The Nation: Gore Vidal For 'Dennis Kucinich'

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071126/vidal

Dennis Kucinich
Gore Vidal

Time to Choose: As the primary season approaches, eight Nation contributors make their case for the candidates. If the Democratic presidential primary were held today in your state, whom would you support? Cast your vote in the Nation Poll.

For the past two years I've been crisscrossing the United States speaking to crowds of people about our history and politics. At the same time, would-be Presidents of the greatest nation in the country, as silver-tongued Spiro Agnew used to say, have been crowding the trail, while TV journalists sadly shake their heads at how savage the politicos have become in their language. But then, it is the task of TV journalists to foment quarrels where often none properly exist.

As I pass through the stage door of one auditorium after another, I now hear the ominous name of Darth Vader, as edgy audiences shudder at the horrible direction our political discourse has taken. Ever eager as I am to shed light, I sometimes drop the name of the least publicized applicant to the creaky throne of the West: Dennis Kucinich. It takes a moment for the name to sink in. Then genuine applause begins. He is very much a favorite out there in the amber fields of grain, and I work him into the text. A member of the House of Representatives for five terms since 1997, although many of his legislative measures have been too useful and original for our brain-dead media to comprehend. I note his well-wrought articles proposing the impeachment of Vice President Cheney, testing the patriotic nerves of his fellow Democrats, but then the fact of his useful existence often causes distress to those who genuinely hate that democracy he is so eager to extend. "Don't waste your vote," they whine in unison--as if our votes are not quadrennially wasted on those marvelous occasions when they are actually counted and recorded.

- snip -

Kucinich is opposed to the death penalty as well as the USA Patriot Act. In 1998 and 2004 he was a US delegate to the United Nations convention on climate change. At home he has been active in Rust Belt affairs, working to preserve the ninety-year-old Cleveland steel industry, a task of the sort that will confront the next President should he or she have sufficient interest in these details.

I asked a dedicated liberal his impression of Kucinich; he wondered if Kucinich was too slight to lead a nation of truly fat folk. I pointed out that he has the same physical stature as James Madison, as well as a Madisonian commitment to our 1789 Constitution; he is also farsighted, as demonstrated by his resolute opposition to Bush's cries for ever more funding for the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. More to the point, in October 2002 he opposed the notion of a war then being debated. For those of us at home and in harm's way from disease, he co-wrote HR 676, a bill that would insure all of us within Medicare, just as if we were citizens of a truly civilized nation.

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:D

K&R and a ring a ding ding.

Vidal's a very admirable man.

:patriot:

n/t

with Gore Vidal. He has damn good taste in candidates.

:eyes: ...hard to believe that Gore Vidal would take a side...so this is a Big One...

Yet he is now the leader of France and got a full House and Senate US Greeting when he's hardly the tallest or most handsome on the roster of world leaders. Dennis is much better looking that Sarkozy... and I say this as someone who met him in person...where he doesn't look like the TeeVee Camera's portray him.

How Tall was Teddy Roosevelt or Harry Truman?

noam chompky endorses? and when is al gore gonna endorse kucinich?

We live in the greatest nation in the country! lol

Please do not forget to vote in the Nation's poll.

If Vidal saw no good in Kucinich he wouldn't have offered such high praise.

If Kucinich weren't worthy of that praise, he would never have drawn the loyal following he has.

Great post.

a person "looks". mitthead is suppose to be some sort of "specimen", isn't he? Well, just look how he turned out..and capable of turning more than a few stomachs.

Highly recommend Gore Vidal's books, his novels, especially about US topics is a good way to absord some history. And of course we recommend Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States

:thumbsup:

Is somebody trying to imply that The Man Who Saved Cleveland is running under a pseudonym? Are they saying his real name is, I dunno, Meatless Mike McTofu or something?

Great article. But I do wonder why those quotation marks were inserted.

therefore the quote marks are appropriate. The sentence structure of the OP's subject line makes it a bit unclear at first glance, however.

sw

n/t.

this man knows his political stuff, intimately. far more so than easily 3/4 of DU put together (some gloomy days i would go so far as to say 9/10). still has the hope and aspiration for a better future for this nation, but is coupled with a vast reservoir of 1st hand accounts that truly supports his cynicism. finished off with an encyclopedic awareness of history and you have a man that to anyone he would be of immense beneft to listen.

they are completely wiped off my list.

That guy represents every well-meaning but fumble-fingered version of progressive thought that has sunk candidates for ages. He was drinking cappucino long before it became the hallmark of the unimpassioned, ain't-it-a-shame-pass-the-scones liberal. His support has sealed Kucinich's fate.

...resort to the Repug tactic of name-calling! "fumble-fingered"? "unimpassioned"? "cappucino drinking"? Face it - Kucinich is the only candidate with the independence, courage and vision needed to turn this country around. If you have any intelligent arguments against his positions, or against "that guy"'s" endorsement, let's hear 'em! Otherwise, save your juvenile insults for the playground.