Dennis Kucinich…meet Ron Paul…
Eat The Press’ Rachel Sklar blogs about why Dennis Kucinich should be included in the MSNBC Nevada debate tonight. As of this morning, MSNBC was still featuring graphics showing just Obama, Clinton, and Edwards as part of the Debate…
But even so, it seems like MSNBC ought to let Kucinich debate. Why? Well, for starters, they officially invited him, and it’s horrendously uncool for them to uninvite him, no matter what. But also, this race has become homogenized very quickly: The three top-tier frontrunners, always zeroing in on each other, always shifting the focus of their barbs between them — they’re gonna do their thing anyhow, why not allow for another voice in there? Distant-fourth Richardson got plaudits after the last debate, why not allow Kucinich to provide a counterpoint in this one? UFOs aside, let’s resist the temptation to dismiss Kucinich — his position has been strong and unwavering and his message of “strength through peace” not at all an unwelcome one, even if he is not the candidate of choice. With the other candidates, the focus has of late been on the economy, and each other; this is a candidate whose platform is built around withdrawl from Iraq — so with him, you can pretty much guarantee the subject will be mentioned.
What people fail to realize is that a lot of these second and third-tier candidates know that there is no way in hell they will ever be elected president. They aren’t even running for the VP slot or a cabinet position. What they want is some sort of legitimacy within their own party, to be heard-a forum, a platform, an audience. That is surely the role of a Kucinich, a Paul, even a Thompson in this year’s races. I think everyone realizes that except for the candidate’s supporters whose fervor surely at times must embarass the candidates themselves. They like to point fingers and blame the media on their failure to “catch-on” with the public but in truth, they were never that serious about running for office to begin with-they are running for something else entirely different: attention. So go ahead, let them in on the debates. It’ll make the supporters happy and it will show just how wacky some of these fringe candidates can get.
Comment by Alison — January 15, 2008 @ 4:13 pm