Invoking a tired bogeyman he has repeatedly used to smear progressives, Rush Limbaugh today claimed that he feared that a recent memorial for the Tucson, Arizona, shooting victims would become “the Wellstone memorial two.” While Limbaugh did not make clear why it would be problematic for a memorial service resemble the Wellstone memorial, regular listeners of his show got the message: Rush has a habit of mischaracterizing the event - at one point calling it an “anti-American rally.”

In his 2003 book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Sen. Al Franken debunked the smears that many in the right-wing echo chamber have peddled about the Wellstone memorial. Franken explained that “ten-second clips” created the false image that Wellstone's death was being used for political gain. For instance, Franken discusses a speech delivered by Wellstone's close friend Rick Kahn, who called on the audience to “win this election for Wellstone”:

But Kahn's speech was also full of phrases like "[our] hearts are now shattered" and “tonight we are filled to overflowing with overwhelming grief and sorrow.” This speech was coming from someone who was crushed by the deaths of his best friend, his best friend's wife, his best friend's daughter, and three other very close friends. Yeah, it had some inappropriate moments. But I assumed that people would understand, and cut the man a little slack. [Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Pages 183-185]

Franken also explained that the speeches delivered at the memorial were not vetted by memorial organizers and included the following statement from Ann Mulholland, who helped plan the memorial:

We asked each family to choose someone to do the eulogy. At no point did it ever cross anyone's mind to read the speeches. The day before, the people from the hearing impaired group asked, “Do you have any of the speeches?” I just laughed. They wanted to type the speeches in for the closed captioning, but we just didn't have anything.

On Monday night, our press guy said to me, “Oh my gosh -- this is going to be on TV. Should we be thinking about something?” By then, it was just kind of too late. [Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Page 192]

Franken also described how the smear that the event was “political” was started by GOP operatives, including former Rep. Vin Weber:

The morning after the memorial, I picked up the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and turned to the special section devoted to the event. It was titled “One Last Rally: Victims Remembered with Cheers and Tears,” with a heartbreaking picture of Paul and Sheila's granddaughter, Cari, crying. There were two stories on the front page. One was about the event itself: “Overflow Crowd Pays Tribute to Wellstone.” The other was about GOP spin: “Republicans Decry Service as Political.” With the stories side by side, it was as if two different events had taken place. The real one, and the lie one.

Vin Weber was framing the Republican story line. “This was NOT a memorial to Paul Wellstone. This was a political event.” Weber said that the event was a “complete, total, absolute sham” and accused the Democrats of “exploit[ing] Wellstone's memory totally, completely and shamelessly for political gain.”

[...]

When I called Vin Weber to research this chapter, I asked him whether he had watched the whole event and whether he had seen any of the eulogies. He said, “Yeah, there was some very nice stuff.” This candid Vin was a refreshing break from the lying Vin who talked to the Star Tribune in 2002. But Lying Vin had planted the story line: The memorial was a total sham, a political charade. [Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, Pages 186-187]