Shut Up, He Explained

National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru makes the case that Walter Mondale may not be the lead pipe cinch victor in the Senate race that he appears to be. I agree with all his points, but I think the biggest factor will be the media's coverage of the Coleman campaign, and whether they'll be willing to allow Coleman to contest his candidacy at all without accusing him of attacking his opponent or politicizing a tragedy. This whole election comes down to the 20% of the electorate who are generally nonpartisan and this group has consistently proven they vote on whims and impressions, like if they think one of the candidates is "mean" or that someone "seems to care about me." The conveyed impression that Coleman is putting his own ambitions above something as solemn as the legacy of the cuddly, fuzzy-haired, passionate defender of the "little guy" (as the front page sections of the local newspapers portrayed him) could sink his chances, no matter what he actually says or does..

Of course the Democrats will use this strategy to it's full extent. In fact they've already begun, as witnessed by James Carville's performance on NBC's "Meet the Press" this past Sunday. MSNBC has a transcript of the entire exchange between him and Newt Gingrich. My favorite part was this, after Tim Russet asked Gingrich to speculate on how the campaign will procede over the next week:

MR. GINGRICH: Well, sure. I mean, look, the Democrats legitimately will try to ensure that nobody thinks about who Walter Mondale is or what he stands for, and that it’s an emotional campaign. But I think Norm Coleman has a strong base statewide. I also think the fact that Walter Mondale—going back to James Carville’s point, Walter Mondale chaired a commission that was for the privatization of Social Security worldwide. He chaired a commission that was for raising the retirement age dramatically. He has a strong record of voting to raise taxes. And I think that what you’ll see on the Republican side is an issue-oriented campaign that says, you know, “If you want to raise your retirement age dramatically and privatize Social Security”-Walter Mondale’s a terrifically courageous guy to say that—”and if you want a big-tax-increase person with a long history of raising taxes, Walter Mondale’s a perfect”—but this is a six-year seat .......and people ought to vote over how they’ll vote, not the emotions of this week.
       
MR. CARVILLE: I think what you’re seeing right now is—you know, of course, Senator Mondale is a distinguished person; served as vice president of the United States Senate, was in the past—what you’re seeing is a Republican attack, which Senator Wellstone is not—by the way, we haven’t even grieved Senator Wellstone; neither has the Republicans. But this all the Republican talking points. I think people in Minnesota know Senator Mondale quite well and know his record. They know his dedication. And I think that they are horrified that Senator Wellstone’s memory has not even been paid respect to before the kind of attacks that you hear now out of Minnesota and right here on MEET THE PRESS against Senator Mondale, who is probably one of the great distinguished Americans in the last 50 years.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to another issue.

MR. GINGRICH: But just one thing. Why is it an attack to state publicly somebody’s public positions that they have taken? Now, that wasn’t an attack on Walter Mondale.
     
MR. CARVILLE: Right. Right. Again, I think the people of Minnesota would honestly like to grieve the loss of their senator and his family, who did that—and many of the positions that Senator Mondale has are the same positions that Senator Wellstone had, who, by the way, was getting ready to win that race. He was 5 points up in the polls...

MR. GINGRICH: I just...

MR. CARVILLE: ...before this tragic accident happened. But this is the kind of slash and burn, attack, attack, attack things that you’re seeing from the Republicans, and you’ll see this in Minnesota. Norm Coleman has never had a consistent position on anything. And the truth of the matter is, is Paul  Wellstone did not like him. He liked Jesse Helms better than Norm Coleman because ... Jesse Helms and Paul Wellstone stood for something. Norm Coleman stands for nothing but attack.

I was listening to Rush today, and he described Carville's performance as "demonized and possessed" and that "it was only missing his head spinning and the appearance of pea soup." If you saw it yourself, you know Rush was dead on accurate, it was appalling and amazing at the same time. Today's Rush program also brought back the reference to "Walter Mon-dull." Something he used to say all the time when Mondale was still a newsworthy person. I don't know why, but I've always found that reference hilarious. Maybe it's that dreadfully boring, aristocratic tone Rush affects when he says it, or just the fact that it's a succinct and perfectly accurate, yet refreshingly juvenile, way to conceptualize the man.