Kucinich & the Elf Factor: Irrelfevant
I’m sick and tired of ad hominem attacks on Dennis Kucinich. Stop saying he’s an elf. Stop it with monosyllabic insults. Don’t diss on his belief system.
Does it really matter what a president looks, sounds or smells like? Bush is a bumbling buffoon but the world treats him with begrudging respect due to his significant stature. Canada is not going to refuse to return our calls because the president has pointy ears. Gorbachev had the British Isles on his forehead... it wasn’t really an issue. If anything, the only thing that could hamper our relations with foreign entities would be Kucinich’s policy decisions.
That brings me to my next point.
Such insults indirectly insult his supporters (that's bad)
Did you see that debate, specifically the audience? Those are the people that are always getting the shaft by the Democratic Party. Those are the people that get pissed off when they get rebuffed with "ugh." These are the people that are swept under the rug to appeal to "the center". Just who are those people? The working class. The labor activists. Kossacks shunned into silence.
When you dismiss Kucinich as an elf or perhaps a Romulan you are no better than any of the hacks in the MSM. At least express your dislike of Kucinich in a civil way, without character attacks. I don’t tell you that you’re too short to do anything. FDR was in a wheelchair. This is America, aren’t we supposed to look past these things? Instead we resign to the inevitability of resigning that we, the people, can’t overcome the "pointy-ears." If it wasn’t "already over" for Kucinich there would be a lot more support for him in the polls and on this site.
Why Kucinich?
People have been really depressed and pissed off these last 7 years. I remember the day after the 2004 election as being one of the worst in my life (hangover definitely contributed). Why?
The Patriot Act, the Roberts nomination, the Alito nomination, the Bolton nomination, Jeff Gannon, Jack Abramoff, wiretapping, FISA, Iraq funding, Katrina, K-street, Santorum, Tom DeLay, Saipan, Lieberman and TORTURE... I could go on and on.
I think the lesser of two evils argument is losing its luster. The third party and independents were sucked into the "inclusive" Democratic Party because we needed to band together and fight back against these assholes. We were told that the revolution could only be within the Democratic Party; to vote out the DINOs and enjoy a truly progressive majority. We enjoyed that success in 2006 when we won back the House and the Senate (kinda). I was ready for the same in 2008 except the candidates were seemingly chosen for me by the media/establishment.
My crazy journey
I must confess I had/have fallen in the Ron Paul bandwagon. Mostly because I want real change and the most important issue to me is to Stop the Insanity. However, this recent Kucinich "resurgence" has pulled me back into the Kucinich Kamp. As you can see by my username, I was already a fan of the man but became disaffected with the Party over its milquetoast capitulations to the Bush/Republican administration.
Kucinich is our man. He has always been there. He is the revolution from within the party that we have been hankerin’ for.
You think he can’t win in a general election? With all the resources we’ve built to elect Democrats? With all the shit that’s happened the last 7 years? Let’s give the people credit that they can look past pointy ears and elect the man with the better ideas, especially with the support of all of us.
Buzz wearing off
This post is way longer than I was intending. Mainly I think that the ad hominem attacks are bullshit, he is not unelectable in a general election and that world leaders aren’t going to snub us because he is "annoying".
I don’t think it’s too late to win the primary. No votes have been cast. We won’t vote for months. Maybe we don’t have a presence in Iowa or New Hampshire yet. That doesn’t mean we can’t.
Like I said, I’ve gotten into Ron Paul lately... His campaign is completely decentralized and highly enthusiastic. The Iowa-Ames straw poll is Saturday and seemingly instantaneously a conglomeration of independent activists have raised enough cash to run a full page ad in the Ames Tribune on that very day. My tiny picture will appear in that paper... though I donated nothing but my image.
Conclusion
I know most people will think I’m just some libertarian nut or something, but I’m not. The unknowns of libertarianism can scare the shit out of me. I’m also scared of the corporatist democrats. I’ve just given up hope that the Dems can nominate someone that agrees with my values/beliefs.
The Republican Party is in shambles and I think that speaks to a lot of the "success" of the Ron Paul campaign. The "Big 3" have a seemingly insurmountable amount of wealth and media coverage but that doesn’t matter as much as it used to. A concerted grassroots effort can overcome any amount of money or media exposure.
Think of all the people that would walk away from their candidates for Gore. Why not Kucinich?