Sunday, November 25, 2007

Tucker Carlson and Dennis Kucinich

A comment on The Media Mob's discussion of Tucker Carlon's possible lack of a future on MSNBC led to this Utube of Carlson and Kucinich:




Now many of us have watched the media make light of Kucinich's personal appearance and that of his tall attractive wife, of his having seen an UFO, "emphasis on unidentified," and in general disparaging his stances as "kookiness." Since Dennis had the "nerve" to say "which part of not for profit single payer health care don't you understand" in front of the nation anything from him gets that kind of treatment. Whether or not I agree with Dennis on firearms and the 2nd Amendment or not, the media's dismissal of Kucinich as some kind of kooky light weight leads them to underestimate the man. Tucker made the same mistake. I've never thought Tucker Carlson had a lot of ammunition for an intellectual dispute, but he could have had a lot more than he's got and still come up real short versus Dennis.

When you watch those seven Democrats on stage it is easy to forget that Dennis Kucinich may easily be the smartest person on the stage. I did not say most accomplished politician, I said smartest. He is an 11 year veteran of the US House from Ohio's 10th which is primarily Cleveland, not much known as a bastion of left wing politics. He wins. Dennis Kucinich has a lot of practice advancing and defending his ideas. Oddly enough, while in this period he seems hopelessly left fringe not all that long ago his thinking would have been mainstream left, just out of the theoretical middle. Maybe Dennis is a man out of his time, or maybe this time is just out of joint. One thing is certain, the media's treatment of a man as accomplished and intelligent as Dennis is nothing short of disgraceful.

I may have enough substantive differences with Dennis Kucinich to find another candidate to support, but I have real respect for him. I'd suggest the media take some time to re-think their attitude.

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