Ehrenreich: It's Over, Ralph

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/opinion/18EHRE.html?pagewanted=print&position=

All right, Ralph, I always knew we had issues: Me the Led Zeppelin fan, you the policy monk. Me the fervent feminist, you who once dismissed gay rights and abortion as "genital politics." But four years without even a phone call?

We had something going there once — you can't deny it. Remember that sultry August night at some exotic venue like the American Political Science Association's annual convention? Coming from months campaigning by rental car from one Motel 6 to another, you looked too frail to ascend to the podium. But you were brilliant — skewering the robber barons for 45 minutes with no more notes than fit on the back of an envelope.

I voted for you in, yes, Florida. I lost friends on account of you; I risked death by sporting your bumper sticker well into the reign of Bush. But you were irresistible — an Old Testament prophet wandering alone in the desert, thundering about all the ways we Americans are being sickened and scammed, deluded and defrauded, by the plutocrats who've hijacked our country.

<snip>

You've changed too. If the first time was tragedy — and I will admit now, with hindsight, that it was — the second time is predictably farce. Maybe those years spent wandering in the wilderness — disdained by Democrats, excluded by arcane ballot access rules — have taken their toll, because there's been something grotesque about your campaign from the start, when you advised left-wing critics, in words no one knew your vocabulary included, to "relax and rejoice" in your run. This while casualties mounted in Iraq and civil liberties evaporated here.

<snip>

I've thrown my mighty weight behind Dennis Kucinich, who, unnoticed by the media, is still soldiering along on the campaign trail. In the event that he fails to get the Democratic nomination, I'll have to consider my options.

IMHO both Nader and Ehrenreich by backing Kucinich are still tilting at windmills while our country has been stolen by the * cabal and his bad of neocons and Rethugs. Sorry Kucinich fans but who's even paying attention to him any more?

[Jim Sagle]

1. What is the point of rubbing salt in the wounds of DK partisans?

If I read them right, most of them will support the nominee.

[Myra]

2. Thousands of people in Seattle paid attention to Kucinich today

When he appeared as the keynote speaker at the protest of the
National Governor's Conference. He was fantastic, and I'm
very grateful to him for attending. He's a true inspiration.
The crowd went wild...

Then I came home to listed to Air America's Laura Flanders
who was interviewing a Kucinich rep about the changes they're
seeking in the party platform via his delegates. He's out there
trying to make a difference, and I'm so glad.

So rmpalmer, asked and answered.

[RamboLiberal]

7. I have nothing against Dennis

but get real - his "Ministry of Peace" just gets us labeled as "loony lefties". And why hasn't he done the responsible thing and withdrawn from the presidential race?

No one except his supporters are paying any attention to Dennis. And if the media pays any attention to him it will only be to divide Dems and make us look bad.

We need to unite behind John Kerry - he's the only one who can beat Bush right now!

Dennis doesn't have enough supporters to demand a say on the platform at the Democratic convention.

Yes to me he is Don Quixote - tilting at windmills with no hope of reaching the WH.

Dennis has some good points, but let's get a Dem in the WH and get a majority in Congress then we can work on these points.

I will give Dennis credit for not going out and trying to run as an independent, but I wish he had the grace Howard Dean and Wesley Clark showed and get out there and get behind Kerry and give up saying he's still a presidential candidate.

That's my answer! Sorry if this is salt in the wounds of any Kucinich supporter.

I'll be interested in where Ehrenreich turns after she finally wakes up from her interest in Kucinich - I'm glad she woke up to see she's one of the reasons we have the fraud in the WH. She had to know in Florida that her vote could install Bush in the WH!

[Skittles]

9. I voted for Dennis

and I would listen to him any day over Kerry.

[RamboLiberal]

11. Good - but Dennis will never be President

Kerry just might be.

[ixion]

18. yep... agreed, Skittles

I've always been a big Dennis fan.

[glitch]

3. Classy lady - I read this as a gracious mea culpa

"If the first time was tragedy — and I will admit now, with hindsight, that it was — the second time is predictably farce."

I don't see anything wrong with supporting Kucinich. She says she'll consider her options after the nomination.

It's too bad that she didn't see either Gore or Bush for what they truly were, unfortunately there is an echo chamber on the left too. But a lot of the more celebrated lefties are waking up to it now and I consider that an encouraging sign.

[Webster Green]

4. I'm paying attention to Dennis Kucinich....

I voted for him, and I am collecting signatures for his petitions to be presented at the Democratic Convention. I have the petitions out on my voter registration table and lots of people are happy to sign them in order to help Dennis get his message out.

Thanks for asking, but what's up with the windmills?:shrug:

http://www.kucinich.us/petitions/

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

5. Not me, that's for sure.

Dennis Kucinich is well beyond the Rubicon of irrelevance. I pity those poor souls who still cling to his unwinnable candidacy. As far Ralphie, I respect him (I respect Dennis too), and he has a point about instant runoff voting, but his numbers don't add up.

[NNadir]

6. Ehrenreich shows what an ass she is again.

Kucinich?

One flake boy isn't enough? She wanders from the criminal fraud Nader to the pixilated charlatan Kucinich?

Here's a clue for you, Babs in babble, the only person who will defeat the worst human being ever to occupy the White House is John Kerry.

I know you make lots of money complaining about Bush in the White House Babs, but for once, just for once, get off your lying hypocritical high horse and think of your country and your planet before you think of your check book.

What a slime bucket. She and Nader and Kookcinich deserve each other.

It's nice to see that the Times didn't replace right wing apologist Freidman with a leftist. They found an equally disgusting and duplicitious Republican fraud to fill in.

[depakid]

8. Aside from the gratuitous insults

that wasn't even a very good rant. Rather vacuous, if you ask me.

Seems more like transference of pathological Nader hating into even more divisive progressive hating.

Perhaps someone else may want to get off of their hypocritical high horse and think of their country, too. Disrespecting the party base with aspersions like these isn't very bright, especially at a time when many Greens are coming back into the Democratic fold.

[geek tragedy]

10. Time to act "big" for the Kerry backers

It's foolish and counterproductive to bash Kucinich and his supporters. Nothing to gain from that.

If Kucinich is so damn irrelevant, then there's no need to get worked up over him.

[Beetwasher]

12. Ehrenreich Kicks Ass!

I'm so happy they gave her a column! What a fantastic addition to the page!

[struggle4progress]

13. Kucinich indeed has great policy. But he's not winning this year. eom

[Onceuponalife]

14. Play it smart!

I am a Green Party member who will vote for Kerry only if the polls are close. In my state, Kerry is considered a shoo-in. So my vote will probably go to Nader/Camejo.

But you in the Red states, you Greens and independents, join with the Dems in common purpose. Send that bum back to Texas. Vote Kerry/Edwards!

[struggle4progress]

15. Really must disagree with you. The name of the game today ...

has got to be: organize. Whether Kerry wins or loses, the left MUST be organized -- either to pressure Kerry after the inauguration or to fight the wave of abuses that a Bush win will produce.

In an election this close, I say it's a mistake to vote for anybody except the one candidate who really can beat Bush -- and that's Kerry.

Nobody influences national policy with a protest vote.

You want a meaningful third party and a more progressive national politics? Start running local Green candidates for school board, city council, state assembly, congress ...

[DemBones DemBones]

16. I'll vote for John Kerry because we must defeat Bush*

and I think Kerry can be a good president, as presidents go, maybe even a great one.

However, I'll always be proud of voting for Dennis Kucinich in the primary because I agree with his stands on the issues, and I'll continue to support him for leadership roles within the party. He's not going to draw votes from Kerry, as Nader is. Dennis said he'd go all the way to Boston and he will. He and his supporters are trying to make the Democratic Party more progressive. What's your problem with that?

[bluestateguy]

17. She voted for Nader in Florida: This is an unforgivable sin

Her column meanders around, never endorsing the Democratic nominee, and blabbering on and on with a bunch of mindless, rambling drivel. This only proves a point I have made over and over again on this board. Most Naderities were remarkably detached from the real world consequences of their actions. They just see a vote for Nader as some kind of an act of New Age self-discovery, rather than appreciating the real world consequences of their actions. Over-educated, pampered limousine liberals like Barbara Ehrenreich will never have to suffer from the real world consequences of a Bush presidency like working people will, to say nothing of the Iraqis and other Muslims who are likely to be bombed into oblivion by this Administration in a second term. But voting for Nader makes them feel good, and it makes them feel like they are really progressive crusaders for justice. Now it seems that Nader does not give Ehrenreich that feeling anymore, so she is walking away from him. Never mind that many of us warned her this would happen if she voted for Nader. Her mea culpa here is too little and too late. I'm sorry, but Barbara Ehrenreich has no standing.

[October]

19. I know

It took her what...nearly 4 years, a stolen election, 900 military personnel, thousands of dead innocent Iraqis, the dismantling of years of progressive legislation, women's rights being put in jeopardy, etc., etc., to admit what exactly -- that she kind of sort of made a mistake? Big of her, huh?

This is what we're dealing with -- a "press" or "media" that can't bear to admit when it's made a mistake. Small wonder they like Bush*.