Franken On Caldwell (w/ Free Bonus Editorial)

Not that we'd expect the NYTimes to care much about integrity... but Al Franken does a pretty fine job outlining exactly why Christopher Caldwell is not fit to replace William Safire:

Now, I called up Caldwell and I told him, I said, "Hi Chris, it's Al Franken, and I like some of the stuff you've written" -- and I have. He said, "I liked some of your stuff," and I said, "OK, you wrote this thing, you called this thing pagan. Did you see the stage full of clergy from every faith tradition in Minnesota, the stage full doing an ecumenical prayer?" And he goes, "uh, no."

"OK, you say 20,000 people booed a succession of people. What are you talking about? Did you see 20,000 people boo anybody? Did you see the booing?" "No."

I go down the whole list. He said that the people, other people who died other than Wellstone weren't even treated, weren't even talked about, were barely treated at all. Most bizarrely, he writes: "The pilots and aides who died with him were barely treated at all." Which is just crazy. The first three hours of this thing were -- the pilots were not eulogized -- but the aides of Wellstone were. Will McLaughlin, the driver. Tom Lapic. And, I'm sorry...Mary McEvoy. ...They were eulogized by friends and family. By people family had chosen. It was three hours before Paul was even gotten to. I asked if he'd seen any of those. I asked if he'd seen David McLaughlin's unbelievably beautiful eulogy of his brother Will. No, he hadn't seen it.

I said, "Where did you see it? Did you see the thing?" He said, "Yes, I did." I said, "What, a tape of it?" And he goes, "No." "So you saw it on C-SPAN, like a repeat? Did you see it live?" "No. no. no." "Where did you see it?" "Well, I saw it on TV." "What does that mean?" "I saw it on TV." "What does that mean?" "I saw some clips of it." He saw, like, whatever Hannity & Colmes had pulled.

To me, more than anything else, the Wellstone memorial will always epitomize two important highlights of modern day Republicanism. A) How they cynically manipulate media and popular opinion through lies and well-orchestrated distortion, illustrated by Mr. Franken above. And B) The absolute shamelessness with which they will claw for power... fuck a dead Senator and his family and friends. Fuck common decency.

Perhaps history will look fondly upon them, the riches and power they've amassed. Perhaps in the distant future, children will be taught to look up to these people, their disregard for everyone but themselves and those close to them who can help them further help themselves. Maybe a national holiday will be placed in their honor, with monuments built in green, lush parks, built far removed from the parts of the country that lay in ruin because of them. Maybe one guy will note the irony. Maybe another will blog about it in vain, if such a thing still exists.

Perhaps.

As for me, I'm glad to be on the wrong side of history. I'll gladly stay there.

I was there that night, by the way. At the memorial, sitting with Wellstone staff... kids that had poured their hearts and souls, every ounce of energy they had, into the guy, their friend; some for a few months on the campaign trail, others for years and fucking years. It was one of the most emotional events I've ever been a part of. It was also the most beautiful and heartfelt.

I will always resent the GOP for what they did to Paul and his memory. And Rick's. Paul deserved better.

So, in conclusion: Fuck Christopher Caldwell. Go to hell and die. Thank you.