Partisan Excesses during Memorial Events

While Minnesota senator Paul Wellstone was in the final stage of his close reelection campaign in late October 2002, the plane carrying him and his family crashed in northern Minnesota, killing them all.  It was a shocking event, and a public memorial service was soon scheduled to honor the fallen senator.  Unfortunately, a few of those in attendance...and especially some of the speakers...got a little out of hand with their partisanship.  Mississippi Republican senator Trent Lott, a gentleman who attended the event, even received some boo's after he was introduced: how tacky can they get.  Apparently a bit more, since some of the speakers implored the audience to join in Wellstone's progressive politics and vote Democrat for his replacement...who turned out to be former senator and vice-president Walter Mondale.  There was a lot of negative spin on this event, greatly amplified by the FoxNews channel and conservative talk radio, and Republican candidate Norm Coleman went on to defeat Mondale in the general election.  I remember this because we recently experienced the death of "one of their own": conservative activist Charlie Kirk, assassinated by a sniper while in the middle of a Utah college rally.  The memorial for him was held in a football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and it dwarfed the Wellstone tribute in terms of partisanship.  It was a "who's who" in politics regarding the right-wing notables attending and being recognized on TV.  Some of the speakers got carried away with their aggression and hostility against Democrats and liberals...it was "let's pick up Charlie's cause and run with it" on steroids.  A local Democratic school board member got in a little hot water recently for posting, on social media, her reaction, which was critical of how the event was conducted. There should always be plenty of room and toleration for opposing opinions, and hers had nothing within it that was inciteful...unlike the venomous words of assistant White House chief of staff Stephen Miller who sometimes sounds to me like a freaking Nazi Goebbels impersonator.  The MAGA regime in power has depicted their political opposition, the Democratic Party, as the Enemy and compared them to terrorists and extremists.  Trump has only been in office a little more than nine months and has thirty-nine more until he's done.  I do not look forward to what he and his supporters have in store for the rest of us during that remaining time.  I have restrained my criticisms of Charlie Kirk and feel grief for his death, although I had no contact with him and did not explore his opinions in any detail.  No one is perfect (including myself), although Kirk's partisan supporters seem to be trying to canonize him as Mr. Perfect "Saint Charlie", and we all have to agree or else...