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Dennis, no menace

By Michael J. Smith on Thursday March 18, 2010 08:15 AM

Okay, confession time. I've always had a sneaking fondness for Dennis Kucinich, ever since his madcap days as the boy mayor of Cleveland, when he made the "business community" so hot under the collar that they started to exhibit random quantum effects, winking in and out of existence and leaving half-dead cats strewn in the streets.

Oh, I always knew better. I mean, the guy's a Democrat. Doesn't even try to hide it. But I couldn't help myself. It was my dirty secret.

So it's a relief to see the "maverick" neatly lasso'd by Rahm Emanuel & Co., and meekly proclaiming his support for the Great Insurance Company Pig Trough, aka "health reform":

Mr. Kucinich said he would keep working for a government-financed single-payer health care system. But after coming under intense pressure, which included a visit to his district on Monday by Mr. Obama, Mr. Kucinich said he did not want his objections to stand in the way of the legislation.

“If my vote is to be counted, let it count now for passage of the bill, hopefully in the direction of comprehensive health care reform,” Mr. Kucinich said.... “We have to be very careful that the potential of President Obama’s presidency not be destroyed by this debate.”

Perfect, huh? The "potential" of the Obama administration. At need, Dennis will give you a pony IOU as readily as any other soup-hound in his "party".

I was so cheered by this gratifying news, so glad to have this discreditable little monkey off my back, that I felt up to a quick tour through the pwoggo blovosphere. Here's a representative take from Kos -- literally the first post on this subject that my eyes lit upon in the orange bog:

Kucinich and ... Michael Moore have, by their own words, taken one for the president.... both plainly say it should be passed because of their desire to see President Obama's presidency succeed....

Try to let that sink in. They want the right-wing attempts to delegitimize [Obie] to fail. They do not think this bill is real reform (the word "detest" comes into play), but will support it anyways. I respect both men and absolutely take them at their own words.

Kucinich conceded that he decided to swallow the bill because failure would be a threat to Obama’s overall agenda. Moore said, "Pass it because, if President Obama takes a fall on this one, I don't know if he'll be able to get back up. And then NOTHING will get done. We can't have that."

Much material for reflection here. Of course the first thing that comes to my mind is C Wright Mills' astute observation about crackpot realists, much-quoted hereabouts. We might paraphrase MIlls slightly and say that hard-line dead-end Democrat fanboyz like Moore and our Kosnik still believe that Obama's "success" means something, though they don't know or can't admit what it means -- which is, of course, endless war, panoptic security-state totalitarianism, further immiseration for the general public and further illucration for the already obscenely wealthy few.

A gloomy picture. But there are some grace notes of low comedy that you can always rely on; like the preposterous macho rhetoric these Dembo weenies love so much, which becomes ever more more purple in direct proportion to the hapless abjection and cringing slavishness of their politics. "Take one for the president," forsooth!

Comments (36)

I think that first picture could be captioned:

"See, that's twice in the past few years I've made you Pwoggies think I'm stumping for you, while I'm playing for The Donkle, Inc. First it was my feigned attempt at "impeaching" Cheney, now it's my fraudulent shortish-long-con regarding health care improvement. Twice as nice, and twice is nice!"

Kucinich (D-Hobbiton) has about used up his ability to keep fauxgressives from bolting the party. The DNC will have to train another judas goat soon.

op:

guys like dennis the K
and my boy mikey
need to get fed out some slack here
i mean what else could you expect ??

these guys prolly believe
in incremental reforms anyway
and in certain cases so do i
cases i'd call necessary cases

as in this case of health REFORM

i'm not sure what would be served
if a small knot of conflictedly motivated
house dembos formed a big enough
of block of pwogs and trogs
to kill
this bloated people corn holing
he-goat
of a health conformity bill

some folks ..including everyone here at SMBIVA junction..prefer to kill it now
lest thru its novel and evil contrivances
the fucker deforms our health system even more then
the status quo continuoso
is liable to deform itself anyway

now i'm not persuaded
a bigger then otherwise price rip
will be the long range outcome of this piece of legislation
--in fact i expect an upside down J shaped cost change curve out of this --

nor am i persuaded
this magic pig in a poke will prove a barrier to ...yup ....more reform err and better reform
far from that
i think it will catalyze reform
in fact
i think within not too many years
the health sector will settle down
become a good neighbor and produce annual
price increases in keeping
with the general trend of the economy ***

why ?

well because that future reality is
alreadt a total necessity
and

what can't continue

as uncle herb stein
that old walrus liked
to say

damn well
won't continue

as to the mince meat mouth line
a win will enhance the chances
for obummer's secret pwogie agenda
hey
it won't make a dime's worth of difference
how could it ..??

err unless we SMBIVAers are dead wrong
about how the whole rig job works here in the belly of the beast ..eh ???

***sure the relative size (to gdp)
of the health sector may continue to grow
but inside ten years that growth
oughta be real growth baby well mostly ..more pills proceedures and diagnostics and not as now
some of dat
but combined with
lots of
faster then economy wide price climbing ---


Sean:

I guess like a lot of people, I also had a certain fondness for Kucinich--or at least, his rhetoric--even though I felt deep down inside we wuz bein' had. I always suspected they kept him around as evidence you could do things like criticize Israel and mouth token opposition to the corporate state or the War of Terror and still keep your job, but his services obviously exceed mere tokenism. Although the liberal capacity for self-delusion seems boundless, Kucinich must realize with this act he has lost whatever credibility he had with a lot of people on the left.

"Take one for the president," forsooth!

Funny, but when I hear someone say "take one for the president," it makes me think of John Hinckley Jr. Wishful thinking?

op:

"if President Obama takes a fall on this one, I don't know if he'll be able to get back up"

keep him on his feet
so he can do....ahhh what mikey
just exactly what ???

and why couldn't he get back up ??
a repug congress in the fall ??
err like billy brought on himself in 94??

mikey do you think billy C
was unable to get back up after that debacle ??
or simply handed a lovely alibi
for his long premeditated
"do little if you can't do nothing"
two term
shrewd hick in the spot light show

and what does it mean if obummer
can't get back up ??


no fast jobs recovery ???
no withdrawal of troops from afpakleburg ??

war with eye-ran ??

more brown in the mix then green??

an anti- union stomp fest
instead of the free choice act ???

cats fornicating with dogs ???

martians occupying detroit ???

sarah in 12

op:

"I felt deep down inside we wuz bein' had"

why ???

dennis and his elfin ilk are proof
we on the left are no threat
to the establishment what so ever

he is us just as alex c at the nation is us

us ??

the independent left

why are we tolerable
well not just as easy punching bags
for the zesty mockabilly radio set
but more because we ain't worth spider spit in a scrap

of course over the past 160 years since john brown now and again
we self form into something
worth the state droping its lead hammer

http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org/2008/08/hoovers_work_is_never_done_or_1.html

It doesn't require much effort to support a socialist political party and their candidates; just register, donate, and vote. It does, however, take quite a bit of effort to organize a political party, gain and maintain ballot access. What it takes in both cases is imagination and determination to change society for the better.

Perhaps some of those Soros sycophants and disillusioned Democrats can team up on such a noble project. Of course, they'll have to first shed the illusions of capitalist activism.

A bitter pill for all those grant seekers.

op:

i can't stand glenn greenwilt
but i read the link drunk one
and here's my take
its from veteran tactician and strategist
herb N sorrell III

" if your going to fold anyway
don't even fight 'cause its
just another let the bull pass
thru the red cape time
if you really got "the sand" to say
"all in "
when it gets to the last bets
then play your hand out to the end
but brothers and sisters
if your going to fold in the end anyway
don't even fight
'cause its
just another let the bull pass
thru the red cape time
and if you make like your standing your ground till you cut and run..who the fuck are tyou anyway"

translated to here
i say this was a fight better left to the center aisle crowd
cause the goo gos couldn't stomach
killing the bill cause they figure they're killing people that way
ass in glenny's diddlers option out
" as loathsome and even dangerous as I find the bill's corporatist framework to be ...
I've found it very difficult ... to oppose a bill that results in greater health care coverage for millions of currently uninsured people. "

get it ??
remember this pwog horror line:

" 40 k per year dead for want of coverage .."

come on even noam c
probably isn't too griped
if it passes
if he buys the line

"sure it'll cost plenty
and add gross new profits
to a few big bundles
..... but soul mates
it'll save .....lives !!!!"

from the start that was obvious no ??

only the loo loos that are certain this bill will in fact kill MORE innocent idiots
then the status quo
as well as cost MORE then the status quo
can hammer out the nyets here in full throat
the others are prolly glad they aren't in dennis k's penny loafers right now
anyone who thinks dennis took one for the prez is a fool
in his goo goo heart dennis at least thinks
he took this one for the uncovered numbskulls of america

op:

the other take that gets to nyet
has to be
the long run death rate will be higher this way because a weak "faux" reform a rip off
in a reform nitghtgown and a reform sleep bonnet actually postpones the day of universal coverage so long
more will suffer and die in toto
then if this bill fails now
and we come back ...next year ??
fighting for a real reform

not an easy sppeculation to rest soundly own eh ??

op:

so where does this leave the left ???

i say it leaves em stupid

get hold of an issue you can really fuck up
and fuck it up

god knows wanting to see obummer "win one"
is nonsense
but so is a nyet that only looks like principles and really is a hiding place
like the bust chunk of the pwog caucus that was " allowed "
to vote against stuff like our afpickle crusade
turn it around ask yourself how do left parties in europe vote when it gets
to nut crush time ??

i can't stand glenn greenwilt
but i read the link drunk one
and here's my take
its from veteran tactician and strategist
herb N sorrell III

" if your going to fold anyway
don't even fight 'cause its
just another let the bull pass
thru the red cape time
if you really got "the sand" to say
"all in "
when it gets to the last bets
then play your hand out to the end

You read my blog?

/swoon

LOL... well said though. Glen is Establishment Liberal, you have to put on your filters before you read his stuff.

Boink:

I can't find it, but somewhere out there is an article arguing that HC reform like this will exacerbate the mortgage crisis as people just barely (in SMBIVAn terms, irrationally) making their monthly payments will have to stop when the mandate comes calling.

Doubtless, Goldman has this all gamed out bonusly.

op:

boink

i suspect the on set of the mandate
enforcement-wise
will be quite mouselike ..
err at first
only good politics that no ??

-----------------

dp :
note i repeated part of that sorrell quote

seems i had it reversed at first
and when i pasted the top patch in the right place as the bottom patch
i forgot to remove it as the the first patch
so now it's the first and third patch

herbie won't care of course
he's usually drunk on weekdays now

at any rate
outcome:
you have this near sacred passage
reversed because i reversed it at first till i
re ordered it into redundancy
am i being perfectly clear enough ???

as to reading blogs
given my speed limits only the occasional out of character random ramble
gets me to brother and sister sites like yours

super Al is smbiva's one soul milty spirited recon and intelligence department
and he's damn fine at being it too

op:

by e mail
a grumpy rustic joins the chorus


"I like the Drunk Pundit's comment about sand, and the pwog lackthereof. A bird with no sand in its craw will pass food right throughand gain no nourishment from it. Pwogs are the ultimate yard birds.They're scrawny, lightweights in every way that matters, they shitliquid and they earn a fast trip to the block from their tenders."

Glen is Establishment Liberal, you have to put on your filters before you read his stuff.

Given that he pretty much lies or shades reality to suit his Uber-Pwoggie Pitchman status, I'm not sure why anyone would want to read him.

I still remember arguing with him at Unclaimed Territory regarding the reality of Hugo Chavez. When I pressed Glenn for the source of his opinions on Chavez, he said it was from his Brazilian boyfriend. Oh gee, that's primary source research right there. "Honey, I love your ass, and I will believe anything you tell me!"

Glenn Greenwald is a sham artist. I'll grant him one thing: he knows how to tell people what they want to hear. In a more primitive era, he would have been killed long ago.

Bullseye by Jay:

It doesn't require much effort to support a socialist political party and their candidates; just register, donate, and vote. It does, however, take quite a bit of effort to organize a political party, gain and maintain ballot access. What it takes in both cases is imagination and determination to change society for the better.

One thing I'd suggest is moving away from the term and idea of "organizing" because like the word "progressive," that term now dips from a poisoned well. If "progressive" ever meant "pushing for reform," it doesn't now. It's now a cute pose, and a clever monniker adopted by pro-capitalist "liberals" to avoid denigration as "liberals."

Likewise, "organizing" is something that many Pwogs exalt as one of man's highest callings, and therefore you can gull a Pwog or proto-Pwog by talking about "organizing." Why is this a problem? See my footnote here:

http://pezcandy.blogspot.com/2010/03/michael-moore-takes-cue-from-andrew.html

I would prefer to simply call it "work."

CF Oxtrot wrote:

"Given that he pretty much lies or shades reality to suit his Uber-Pwoggie Pitchman status, I'm not sure why anyone would want to read him"

You wouldn't believe the depths of the depravity of some things I read.

CF Oxtrot also wrote:

"Glenn Greenwald is a sham artist. I'll grant him one thing: he knows how to tell people what they want to hear. In a more primitive era, he would have been killed long ago."

You know how to make a fellow smile.

Oops, didn't mean to make anyone smile or laugh there. Really I didn't.

MJS:

I don't quite understand the disdain for Greenwald. I don't read him all that often, but he seems pretty much on target as far as he goes.

Of course I'm always willing to add new exhibits to my own Museum of Disdain, and if GG has had a harsh word to say about my man Chavez... well, then!

MJS, Greenwald is a favorite target of mine particularly as a result of arguments I had with him on Unclaimed Territory before he kicked me out of there. When I discovered that place it was after discovering his book "How Would a Patriot Act?" and thinking that book was pretty good. Then when I pressed him for his knowledge of political things (as opposed to his strictly legal read on things) I discovered how little he knew about federal politics, while his already-considerable fan base was hanging on his every word.

The story about his disdain for and mistaken perceptions re Chavez is a true one. I did not embellish for effect.

When I asked him where he thought the motives for Bush/Cheney might be divined in the public infobase that includes internet websites, he was clinging to the opinion that it was about Republicans = EVIL, Democrats = NOBLE. He is responsible for the origins of my catchphrase for Amber Milgram, "the Noble Democrats." When I turned his eye toward the Project for a New American Century and their white paper "Rebuilding America's Defenses," he denied the white paper existed and had no clue about think tanks generally or PNAC specifically. I posted a link to the white paper and told him to look at the points on "we need a new Pearl Harbor" and all the other Leo Strauss-isms that underpinned the PNAC perspective. He kept trying to argue that it wasn't about controlling perspectives or funding sources, etc. He maintained it was about getting rid of Republicans and putting Democrats in charge. His themes and arguments, if visited today, would show his naivete with a blinding luminosity.

During the Mark Foley scandal, I told Glenn that the Congressional Page program has triggered scandals from both parties, and has long been a font of abuse of the sexual type. He denied this was true and suggested Foley was an isolated incident.

He has come around a bit, but he's still very naive. But hey, he's a regular at Salon so he must be right, eh? And he's published two books, so he must be an expert, no?

op:

the uncompromising...civil libertarian act
makes me puke
does any one really think
"the rights of citizens" constrain the "state"
here ??

wait till there's a rupture


maybe if he could get to know fear
personally ..and maybe he can
if yet another
"back lash " of the paleface asshole het majority hits the gay community
as it has in the past and will again
if necessary

blacks chicanos and native types
those folks know what the whitey state is capable of

Well, yeah. Jet-setting bicontinental boojie boy flying back and forth to Brazil to his honey, rich corporate lawyer, probably never had to struggle to eat, sleep, or clothe himself. He's 100% yuppie as far as I can see. I'd bet he drives a Prius, but calls it a Priapus. Or calls himself King Priapus. One or the other. He's like Andrew Sullivan with a law degree. Oh my. What a scandal!

bob:

"I don't quite understand the disdain for Greenwald. I don't read him all that often, but he seems pretty much on target as far as he goes."

ditto.

There's nothing really wrong with Greenwald AFAICT.

"He has come around a bit, but he's still very naive."

Not that naive. I just don't see the point of blacklisting people for having a mildly "bad history" or whatever.

and who cares if he drives a Prius or eats arugula or whatever. What is this, the intra-leftie culture wars? I'm sure everyone here at SMBIVA is the absolute salt of the earth. silliness

op:

bob
no one is suggesting a black list
in fact i'd join a broad front with glenn
anytie he was prepared to act
against the corporate hegemonics
not chatter about mythic lost civil edens in america
to use a distinction made here by a better mind then mine

our civil libertarian heritage
is not our civil history
not by a long shot
all this better angels of our soul shit
is just darkened movie house
tinker belle time

bob:

well he is a lawyer after all. I call it Atticus Finch syndrome.

TBH though I haven't seen much of those themes in what I've read. I only started seeing his stuff around in the last year, and only know him as a salon.com writer. Up until this thread I was totally unaware of his backstory.

Based on what he has written in the last few months, I don't see why you can't stand the guy:

The Democratic Party's deceitful game
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/02/23/democrats/index.html

bob, your efforts at rehabilitating a man whose purpose is to gain an audience, and little else... well, some may call it admirable. I have other words to describe it, and not one of them is charitable.

please feel free to adore and sanctify Wee Glennie whenever you get the chance. and by the way, comparing me to him is a losing bargain for Wee Glennie, and for you bobbo!

if you can't see the problem with leading people down a fake primrose path, I suppose there isn't much use in discussing anything with you, since you-as-goat apparently would forgive the judas goat even as you were feeling the knife draw across your throat, or the pith piercing your cranium.

bob:

Yeah, I really adore Glenn Greenwald. I love him so much I want to marry him. We were kissing in a tree just the other day...

Some people around here need to get a grip.

op:

bob don't mind oxey
he's just filled with passionate conviction

i've grown to like his rat tail snaps
they usual have a solid core of hard earned realism

Pwog-mania in honest form -- here's what someone I know posted as his status update on Facebook today:

X_______ isn't sure what brings a bigger smile to his face: passage of a health care reform bill after 50 years of trying, or the apocalyptic whining from the Party of No (and their patsies). One is gratifying; the other is friggin' HILARIOUS!

This is a guy who works in the State Dept so he knows spin vs reality, facts vs puffery, investigative reporting vs punditry.

I think it is HILARIOUS but obviously not for the reasons he says. Notice the gloating at "winning one" against the Evil Rethuglicans, while not giving a damn about real reform, and while pretending it's historically momentous and a product of 50 years of "trying."

Yeah, the surreality is indeed HILARIOUS.

Thanks op for the assessment of passionate conviction, it may be the only thing I have left in the fight to retain sanity under the Federal Fascist Finnageling Free-for-all of corporate plunder!

bob, it helps if you understand my posts as attacking sentiments posted rather than as attacking you personally, because I don't know you personally and therefore don't have any way to know what you know personally. Some snuff-bug here remarked likewise as a response to me last week, when I harassed that snuff-bug for talking about my motives instead of my knowledge or perspective.

Alleged Snuff-bug:

Did not neither. Your motives were never mentioned in the original almost-response to your broad brush attack on organized labor.

Snuff remains unpersuaded that entities that post are as unknowable as CF constantly asserts, be they man or machine. On the other hand, Snuff thinks personal acquaintance is overrated as a path to knowledge. e.g. "He was quiet but friendly. Who would have thought that he would slaughter his family?" or "We were all shocked when she emerged from the faculty meeting with her pistol smoking."

Snuff bug continues to use a cracked and opaque crystal ball to project... errr, I mean divine... the motives of others. Well done!

I posted a respone to OP's comment about whitey the other day, I'll admit I was on a good drunk while I did it, but it seems to have been disappeared. Maybe I said a few bad words, I don't know. Maybe I didn't type Hillary right...

But I meant every word of it.

op:

drunk punk it ??

we want a re play
we want a replay
don't let father smudge pot dash you away

give us the geeter
mr maneater
give us the full fuckin geeter

"give us the geeter
mr maneater
give us the full fuckin geeter"

We'll have to wait for the muse to strike again some time.

It will.

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