We've posted a lot on the Minnesota Senate race over the last two days, and I thought it might be helpful to try to synthesize where we think things currently stand. The most fundamental point is this: The Democrats had hoped that there would be no campaign following Wellstone's death; that six quiet days would pass by without controversy, and that Walter Mondale would then be crowned Senator. This morning's Minneapolis Star Tribune warned the Republicans strongly against campaigning against Mondale. The same paper helpfully offered up a poll intended to show that Mondale has the race in the bag, so there is no need for a campaign. Now, this plan may never have worked in any event, but it was blown sky-high by last night's fiasco. A huge backlash against the Wellstone rally is in progress. Governor Ventura has blasted the Democrats harshly, as have various media figures in the Twin Cities. A local TV station has planned a debate for Friday night, and has announced that either Mondale will appear, or he will be represented by an empty chair and Coleman will have the time to himself. Meanwhile, Tim Russert has offered to come to Minneapolis on Saturday to moderate a debate. It should now be impossible for the Democrats to avoid one or more debates. The legitimate polls show the race to be a virtual dead heat, prior to last night's fiasco. The Democrats have stumbled badly and are now engaged in damage control, trying to apologize for the rally. But the significant fact is that if they ever could have finessed the election and slipped it past the voters without a real campaign, that is impossible now. The Democrats are beginning with an even start, and are in for a tough six days.

Can an underdog candidate on a budget of $0 compete against the heavily-funded Democratic Machine?

The movement has been hijacked by a bunch of neo-Stalinists, who, oddly enough, utilize their hopped-up "radical" rhetoric in the service of the most conventional Democratic party politics imaginable.
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Okay, so I marched this time, but I ain't marchin' anymore, as the old song goes, at least not until the antiwar movement cleans up its act and makes itself just a little more presentable, and accessible to the millions who agree with its ostensible goals.

The fact that a movement of America-hating communists, who regard their own country as the enemy and who sympathize with America's terrorist adversaries should be able to marshal 100, 000 activists is a cause for concern. The communist New Left left was not able to organize such large demonstrations in support of the Communists in Vietnam until the draft was instituted in 1964. We have no draft in this country now. The size of these demonstrations is a reflection of the growth of a treacherous anti-American radicalism in this country that has no Communist Party per se, but is just as dedicated to America's destruction. The fact that the new technologies of war make it possible for terrorist groups both foreign and domestic to inflict enormous damage on industrial democracies like ours, and that our borders are porous and our security capabilities wanting, underscores the daunting dangers posed by this internal threat.

That the desire to hurt this country and its citizens is uppermost in the protesters minds was manifest in their reactions at the Washington march. According to the Los Angeles Times the demon singled out by the demonstrators for the greatest opprobrium was Attorney General John Ashcroft - the man responsible for the security of 300 million Americans: "The most unpopular figure of all appeared to be John Ashcroft, the U.S. attorney general. The mere mention of his name prompted boos to swell from the crowd, followed by semi-obscene chants."

The fact that we're having this discussion at all is a symptom of the polarizing effect that Bush and his top dogs have had on the United States since assuming office and even more so in the hard-right free-for-all that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. Presidents routinely cause their political detractors to take offense, but one would have to go back to Franklin D. Roosevelt's attempt to stack the U.S. Supreme Court or Richard Nixon's wiretapping and enemies list to find another American leader who crossed the line of acceptable discourse as extremely as George W. Bush has done.

The plane was built by Raytheon, which also makes cruise missiles and laser-guided bombs. An on-scene reporter said the weather wasn't a factor, but we keep hearing it was. We haven't seen many still or video images from the crash scene. How come there's no cockpit voice recorder? Why had the plane drifted off course just before landing?

It's not hard to understand why the paleos are the Cincinnati Bengals of the conservative movement. Like the Bengals they have no organization and they can't compete on the playing field. Paleos enjoy the smug satisfaction of their blogs and gold standard meetings than they do getting into the nitty gritty of governing. Of course they reject governing, but then they are surprised when they find that their arguments don't go any further than their die-hard supporters and so it goes around and around and around. They really should be called old-fashioned Utopians.

The next time Bush gets up to make his promises of the amazing things he will achieve through force of arms, how the world will be bent and shaped by his administration, think of Stalin speaking at the 15th Party Congress, promising "further to promote the development of our country's national economy in all branches of production."

If conservative voters stay home on Election Day, then the Democrats will retain control of the Senate and the only kinds of judges likely to be confirmed will be those who "interpret" the law to mean whatever they want it to mean, regardless of what it says. The fundamental right of the people to make the laws they live under will be further eroded or destroyed by judges.

I've watched too many friends who stay there (in the Senate) too long. I vowed that I would never be among them.