Wellstone Conspiracy Theorists Are An Embarrasment to the Left

RICK GIOMBETTI

Now I've been reading a lot of nonsense lately from the tin-foil hat conspiracy theorists, who argue that it those of us who seriously doubt the late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone was assassinated by a right-wing cabal taking orders from the White House must disprove he was murdered. This kind of debating tactic by the conspiracy theorists is an act of desperation by some people on the left who only have innuendo and suspicion to support their baseless accusation.

If somebody is going to even hint at such a fatal charge against President George W. Bush, then they had better bring some documentary evidence to the table before opening their mouths. For example, if you're going accuse a prominent citizen of being a wife beater on the stump in the town square, then you should at least have the testimony of a close friend or family member, if you want to be believable. A copy of a police report detailing such an allegation is, of course, tantamount to a smoking gun for the person making the charge of wife beating. It's not up to the doubter among the crowd in the town square, who calls into question the accusation of wife beating by the accuser, to provide evidence disproving the accuser's allegation. The onus is on the accuser, just as the onus is on those who started yelling "foul play" and even "assassination" the day the Wellstone plane crash happened.

Until the Wellstone conspiracy theorists have a credible source for their allegations, like a dissident within the official investigation of the crash or at least an eye witness openly casting doubt on the official explanation of what caused Wellstone's plane to go down that fateful morning of October 25, the entirely reasonable position to take on this issue is that the crash was an accident and nothing more. One of the strengths of the anti-war position regarding the upcoming invasion of Iraq has been outspoken former U.N. officials who spent time on the ground in Iraq and are opposed to such an invasion, like Dennis Halliday and Scott Ritter. Anti-war rallies put on by the usual wing-nut groups who populate the anti-war movement aren't going to convince one-fourth of the collective Congress to vote against a Bush invade Iraq resolution.

I realize it's pointless suggesting to the tin-foil hats that we give an investigation a chance in the case of the Wellstone plane crash. For the believers in the Wellstone conspiracy had already made up their collective minds within hours after it happened. I forsee seemingly endless amounts of energy being spent debating this topic and trying to find some evidence in this caper for years to come. We might even see a movie about the subject by Oliver Stone even more ludicrous than his 1991 JFK production. If any of you tin-foil hats out there are thinking about trying out screenplay writing, then I think you have something to go with here. Maybe old man Stone will buy it from you.

What is leading so many people to publish articles speculating about a Wellstone conspiracy and desiminate them via e-mail under headlines like COMPELLING NEW EVIDENCE WELLSTONE WAS MURDERED? I think Geov Parrish hit the nail on the head in his November 8 Workingforchange.com column: "The instant Wellstone conspiracy theory speculation amongst some usually rational observers suggests how desperate some of those feeling unrepresented in Washington are becomming. Wellstone didn't die because some evil cabal in a secure undisclosed location (i.e. White House) ordered his murder to swing the Senate....the fact that such an idiotic, evidence-free notion can take root so widely is itself a sign of desperation - - and powerlessness."

The final two paragraphs of March Ash's November 10 Truthout.org column is a perfect example of the desperate fatalism Parrish wrote about in his column:

"The precedent set by the death of Wellstone and the subsequent ascension of his opponent Coleman has the gravest of implications. The two men espoused diametrically opposed ideologies. The shift from Wellstone to Coleman is as dramatic as any the U.S. Senate has ever seen. It is a stark and immediate reversal of fortune ushered by the grim reaper.

The classic horror film, 'The Shining' opens with a child haunted by premonitions of violent death. He sees blood in rivers washing down hallways and faces of those long since dead. He keeps repeating over and over a word that no one understands: R-E-D-R-U-M. Only when the ax comes crashing through the bathroom does the meaning of this word become all too clear, as it is viewed scrawled on the wall, reversed in the mirror."

Are things really that bad now? You would think anybody who has even whispered a word of protest against the Bush adminstration is about to be arrested and burned at the stake. I could understand such a sentiment being expressed if Ash's column was datelined September 12, 2001. Relax. The day after S11 we only had one voice in the entire Congress who voted against giving the Bush adminstration a blank check to eventually bomb Afghanistan a month later, and it wasn't Paul Wellstone. It was Barbara Lee, U.S Respresentative from Oakland, and she cruised to an easy victory in her reelection campaign! About one-fourth of the entire Congress voted against the Bush invade Iraq resolution and the judiciary is slowly starting to hack away at the unconstituional, civil liberties trampling PATRIOT Act. We have seen the most viisible anti-war movment since the Gulf War protests more than 11 years ago. Things are a lot better for the left now since the tragic setback of S11 .

Of course, Ash presents no evidence Wellstone was assassinated. Just the same old innuendo and speculation about a right wing cabal assassinating its way into power. From the Rabin assassination in Israel in 1995 to the Carnahan plane crash of 2000 in Missouri to the recent Wellstone plane crash, it's all the work on an evil cabal, insinuates Ash. Predictably, Ash lionizes Wellstone, as if he were a modern reincarnation of Eugene Debs: "They (The Democratic Party leadership) know full well Wellstone had crossed over the line. Wellstone had done what each of them knows they dare not do - challenge the power brokers." Ash forgot to mention the last time there was a significant escalation of the bombing of Iraq under Clinton, Wellstone, like current anti-war hero Jim McDermott of Seattle, became a laptop bomber.

Ash is pushing an evidence-free theory of assassination in the wake of Wellstone's death so it's not surprising he isn't more circumspect about the actual record of the late senator. While mostly laudable, Wellstone's record was far from perfect, except in the minds of those pushing an assassination theory that, absent a hint of evidence, really can only exist in a vapid, childlike imagination.