Democracy Has Prevailed.

August 6, 2007

Camp Wellstone is coming back to Pittsburgh

I attended a Camp Wellstone back in 2004. It was very well run and extremely informational.

From their website:

What is Camp Wellstone?
Wellstone Action's signature weekend training program provides hands-on, practical training in grassroots politics for citizen activists, campaign workers, and people interested in running for office

Background on Wellstone Action:
Wellstone Action is a national center for training and leadership development for the progressive movement. Founded in January 2003, Wellstone Action’s mission is to honor the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone by continuing their work through training, educating, mobilizing and organizing a vast network of progressive individuals and organizations.

Camp Wellstone Pittsburgh:
9/14 - 9/16/07

The training is highly interactive, combining exercises, lectures, and simulations over the course of 2.5 days. Camp runs Friday from 2:00pm-9:00pm, Saturday from 9:00am-6:00pm, and Sunday from 9:00am-3:00pm. You'll stay busy the whole time and make some great networks!

The cost is $100 or just $50 for students, low-income, or unemployed participants.
Yeah, pricier than some other similar programs but I'd say it was worth every penny.

5 comments:

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

Lesson 1: How to use someone's death for political purposes such as turning a funeral into a political event/rally.

Maria said...

I don't say this too often to people who comment here, but:

FUCK YOU, HttT

I soooooooo expected your idiotic comment.

If anyone else is interested in reading about the LIES told about Wellstone's memorial service (it wasn't his funeral) read here:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200412030008

If anyone wants to read about the politics involved in Ronnie RayGun's service read here:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602090007

Oh, and again, FUCK YOU, HttT.

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

Al Franken argument appears to just screaming "it's all lies!!!!1!!".

Paul Wellstone's memorial service turns into a pep rally.
But as the evening's speakers proceed, it becomes clear that to them, honoring Wellstone's legacy is all about winning the election. Repeating the words of Wellstone's son, the assembly shouts, "We will win! We will win!" Rick Kahn, a friend of Wellstone's, urges everyone to "set aside the partisan bickering," but in the next breath he challenges several Republican senators in attendance to "honor your friend" by helping to "win this election for Paul Wellstone." What can he be thinking?

I like how Al defended Rick Kahn not by addressing what he said but saying he was in grief and we should give him a pass.
You can not criticize Rick Kahn for what he said. He has absolute moral authority.

Also he compared Kahn's speech ... Rick Kahn, who, by the way, Wellstone's best friend. He's just lost his best friend, his best friend's wife, who's a very close friend of his, his best friend's daughter, three other very close friends. And he gave this very impassioned speech and he compared Kahn's speech to a "Maoist reeducation camp," "a sinister incident, unexampled in [recent] American politics."

Of course, I am not impressed by Franken's debating skills.

"Franken Explodes in SwiftVet Fueled Rage on Michael Medved Show"

Anonymous said...

Maria, you know I love you but we need to talk.

It is illiberal to attack a person with a cognitive disorder. Please keep this in mind. He did not choose to be sick any more than you chose to be smart and pretty.

Anonymous said...

HT;

Well Al Franken was there. So I'd think he does have an epistemological leg to stand on - and when folks who weren't there lie about what happened (for instance it was a lie that all 20,000 booed at Trent Lott, it was a lie that the whole thing was a political rally and so on) I think he does get to point out all the dishonesty at play.

But take a closer look at the link you offered up. Saletan does not say the whole thing is a political rally, for instance. He points out, as Franken does in the chapter on the Wellstone Memorial in his book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them", the many anecdotes about the people who perished with Senator Wellstone in that plane. Surely not political, there, right?

It was Rick Kahn's eulogy, a eulogy by the way, that Franken himself says went "over the top," where things turned political.

Kahn was Wellstone's best friend and his eulogy was one of eight during the memorial. He gave it three hours in to the event.

But let's talk about using Wellstone's death for political gain. Vin Weber, political strategist for Norm Coleman, this according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, started politicking moments after Wellstone's plane went down. He called friends from Ashcroft's 2000 campaign to learn what they did wrong when his opponent died just before the election. They said that Ashcroft's decision to disappear until after the memorial services were over cost him the election.

Coleman's strategy would be to be "gravely and respectfully - and publically - participate in the state's grieving process. The decision was made 4 hours after the plane crash.

Franken puts it this way:

[Coleman] held what he called a "non-press conference press conference." He was taking every possible opportunity to show voters that he was not exploiting Wellstone's death for political gain.

Tell me that's not exploiting Wellstone's death for political gain.

The Republicans were already attacking Vice President Mondale (and surprise, surprise lying about him, too) even before the memorial. They'd even begun to do polling.

So don't tell us that the Democrats were politicizing the memorial when your Republicans were so obviously playing dirty at the same time.