ROY EDROSO

The recent death of Minnesota Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone and members of his family and staff has occasioned many tears, crocodile or otherwise. While there was some immediate savagery on the web, many of Wellstone's opponents were at least polite at first, and some were surprisingly gentle, as was the usually intolerable Peggy Noonan right on the day he passed.

It was a pleasing reversal of tactics, and one would like to believe it was something more than that, too. An early indicator that it was, for the most part, not, came from thousand-laker Jim Lileks who, while commendably, gently chastising those who might wish his late senator an eternity in hell, managed also to characterize the deceased as a deranged utopian ("Shangri-La! We can do it! We can do it!"). He also swiped at Wellstone's supporters, who, it is assumed, would still rather the Senate seat didn't go Republican by default: "Policies are one thing; power is quite another," says Lileks. "The objective is not to carry the Wellstone torch for the next six years. The objective is control of the Senate. The Wellstone legacy turns out to be no more than a seat marked D."

How, then, would continuance of the Wellstone legacy be properly effected? "If it's Mondale as a replacement, it ought to make Wellstone's supporters scowl a bit," says Lileks. "The true heir to Wellstone's policies would be the Green candidate -- but oddly enough, none of his supporters are suggesting that anyone vote for that fellow."

Wellstone stuck with the Democratic Party even though his colleagues all but abandoned him on the Iraq war vote, among others. Presumably he could at any point during the campaign have said, "You know what? This party sucks. I'm withdrawing in favor of Ken Pentel."

But he didn't, and the Minnesota Democrats hurriedly drafted Walter Mondale to take up the fallen standard. A memorial for Wellstone was held, and Governor Jesse Ventura was offended by the partisan tone of it. "I felt violated...all bets are off," said the former wrestler not previously known to have a warm personal relationship with the deceased.

Ventura's opinion has been quickly seconded by Wellstone's other, newest friends: "The other day, when I wrote that there were more important things than who took the Senate, I thought I was chastising partisan Republicans," says InstaPundit. "Seems like a lot of Democrats need chastising on this point too."

"His family went and turned his funeral into a goddamned political rally," Cold Fury writes, "...a noxious, self-involved orgy of bad taste...shameless parade of power-mad dimestore dictators...these people have no principles whatever..."

"Have They No Shame?" cries Opinion Journal. "Pre-eminence of political values over humane ones!" shouts Andrew Sullivan.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports, the enraged Ventura has said "he will try to appoint an independent instead of a Democrat to temporarily fill Wellstone's seat until the winner of the Nov. 5 election is certified."

The low point (or high point, depening on your sense of humor about these things) is supplied by none other than Peggy Noonan. One week after her gracious obituary, she has created an imaginary memo from Wellstone, in which he castigates his family and friends for partisanship. It must be seen to be believed. "Some of you need to get a good psychologist and a good holy man or woman, a priest or rabbi or minister," says Wellstone (as channeled by Noonan) to his surviving family and friends, "and figure out why you're turning everything in your life into politics...There are people with the same sickness on the other side too. But I'm telling you, this polar thinking thing has gotten worse on our side the past few years. It's becoming the Democratic disease."

How Noonan restrained herself from making the dead Wellstone cry "Vote Coleman! That'll show the bastards!" is anyone's guess. Clearly, that's the message--here as elsewhere. Noonan the eulogist, we can now see, was merely a stalking horse for Noonan the spin doctor, and ample as her gifts may be in the former category, she's in a class by herself in the latter if she can actually get people to vote Republican by using Wellstone's corpse as a ventriloquist's dummy.

Wellstone's erstwhile opponents seem to be pulling off a neat trick here. How many votes can be won for the Republicans by damning Wellstone's political inheritors remains to be seen. The late senator struggled valiantly to hold the seat, and had a slight lead when his plane went down. But for the moment, all bets are off.