Don't Start the Revolution Without Me! - Jesse Ventura [86]
TERRY: We went to a little get-together beforehand. It was just the Wellstone family and a few other politicians. The husband of Paul and Sheila’s daughter, who was also killed in the crash, came over and hugged me and cried on my shoulder. It was so touching, so very sad.
But I knew it was going to go badly when, as we walked into the arena, some of the mourners booed me. They also booed Trent Lott, the Republican Senate minority leader. Granted, Lott and Wellstone were probably polar opposites—but the senator from Mississippi was nonetheless traveling a considerable distance to pay his respects.
After an hour and a half, the service was going on and on. It had ceased to be a memorial. It had turned into a campaign rally for a Democratic successor to Wellstone. As things deteriorated, I sat there grinding my teeth.
TERRY: When he sits too long, he starts shaking his leg, wanting to rock and move. He’s just that way. I always carry gum because my mouth gets dry all the time from taking allergy medicine. So I was going to have some, and I handed a piece to him, because then he could move his jaw instead of bouncing his leg.
By that time, I probably needed a piece of gum because I was getting so pissed off. Later on, Al Franken took me to task in his book for chewing gum at a funeral. When I ran into him on an airplane, I explained what had been happening inside me. We had a respectful conversation, and we’re on good terms now.
Minnesota law required that Wellstone’s name be removed from the ballot, and the replacement candidate the Democrats had chosen was former Vice President Walter Mondale. I’ll never forget Rick Kahn, one of Wellstone’s closest friends, saying to the crowd: “I’m begging you to help us win this Senate election for Paul Wellstone.” I found this extremely offensive at a funeral!
TERRY: I kept holding him back and he kept looking at me and, when that happened, I put my head on his shoulder and said, “Okay, now it’s no longer a funeral, it’s time to leave.”
It was too much even for her. I took Terry’s hand and said, “Let’s go.” I think Senator Lott had already left. A bunch of us evacuated pretty fast. We took a great deal of heat from the Democrats and their staunchest supporters, like Franken, for doing this. I respect Paul Wellstone, I think he accomplished some terrific things and fought for a lot of great causes. But for his fellow Democrats to stand up there at a memorial service and tell people not to vote their conscience? That really crossed the line. I felt used, violated, and duped.
I had the option to pick a replacement senator to serve out the remainder of Wellstone’s term through January 2003. And I went so far as to declare that I’d accept resumés for the position from everyone except Democrats. Privately, I was planning to appoint whoever won Wellstone’s seat on election day. They’d get to Washington ahead of all the other rookies, which would give them seniority. When the winner turned out to be Norm Coleman, the Republican mayor of St. Paul, whom I’d defeated for governor, this would still have been fine with me.
The reason I changed my mind was because, when a debate was held between Coleman and Mondale shortly before the election, they wouldn’t allow Jim Moore of the Independence Party to participate. Moore was the candidate from the governor’s party, which was obviously as much a major party as the other two. So I said to myself, “That’s how they want to play? Well, then watch and see what I’m going to do.”
Headline: MINNESOTA GOVERNOR APPOINTS SENATOR
As if the 107th Congress had not been sufficiently unpredictable, Gov. Jesse Ventura confounded its final days today with his appointment of an independent interim senator who refused to say whether he would vote with Republicans or Democrats....
“I know where the Capitol is,” Mr. Barkley said. “So I know where to tell the cabdriver to take me.”
Asked what he would do in the Senate, he said, “As much mischief as I can.”
—The New York