What follows is a brief response to Markos' diary on Friday.
When talking about Kucinich, I usually leave it at "ugh". I've found that much kinder than actually getting into Kucinich's record. But his supporters are OUTRAGED(!) that I would be so dismissive, and they DEMAND(!) I explain myself.
Honestly, it would be better for your guy if I didn't. But since you all insist...
Frankly, I'm not surprised that establishment bloggers like Markos are trying to marginalize Kucinich this early in the campaign. I'm more surprised by the naked hypocrisy involved in attacking a guy like Kucinich for his past positions on abortion while giving a free pass to Harry Reid or any of the pro-life candidates Markos supported in 2006.
The bottom line from where I sit is that these days, Markos is less about crashing the gates than he is about pacifying the hordes as he helps to insulate candidates who have the blessing of DC establishment from addressing the concerns of the Democratic base.
All Markos demonstrated with his comments about Dennis is that the left's "big dog" blogger has big ego and a thin skin.
Kucinich is a good man who's biggest sins from a Democratic point of view appear to be a Catholic upbringing and an unwillingness to avoid asking embarrassing questions about the leadership of the Democratic Party when it comes to matters of war and peace.
What candidate other than Kucinich is going to speak for the plurality of Democrats who are seriously concerned about the fact that the United States currently accounts for more than half of all military expenditures on this planet?
What candidate is going to speak for the plurality of Democrats who are seriously concerned about the fact that nearly half of all weapons sold on the global market are manufactured in the United States?
What candidate is going to raise concerns, as Martin Luther King did shortly before he was assassinated, that our nation is not the revolutionary force that we once were, but that we have instead, all-too-often, aligned ourselves with dictators and despots, and worked to crush democratic movements in many parts of the world?
How many candidates do we have who will reliably and consistently advocate for the american worker in the face of corporate dollars that are pushing for trade agreements that enrich a handful of shareholders at the expense of working people from providence to peking?
Hillary? Obama? Edwards?
Sure.
They'll criticize Bush's policies on Iraq and cozy up to labor, but to varying degrees, when push comes to shove, they'll support free trade and our military industrial complex, and make half-hearted pushes for non-binding resolutuons and wax apologetic about voting against their base and for the war because those are all entrenched policy positions within the beltway establishment of the Democratic Party.
Dennis Kucinich may not have a snowball's chance in hell of being elected President in an election where electability is measured in a candidate's ability to dial for dollars, but maybe, just maybe, he can help remind our mainstream candidates that they are being asked to represent the interests of 300 million people who do most of the living and working and dying in this country, and not just the interests of the powerful few who are going to be paying for this election.
I probably won't vote for Dennis Kucinich in the primary, but he deserves better than the festering pile of shit that Markos handed to him on Friday morning.