Remembering Gaylord.

I went to the July 13 memorial service for Gaylord Nelson, a giant of progressive politics. Pols, friends, and more than 600 appreciative citizens filled the rotunda in Madison to pay proper respect.

In front of a bust of Fighting Bob La Follette and a large American flag, one speaker after another saluted Nelson. They talked about how the former governor of Wisconsin, who served in the U.S. Senate for eighteen years, took on Joe McCarthy, championed civil rights, was an early and courageous opponent of the Vietnam War, an advocate of auto and tire safely, a fighter for Legal Services and for Head Start, and above all, an ardent environmentalist. Nelson was the father of Earth Day. It was his vision and his commitment that brought it about.

"Gaylord did more to protect our air, water, and earth than any other man in the country," former Vice President Walter Mondale said, adding with a bite: "And so much of what he accomplished is under scandalous attack today."

Representative David Obey praised Nelson most heartily for being one of three Senators to oppose President Johnson's 1965 appropriation for vastly expanding the Vietnam War. "If LBJ had just listened to Gaylord, there would be one less war memorial to visit in Washington, D.C., and 50,000 Americans would not have died."

To lighten the mood, Obey also quoted a line from Nelson's wife, Carrie Lee, who was asked, at her sixtieth anniversary party, what the secret of her long and successful marriage was. She responded: "We were both in love with the same man."

Obey mentioned something that was of particular interest to me, a June 1964 article in The Progressive, "Hucksters of Hate--Nazi Style," that Nelson read into the Congressional Record. That article exposed the racist and anti-Semitic yahoos that were in the National States Rights Party. Nelson wanted to denounce their ugliness and at the same time lend support to the Alabama freelance writers, Joseph Wilson and Edward Harris, who wrote the expose at personal risk.

Like Obey, several speakers at the memorial recounted Nelson's courage in resisting Johnson's legendary arm-twisting over the Vietnam War. During that 1965 vote, Nelson criticized members of the Senate for "stumbling over each other to see who can say 'yea' the quickest and the loudest. ... Someday, we shall all regret it." And he told Johnson and his Democratic colleagues, "You need my vote less than I need my conscience."

We sure could use more politicians like that today.

I admire Al Franken. He has back-burnered his career in comedy to help counter the rightwing dominance in the media. A lot of us have been complaining about that dominance; he, like Amy Goodman, did something about it.

I don't always agree with Franken. He toes the Democratic Party line too much for me, and he requires dental work for the sweet tooth he has for Bill Clinton. Nor is Air America easy listening sometimes, with some hosts other than Franken falling off the edge of shrillness.

But at the very least, Air America is buoying the spirits of millions of otherwise besieged and dispirited citizens. And it has the potential to reach beyond the choir if it lowers the pitch a bit.

It's a worthy experiment in media activism, and we have Franken to thank for that.