticks out his hand, and there's always something up his sleeve," Jackson added.

In other words, if you agree with Jackson (as I'm sure many in the crowd did), you have to believe that Judge Alito is in favor of state sponsored segregation, whites-only drinking fountains, and when the Justices break for lunch, Clarence Thomas will have to sit in the back of the Supreme Court minivan as they drive to McDonalds.

Jackson wasn't the only one. Can you guess who else might have played the political funeral card? Yep, Al Sharpton (h/t KLo):

I heard somebody say Jim Crow is who she fought and Jim Crow is still around. But Jim Crow is old. That's not who I'm mindful of today. The problem is Jim Crow has sons. (Cheers).

One we gotta battle is James Crow Jr. Esq. He's a little more educated. He's a little slicker. He's a little more polished. But the results are the same. He doesn't put you in the back of the bus. He just puts referendums on the ballot to end affirmative action when you can't go to school. He doesn't call you a racial name, he just marginalizes your existence. He doesn't tell you that he's set against you, he sets up institutional racism. Where you have a nation respond looking for weapons in Iraq that are not there but can't see a hurricane in Louisiana that is there. (Cheers.) James Crow Jr. Esquire, that's who we gotta fight.

Wouldn't it be nice if just once the Dems could hold a memorial service without allowing it to deteriorate into a partisan political rally. Think back to the Reagan services last year. Do you remember any slams at the Democrats? It was all class, just like President Reagan.