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January 23, 2004
Berkeley Supports Kucinich!

Hugh Hewitt had a caller last night from Berkeley who complained about Hugh's treatment of Dennis Kucinich. After assuming that Hugh would cut him off after declaring his support for Kucinich -- as if Hugh could pass up such an opportunity for radio comedy -- he challenged Hugh to say why he was so dismissive of Kucinich. Hugh told him that Kucinich was "loopy," which to anyone outside of Berkeley is fairly self-evident. Predictably, this infuriated poor Peter from Berkeley, who carried on about Hugh's lack of qualification for this judgment. Hugh treated the caller politely and indulgently ... which made it all the more hilarious.

However, as a public service to all of our friends in Berkeley -- all two of them -- I will be happy to explain Why Kucinich Is Loopy, a handy guide to the Quixotean candidacy of the diminutive Ohioan.

* A poem once said, "You can tell a man who boozes by the company he chooses," and you can tell a politician by the people standing with 'em. Check out this other-worldly endorsement on Kucinich's official campaign web site: he claims that a fictional children's book character, Grandfather Twilight, has endorsed his candidacy for President. Not only that, but he's included an interview confirming it on his website:

GT: Children are dying from bombs and guns. The moon sees all of this. But she also sees something else. It is like a dream. Such a good dream, I could hardly believe it at first.

BHB: Tell me!

GT: There is a brave, truth-telling man from Ohio. His name is Dennis Kucinich, a Congressman who is running for President. As you know, I tend to be a calm old man, but when I heard Dennis speak, I got excited. He plans to create a Department of Peace. At last! Why has no one done it before? This is exactly how a wise President should think, what a good President should do! (GT thumped a gentle fist on the table.)

Yes, if you thump a fist on a table, it should always be a gentle fist.

* Kucinich is a man of action. In fact, one of the side benefits of being on the campaign trail has been that his dating profile has been substantially elevated. His campaign staff publicly advertised on the Internet for a date for the earnest, peace-loving Presidential candidate, and eventually found Gina Marie Santore, a 33-year-old Democratic activist from New Jersey. Unfortunately for Dennis and his campaign staff yentas, Santore turned out to have a fiance.

Besides, the Democratic tradition is to have your staff do this sort of thing quietly (see Kennedy, John F, and Clinton, William J).

* The Department of Peace - Has anyone actually looked at this proposal?

Citizens across the United States are now uniting in a great cause to establish a Department of Peace, seeking nothing less than the transformation of our society, to make non-violence an organizing principle, to make war archaic through creating a paradigm shift in our culture for human development for economic and political justice and for violence control. Its work in violence control will be to support disarmament, treaties, peaceful coexistence and peaceful consensus building. Its focus on economic and political justice will examine and enhance resource distribution, human and economic rights and strengthen democratic values.

Domestically, the Department of Peace would address violence in the home, spousal abuse, child abuse, gangs, police-community relations conflicts and work with individuals and groups to achieve changes in attitudes that examine the mythologies of cherished world views, such as 'violence is inevitable' or 'war is inevitable'. Thus it will help with the discovery of new selves and new paths toward peaceful consensus.

The Department of Peace will also address human development and the unique concerns of women and children. It will envision and seek to implement plans for peace education, not simply as a course of study, but as a template for all pursuits of knowledge within formal educational settings.

These elements which I have bolded point their way to re-education camps and bowdlerized learning, where every single element of curricula would have to be filtered through a "peace template" -- can someone tell me what "peace math" might be? Don't kid yourself about enhancing resource distribution, either; that's code for redistribution of wealth which only comes from eliminating private-property rights, the backbone of liberty and freedom.

In fact, I think Hugh may have been wrong -- he may be going a bit too easy on Kucinich. He's not loopy, which I would define as entertainingly eccentric but essentially harmless. Kucinich's views aren't harmless at all; in fact, if he had any more support, he'd be dangerous. The fact that he hasn't any support outside of the confines of Berkeley gives comfort that the lunatic fringe is just that.

Addendum, 11:30 AM CST: I've been musing on this "Department of Peace" proposal this morning, and if you look at everything Kucinich proposes to do, it would appear that the Department of Peace would absorb the Departments of State, Education, and Health and Human Services. Kucinich doesn't explicitly state that it would eclipse the Department of Defense, although you could argue that it would make it superfluous. The costs of such an expansion would be enormous, of course, and the intrusion on freedom of thought and speech would be disastrous. Bear in mind that the people supporting this nonsense are the same who demand a repeal of the Patriot Act as an unconscionable affront to civil rights.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at January 23, 2004 9:13 AM

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