Beck on 'Only the paranoid survive'

Argus Leader executive editor Randell Beck has a column today in which he explicitly mentions the Dakota Blog Alliance under the headline "Er - not enough politics?" In the piece, Beck is particularly skeptical of a quote "purported" to be from Tom Daschle that is emblazoned on the Dakota Alliance T-shirt, to wit: "Only the paranoid survive." It seems Beck can't quite believe someone as wonderful as Tom Daschle would actually say something like that. Relevant graf from Beck's piece:

The front of the bright green shirt, which I plan to wear proudly in the privacy of my own home, is emblazoned with the words "Dakota Blog Alliance."

On the back are several Web addresses (example: www. idespiseeveryonewhodoesntagreewithme.com), and this quote, purporting to be from Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D.: "Only the paranoid survive.''

My first instinct was to doubt the veracity of the quote, but I managed to trace it to an October 2001 article in the Argus Leader in which Daschle, speaking about efforts to turn the old Homestake gold mine in Lead into a national laboratory, said: "There is a saying that only the paranoid survive. We will continue to stay paranoid until it is ribbon-cutting time.''

Although Webster's defines paranoia as a "mental disorder marked by delusions,'' one presumes the senator used the word back then to describe the kind of brazen, over-the-top political vigilance that sometimes is called for to see a public issue or project through.

The word crept into Daschle's language again in an August 2003 campaign swing through South Dakota. Referring to the difficulty of persuading Republican voters to cross over to vote for him in 2004, Daschle said: "Only the paranoid survive.''

In retrospect, one is hard-pressed to evaluate whether the senator was joking or meant what he said, but one thing seems clear: The bloggers have picked up the sound bite.

According to a piece in today's New York Times Magazine written by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, the quote "only the paranoid survive" is the Daschle campaign's motto:

In January, shortly after Thune announced his candidacy, the minority leader told me his motto for campaigns: ''Only the paranoid survive.''

I don't think one has to be hard-pressed to evaluate whether the senator was joking or meant what he said. It's just difficult for Beck to fit the fact that Daschle frequently makes that comment into his preconceived notions about Daschle. (I think in Beck's worldview, it's only possible for Republicans to say something like that.)

Meanwhile, David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters, actually quotes the New York Times Magazine's story on the Daschle v. Thune race in today's edition of the Argus Leader. Once again, one can readily observe how quickly the Argus Leader's editors will publish something that negatively reflects on John Thune, but are automatically skeptical of anything that negatively reflects on Tom Daschle. This time, the AL has managed to follow up a story on the exact same day that it is published, rather than the following day. That has to be a record.

Presumably, Beck read the New York Times Magazine's story on the Daschle v. Thune race if he allowed Kranz to quote from it in today's edition of the Argus Leader. I guess he must have skimmed over that "only the paranoid survive" bit.