Why Markos and the rest can't afford any more attacks on Dennis Kucinich for at least four years
Thu Mar 06, 2008 at 05:48:11 PM PDT
I know that what I have to say in this diary will be unpopular with some, not only about Kucinich and the regard he is held in by Markos and some of the front-pagers, as well as some of the "back-pagers" (a take on backbenchers, a term used in the parliamentary system), but on the general effectiveness of a divided progressive blogosphere and how that dampens our ability to be effective and influence the Democratic Party as well as the overall political chess game.
Earlier today, I called the Speaker's office. After asking both the Washington office and the district office (the staffer at the Washington office didn't really acknowledge that I had a question and transferred me to her voice mail so they could delete whatever I left without even listening to the full message) why she endorsed and raised money for corporatist Al Wynn while throwing progressive Dennis Kucinich under the bus, I got the standard runaround from the San Francisco staffer about campaigns and the congressional office being "separate". But my question to her -- "why" -- didn't really require an answer; it was more rhetorical, and an effort to register a serious problem with the disgusting, topsy turvy double standard in House-Speaker-World. But what isn't obvious, is what we need to do about it, at least to some on this blog, apparently. If only for the next four years, if Nancy Pelosi (meaning really Steny Hoyer and the establishment) is backing Al Wynn for reelection in his primary, but wanting Dennis to be defeated in his, then that is reason enough for us, if not to support Dennis, to not say a single word about him that helps Steny, Nancy, and the rest of the tone-deaf leadership rid themselves of a major voice for accountability in the House.
Recent defeats, not only at the ballot box, but on the House and Senate floor should make us step back and try to see what's important... and put some of our more knee-jerk discomforts and judgements aside and stay united for our common goal... to defeat Republicans and win a progressive agenda for our country.
On Tuesday night, Dennis Kucinich won his primary and won renomination to his Cleveland area House seat. I doubt anyone here actively supported or contributed more than $10 to Joe Cimperman, Kucinich's main, corporate-backed opponent. However it is clear that Kucinich does not enjoy unanimous support, not only at Daily Kos, but many of the other progressive blogs.
On February 12th, Donna Edwards defeated corporatist incumbent Democrat Al Wynn, in a primary. Just as her victory sent a message, not only to Wynn, but to the rest of the DINOs and Blue Dogs squatting in House seats they don't really deserve... (one which I personally believe is responsible for the House adjourning without giving Bush what he wanted on the FISA vote), Kucinich's victory on Tuesday of this week sent a similar one to House Democrats as well. We need more of these victories, not fewer! And we won't get more if we waste time going after Kucinich! If we manage to win this FISA fight, it will be because both Donna Edwards' and Dennis Kucinich's primary victories send a resounding message to the leadership that if they continue to fail us on a whole host of issues, they could be next!
Sadly, though, that message has been turned on its head by some. The new, twisted version of the message can be summed up by citing the very end of a message by Chris Bowers, in which he touted internal poll numbers that showed Dennis as being safe in his seat shortly before the primary:
While this wasn't the campaign to become involved with, given the corporate and Republican money Cimperman was raising against Kucinich, at some point it is probably a good idea for the blogosphere to become involved in a primary challenge against a member of the progressive caucus. So far, from what I can tell, the Edwards victory is having much more of an impact on the Congressional Black Caucus than it is on the wider House caucus. It might be necessary to defeat a member from every caucus, such as Ed Fallon defeating Blue Dog Leonard Boswell, in order for these primary challenges to create the desired behavioral change among congressional Democrats. And every caucus means Blue Dogs, New Dems, Progressives, the CBC, and the Hispanic caucus.
The part about going after those in the Progressive Caucus seems like overly convenient logic to justify what seemed like an incredibly misguided effort in the first place. I'm not saying that anyone here at Daily Kos is going by that philosophy (many claim that they don't like Kucinich for other reasons, which have been gone over ad nauseum), but the outcome of cheering his primary opponents serves the same purpose. It weakens the Progressive Caucus, it takes time, money, and energy away from those Kucinich supporters who could use that energy to get Dennis reelecting to instead press those House and Senate Democrats that are on the fence to not cave on FISA or any number of other harmful Bush agenda items.
If you're objective about it, sorry, but it doesn't look like we're winning. And we won't be able to win, completely or otherwise, if we keep turning on our friends. Dennis Kucinich is our friend.
With a little luck, Americans will see what damage these past years with a Gingrich-DeLay Congress and Bush White House have done to the economy, among so many other things, and with some hard work on top of that, we will take the White House this November, as well as expand our majorities in both houses of Congress. After that, we will have our work cut out for us to actually deliver on the Democratic Party's promises (which might as well be our promises, at this point). In order to deliver, progressives must be united, or it is clear we won't be successful. The progressive blogosphere must not be eating its own, or it is clear we won't be able to defeat the. Sometimes even when we go after an enemy 100% united, it's not enough to succeed, so how many more close-but-no-cigar moments do we need before we realize we can't do this if we're even divided amongst ourselves?
Dennis Kucinich is one of many progressives whose primary victory we should be universally hailing on the progressive blogosphere, just as we celebrate when the Donna Edwards and Ned Lamonts of the blogosphere win theirs. We should not be wishing for his defeat.
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