CONFIRMED: Former Vice President Walter Mondale, widely credited for elevating the role of vice president and known for his work on foreign affairs and the environment, died today at age 93. A family statement: pic.twitter.com/2VAeCoKFbC
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) April 20, 2021
JUST IN: Former President Jimmy Carter on the death of #WalterMondale. He calls his running mate, “the best vice president in our country’s history.” Statement via the @CarterCenter: pic.twitter.com/QmNoZiS9uX
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) April 20, 2021
“WELL, MY TIME HAS COME.” Here’s the email Walter Mondale sent 300+ staffers and associates over the weekend. He noted how he looked forward to seeing his late wife, Joan, and late daughter, Eleanor. “Never has a public servant had a better group of people working at their side!” pic.twitter.com/bIRLBpSZde
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) April 20, 2021
Vice President Mondale served in the US Army assigned to Ft. Knox during the Korean War, served as the 23rd Attorney General of Minnesota, the 24th United States Ambassador to Japan, a US senator from Minnesota, and the 42nd Vice President of the United States.
Rest in peace and may his memory be for a blessing.
Open thread!
Wag
RIP, VP Mondale.
God speed.
Mike in NC
A good man who lived a fine life. RIP, sir.
TaMara (HFG)
I am struck by the letter he composed this weekend. May he rest in peace.
cain
I always remembered Mondale more for his run as President than as VP which I felt was more non-decrepit to my teenage self. But I always remember how Saturday Night Life used to lampoon him. :-)
RIP Mondale.
West of the Rockies
I can rarely say this much anymore, but I’m a bit too young to have an adult memory of Mondale as VP. Was he really that great, or is JEC exaggerating a bit?
PaulWartenberg
If I remember, Mondale had argued for the right of indigent (poor) defendants to a lawyer in any felony trial (Gideon v Wainright) while he served as Minnesota Attorney General. The Florida AG had asked other state AGs in siding with him, but instead Mondale got 22 other state AGs to file briefs on Gideon’s side.
Omnes Omnibus
He was a good man. RIP
Mary G
He mentored Amy Klobuchar way back in the day. He was a gentleman and true liberal, which allowed St. Ronnie the Ruthless to recreate the Nazis going around the Maginot.Line perfectly.
Adam L Silverman
@West of the Rockies: No, he is not exaggerating.
James E Powell
He was a good guy. Americans are stupid a holes for choosing Reagan over him.
piratedan
@West of the Rockies: as I recall, he was a logical extension of Jimmy Carter, except he was the midwestern nice flavor. Ethical, intelligent, fair. The sad thing was that Reagan and his ilk made it seem like Mondale and Carter were naïve (perhaps) and “too nice” to be President and that stuck as a “negative”. You can see where the path that Reagan went down ended.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@West of the Rockies: Elizabeth Drew said on MSNBC that Mondale, and Carter, really did reshape the office of the Vice President, creating the modern standard of the Veep as a major player/adviser in the inner circle of an administration
(Selena Meyer being an obvious exception)
Rocks
A class act and a classic gentleman. Grateful for all he accomplished.
NotMax
Fritz and Joan were good peoples.
JoyceH
@West of the Rockies:
I’d say he was consequential, but in ways that weren’t all that visible from the outside. It was the Carter/Mondale administration that pioneered the standard that the Vice President is given a portfolio of projects that actually matter. Before that, VPs mainly existed to fly overseas to attend the funerals of foreign dignitaries, and wait around to be there in case the President dies. Back before Mondale, there were VPs who almost never even saw the President.
Sister Golden Bear
RIP VP Mondale.
OT: Yes, they really do want us to die. Oklahoma trans woman denied COVID vaccine because she has “mismatched ID.”
Thankfully she was able to get vaccinated the next day after the state health department intervened.
I should note that she’s fortunate to be in the process of changing her legal ID — many, many trans people don’t have the money to do so — it can cost hundreds of dollars at best, and in states requires hiring an attorney. Plus a number of red states have made it extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible, for trans people to change their legal identity documents.
columbusqueen
Fritz was the first presidential candidate I ever voted for in 1984, & was damn proud to do it despite knowing that moron Ronnie would win again. Rest in peace, & may flights of angels sing him to his rest.
Mart
@TaMara (HFG): Remarkable.
Wyatt Salamanca
Walter Mondale was a thoughtful, civil, intelligent, and decent human being.
He certainly deserved much better than the hand he was dealt by history with that landslide defeat at the hands of Reagan.
Rest in Peace.
?BillinGlendaleCA
First Presidential ticket I voted for was Carter/Mondale in 1980, still have the campaign button.
rikyrah
RIP??
Anne Laurie
The good die young originally meant that a person of worth always leaves the human community too soon, even if they’re 93.
Fritz Mondale was the epitome of that particular form of civic virtue. May his memory be a blessing, and his life continue to be an example for the rest of us!
Eljai
I got to meet Mondale in 2003 through work. When I told him I had grown up in Minnesota in a strong Democratic household, he asked about my parents and seemed genuinely interested. My friend brought a Mondale/Ferraro bumper sticker for him to sign and that made him chuckle. Truly, a gracious man.
Librarian
I believe Mondale was the first VP to have an office in the West Wing.
tokyokie
Japan expects the U.S. ambassador to be a high-level official to show the importance the U.S. places on the diplomatic relationship. Clinton first sent former Vice President Fritz Mondale, then former House Speaker Tom Foley. Shrub followed by sending over a Republican party hack. But I guess Dan Quayle wouldn’t have been considered prestigious by the Japanese, either.
(In his capacity as ambassador to Japan, I encountered Mondale a time or two looking over the home-video options at the Navy Exchange store near the embassy. My brush with greatness.)
Yutsano
I come to this also as a relative youngster. I barely remember the 1984 election except that I first heard the term landslide. I am quite sad to be coming to Mondale’s legacy relatively late.
Rest in Power Fritz. We’re gonna keep going.
LeftCoastYankee
The thing I remember most about ’84 was the media buying the Republican bullshit about Geraldine Ferraro and her husband’s business dealings (Clinton Foundation anyone?).
That and the media promoting the “don’t bother it’s a blowout” in the weeks before the actual election.
Putting aside that awful election, Mondale always seemed like a good man who was humble and did good.
NotMax
@tokyokie
“And the answer is, ‘Number of countries which consider Dan Quayle prestigious.'”
bzzt
“What is zero, Alex?’
West of the Rockies
@Sister Golden Bear:
Gack. Red state cruelty.
I haven’t seen Oklahomo here in a while. I hope they’re doing, well, OK.
Sister Golden Bear
@West of the Rockies: Cruelty is the means, eradicating trans people from public life is the point. Whether driving us back to the closet, driving us out of the state, or driving us to suicide. Case in point, at least four teens have attempted suicide after Arkansas banned trans youth from getting healthcare.
Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)
Well, that’s a buzzkill to end the evening.
Mary G
Not long after the ’84 billboards sprang up all over the LA area saying “Fritz said it would be like this. I was confused after until I figured out it was the local NBC station promoting their weatherman, Fritz Coleman. They weren’t up long.
Dan B
@Sister Golden Bear: We watch a program on electric vehicles on YouTube. The presenter is English living in Portland with her partner. She just did a segment on how her team is all queer and trans and are struggling with the anti-trans laws popping up in so many places. It was beautifully done. She’s an amazing presenter with consistently flawless and creative writing. To have a segment like this one feels like a gift.
We got TFG out and deranged McConnell. The monstrous right wingers have focused on inflicting pain locally. This sadism will not solve their pain.
J R in WV
I’m pretty sure Jimmy Carter was the first Democratic President I ever voted for who won. Then Cllinton, then Obama, and now Joe and Kamala. I voted against Ford my first vote, after I got back from my Navy tour. When I left for the Navy I was just over 19, and you couldn’t vote back the until you were 21. That was while I was in Pascagoula MS in the Navy.
But I never registered to vote while moving around on the ship… it was a ginormous hassle and other than hating Nixon just like Raven hates LBJ
[ Fuck LBJ !! and Nixon too !! ]
Since I retired I’ve volunteered for election campaigns, so far Obama was the one I worked for that we won, twice. I was stunned, amazed and deliriously happy. And again when Joe won, and Kamala.
NotMax
It goes without saying the deaths are a tragedy. This, however, leapt out of the report of a fatal Tesla crash over the weekend (emphasis added):
Later stories quote Musk as saying “data logs recovered so far” indicate that Autopilot was not engaged.
NotMax
@NotMax
Oh, in case don’t care to click on it, investigators are expressing high certainty there was no one behind the wheel when the crash occurred.
opiejeanne
@columbusqueen: He was the first Democrat I voted for in a Presidential election. I never voted for Ronnie, Anderson got my vote in 1980 because I was just not a Democrat yet. I never looked back after that, never voted for any Republican for President. As the party became markedly more insane, the decent Republicans running for office became very scarce.
opiejeanne
@NotMax: No one was behind the wheel but Musk thinks the autopilot was not engaged. Hmmm.
I hope no one did die in that conflagration, but 4 hours to put it out?
Dan B
@NotMax: There are many holes in the Tesla crash story.
People have zero knowledge of how much data Tesla has on every vehicle so they doubt Musk has the info he certainly does.
It’s difficult to start a fire despite the way every Tesla fire is covered.
There are 17 car fires each day.
Battery technologies under development.
Lithium reacts to water like metallic sodium – it burns.
Car fires are not put out with water unless it’s just upholstery. Foam and some solid materials are effective.
Why did this FD not know about battery fire control? Do they put out gasoline fires with water?
Imagine a sheet of water covered with burning gasoline. Multiply by 17 per day.
Dan B
@opiejeanne: The autopilot doesn’t allow the vehicle to move, after loud alarms, if there are no hands on the wheel for ten seconds or if no one is in the seat. These people may have messed with the autopilot or it may be a problem with the computer. Tesla may have data on these possibilities
Hope this answers your questions.
Joey Maloney
@Dan B: Well, here’s a link to Tesla’s official emergency response document. Their advice for a battery fire is “keep pouring water on it”.
NotMax
@Dan B
I’m not at all skeptical that Tesla has digital reams of data. My concern is they will release it in dribs and drabs, including to the Feds investigating the case, and claim some cannot be compelled to be disclosed to an invetsigation because it is proprietary information.
Dan B
@Joey Maloney: That’s a surprise. They even note that Lithium ion fires release hydrogen. I’ve had several people say that foam is the only thing that will put out a battery fire. That’s what the always correct intertubes says. /s
There is an interesting note that you need to put water on the battery to cool it. You should tip the car on its side or flip it to put the water on the underside of the vehicle.
Also putting water on Lithium causes fire so they must have done research, didn’t they?
Dan B
@NotMax: Great point although it seems like transparency would build trust something the media coverage does not.
Joey Maloney
@Dan B:
Lithium ion batteries don’t actually contain metallic lithium, so that’s not an issue. The problem is the ruptured batteries generate a lot of heat, more than enough to ignite their casings and other adjacent materials.
Dan B
@Joey Maloney: Good to know. Although scary. Burning metal is nasty smoke.
tokyokie
@Dan B: If she’s presenting videos about cars and fighting unjust laws targeting trans-sexuals, it sounds like she’s on a trans mission.
I’ll see myself out.
Barbara
@NotMax: It must have been a catastrophic crash. A fire department should have basic understanding of how to deal with an EV accident. They’ve happened before, and some things firefighters do can make the situation worse
NotMax
@tokyokie
:·)
Sounds shifty to me.
Barbara
@Dan B: What I don’t understand is why you should be able to engage any kind of autopilot system at a speed in excess of a certain level. As a matter of design or regulation these systems can’t be safer than human drivers if the passengers compensate by amping up the speed and reducing margin for error.
JWR
So profoundly wrong.
zhena gogolia
@West of the Rockies:
He was great. And he should have been president.
I love that last message.
JML
Fritz Mondale was one of those people who truly loved and respected public service. A lovely human.
He stayed close to the University of Minnesota Law School (which is housed in Mondale Hall), making cameo appearances in the annual law school musical (an original production from the Theater of the Relatively Talentless, aka TORT featuring titles like “The Wizard of Fritz” and “West Bank Story”). The law school hockey team is also known as The Fighting Mondales. We recruited him to come speak when we were signing up law students for election protection, and he literally worked the aisles before and after, shaking hands and asking students directly if they had signed up yet (he was in his late 70’s at this point). He probably doubled our signup all by himself.
Walter Mondale served as MN Attorney General, US Senator, Vice-President, and US Ambassador and was excellent in every office. What a career, what an amazing life.