Kucinich runs again

» Cleveland Plain Dealer: Kucinich, Talking of Peace, to Run Again for President

Dennis Kucinich is running for president a second time. I think this is great.

Let's be honest: he's not going to win the Democratic nomination, not by a long shot. But he will be spreading his message, and he will be there in the debates to provide a voice further to the left of any of the other candidates. Of all the Democrats serving in Congress, Kucinich is certainly the one whose policy goals and beliefs are closest to my own.

In a master stroke of journalistic integrity, the local paper announcing the candidacy decided to devote their coverage to insulting the candidate.

Democrats jazzed by the hype that political stars Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton might run for president will have to settle for Rep. Dennis Kucinich, at least for now.

What a great, unbiased lead to a story about a presidential candidate! It's certainly true that Kucinich lacks the hype of Obama or Clinton, but articles like this are exactly the reason. How many articles have been published in newspapers about Obama or Clinton? Those articles are called "hype." In fact, this article is enhancing the hype for them and it isn't even about them.

"What he has got is a name that's hard to pronounce and an ideology that's pretty far to the margins of his party," Hess said.

Kucinich is hard to pronounce? Really? By whom, third-graders? Koo-SIN-itch. What do Kucinich's fellow Ohioans do when they see Cincinnati on a map? Shriek and hide? And I suppose this is the kluh-VAY-lund newspaper, since consonants and vowels are so hard to figure out.

As for whether he's far to the margins of his party, that may be the case —
but then, the Clintons and Obamas are far to the opposite margin. You know, the one that borders the Republicans.

"After a while, Congressman Kucinich's Don Quixote-like struggle starts to appear kind of goofy," Rothenberg said.

Sure, nothing could be served by actually presenting an alternate viewpoint during the campaign! What we really need are candidates who will say the exact same thing with different words and pretend to be different from one another! That's much better than diversity of opinion!

"Everyone deserves a shot to run for president, but I am not sure everyone deserves two shots," he said.

Yes, democracy works best when you limit people's options!

Republican Mike Dovilla, who was crushed by Kucinich in the Nov. 7 election, complained bitterly Monday that Kucinich misled voters.

"It's too bad that during this year's congressional campaign, Dennis Kucinich did not have the decency to be honest with the people of Ohio's 10th District," he said in a statement. "For two more years, we will have an absentee congressman as Dennis runs around the nation to indulge his insatiable ego and advance his personal, extremist agenda in another futile run for the White House."

Good thing they got someone whose opinion matters to close out the story and leave a good lasting impression. But seriously, insatiable ego? Does Dovilla actually know who Kucinich is?

This article, and all of the others like it that will appear during the next two years, are testaments to the celebrity culture of politics. Candidates for public office do not become popular because their ideas are popular, they become popular because they're given a lot of attention, or because they have the money to get a lot of attention. Kucinich might not have a shot in a fair fight, but that's even more reason not to insult the value of his candidacy.