What makes someone "unelectable?"

[Jcrowley]

How is that determined before the presidential race even begins? Is he/she cosmetically undesirable? Not tall enough? Speaks too clearly and for the disadvantaged?

Maybe being unelectable means hasn't sold his/her soul to the highest bidding political action committee. Maybe being unelectable means not having a cadre of special interest lobbyists. Maybe unelectable means willing to speak truth to power and criticize the Pentagon. Maybe being unelectable means the entirety of US politics has swung so far to the right that conservatives are mislabeled centrists and someone who has even a mild social agenda is seen as a whacked out lefty (which we need more of BTW).

Of course the truth of the matter is that Kucinich will not get anywhere near the White House. What does that tell us about how completely perverted is the (s)election process? Who decides? Is the game rigged? If so what are our proper responses if we are serious about real change rather than altering the window dressing?

What role does the media play in all of this? What role is played in the internal workings of the upper caste of the party?

[Eric J in MN]

1. If Kucinich won a state-wide race,

...that would help him to be considered electable for other offices.

[Ken Burch]

2. Electability, in many cases, can be given and taken away easily, and at times maliciously

George McGovern, for example, might well have been electable had not the "establishment" wing of the Democratic Party decided, as soon as they knew he had the nomination locked up, to refuse to do anything to help him win in the fall, and by(in more than a few cases)actually working hard to assist the Nixon campaign instead. Had they simply said they'd at least give him the loyalty that more Peace Democrats than not gave Humphrey at the end of the '68 campaign, McGovern's race could have been competitive.

Instead, the "regulars" decided that humiliating the doves and the liberals was more important than ridding the country of Nixon. We see where THAT decision led the party and the country.

A unified party can elect anybody if it is willing to do so.

And the party insiders could help Kucinich, and themselves, starting now, by declaring that they will work with full energy and commitment for ANYBODY that gets nominated.

[pocoloco]

3. Kucinich has a better chanceof being elected than Clinton,

Kerry, or Edwards.

[jefferson_dem]

7. Oh, please. There's absolutely ZERO evidence supporting that claim.

n/t

[Jim Sagle]

12. Pure hogwash!

[jwirr]

18. Name recognition?

[fujiyama]

19. Then why has Kucinich not ran for governor or senator

and won?

I'm really skeptical of someone's ability to win multiple states, when they have yet to win a statewide election...

[nam78_two]

4. The media has a lot to do with it

I so despise those "pundit" shows, where a collection of people sit around telling other people what they should think.

Opinions about political candidates get circulated by some of the opinion makers in this country and soon they get parrotted.

Now, I am sure a lot of people legitimately liked Obama's speech at the 2004 convention, but how many people were repeatedly told by the media how "amazing he was", how "charismatic" he is, what an "amazingly American story" his is and then jumped on the bandwagon :shrug:? We can be very suggestible creatures especially on issues we pay only half attention to and in this country politics is very much something that lots of people only pay modest attention to.
This is only an anecdote, but I watched the convention with a couple of my friends and they didn't seem particularly moved by Obama's speech at the time it was on and didn't even comment on it, but later after all the articles went on and on about what a stunning speech the young senator from Illinois delivered, hey presto they were on board :-0!

How many conclusions do we come to on our own in these types of matters and how many are planted ya know? There has to be a study out there somewhere.......

I think Kucinich would make a great president-don't think its ever gonna happen though.

[Jcrowley]

10. So let's look at one issue

that rates high on folks radar across the nation and across political boundaries. Health Care.

Kucinich's well-articulated position on single payer universal health care resonates and reflects the national consensus on this. Now how many people have really had the opportunity to fully hear Kucininch lay this out? Why is he not featured on Meet The Press et al on a consistent basis to flesh out his viewpoints on this issue (and others).

Now this is not only a problem of the media but who decides who gets on the shows on a regular basis? Simply by keeping a candidate off the monitor/airwaves he/she is marginalized, disappeared if you will.

For Kucinich to make a dent he is going to have to go on a long candidacy with extensive assistance from the grassroots who become his volunteer PR machine.

[nam78_two]

11. Getting on the airwaves is only one step

If he is allowed on air and this is followed by a collection of consistent attacks -see they don't even have to be vicious ones-just patronizing patter about how he will turn this country into communist Russia or something like that, it would probably make his chances worse.


And that gets to the crux of the problem-this industry of people in the media whose only job is to: a) simplify any issue to a collection of mindless slogans and b) aggressively tell other people not precisely what they should think even, so much as what they are thinking. These parasites perform no function in society IMO.

When I watch those old debates between say Buckley and Chomsky I realize how much political discourse has been dumbed down in this country. Its disgraceful-the presidential election is really pretty close to American Idol now, with candidates being estimated based on "heartwarming personal stories" and "charisma" rather than a record of doing anything worthwhile, having detailed and sound policies on issues, experience etc.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Honesty ,integrity,no allegiance to special interest ,or a machine

a person with a pure desire to represent the average citizen.

[OwnedByFerrets]

6. The answer to your initial question..........

an admitted atheist will not get elected to a major positon. Land of the free indeed:puke:

[petronius]

8. In most cases, I think those who are branded "unelectable" get that way by the

deliberate and orchestrated repetition of that label loudly and often...

[AtomicKitten]

9. when you support somebody else

[UTUSN]

13. Somebody who "doesn't read the room"

Doesn't read the room, has a poor grasp of his own talent or of the political climate.

* Is OUT OF TOUCH on many levels.

* Cannot communicate. Basic extroverted, theatrical skills: Smiling, conveying sincerity, ability to TALK, shine, use humor, positivity.

* Today, not being loved by the t.v. camera.

* Not being able to pick/screen solid staff and advisors.

* Just being OUT OF TOUCH on whatever level.

[mykpart]

14. Maybe it's like pornography.

Nobody can define it, but you know it when you see it. Who would've thought in 1933 that a man in a wheelchair could be elected President?

[loyalsister]

15. I just think of it as a label

tossed around by paid and amateur pundits.
If we were to think of qualities in terms of personal assessments of strengths and weaknesses and simply report influencing biases.
There might not be any such thing.

[LWolf]

16. Not enough strings attached to TPTB. n/t

[loyalsister]

17. dupe

sry