Dennis Kucinich Is a Very Silly Person

[kpete]

Dennis Kucinich, in an interview with the Boston Globe
"Everything I said back then was right today.”
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/primarysource...

Dennis Kucinich Is a Very Silly Person

We all know this to be true. He's very very silly. His silliness has nothing to do with whether he's right or wrong. I don't know if he's really been right about everything, but he's certainly been right about more important stuff in recent years than most of the people on Tim Russert's rolodex. Still, he's a phenomenally silly person, so silly that when he's covered in the media there's tangible eye rolling by the reporters in the copy.

Since his silliness doesn't have much to do with his judgment on important things, it's worth exploring why he's so silly. As we know, you can be wrong about absolutely everything and still be a Very Serious Person Who Is Not Silly At All. Still, poor Dennis. He's very very silly.

He's silly because he talks outside the bounds of acceptable discourse which have been established by The Serious People. He doesn't try to work within these clear boundaries, but instead steps outside of them.

Howard Dean was also branded a very silly person by the Wise Old Men of Washington. He had the temerity to suggest crazy things which were not supposed to be said - the Iraq war was a bad idea, the capture of Saddam Hussein wouldn't make us safer, etc... etc...

http://atrios.blogspot.com/

[Fovea]

1. And we may have to form

the very silly party, to restore governance by adults.

[nannah]

25. the root word for silly is selig; it means blessed or wise;

it was used as an endearment; somehow there is an eerie essence of truth in calling kucinich "silly".

[eridani]

54. Cool! Do you have a reference for that? n/t

[Codeine]

63. Here's the etymology of "silly."

SILLY - O.E. gesælig "happy" (related to sæl "happiness"), from W.Gmc. *sæligas (cf. O.N. sæll "happy," Goth. sels "good, kindhearted," O.S. salig, M.Du. salich, O.H.G. salig, Ger. selig "blessed, happy, blissful"), from PIE base *sel- "happy" (cf. Gk. hilaros "gay, cheerful," L. solari "to comfort," salvus "whole, safe"). The word's considerable sense development moved from "blessed" to "pious," to "innocent" (1200), to "harmless," to "pitiable" (c.1280), to "weak" (c.1300), to "feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish" (1576). Further tendency toward "stunned, dazed as by a blow" (1886) in knocked silly, etc. Silly season in journalism slang is from 1861 (August and September, when newspapers compensate for a lack of hard news by filling up with trivial stories). Silly Putty trademark claims use from July 1949.

[nannah]

100. thanks. great information you silly pain killer

somewhere in the history of the word selig is also the meaning wise. i used to do a training for hospice in which i encouraged care givers and family to "be silly", to include humor and laughter in their interaction with someone who is ill and dying. coincidently, codeine, a dose of laughter yields measurable pain relief to someone in chronic pain.

[puebloknot]

37. Where can I apply for membership?

What a silly idea! The very idea makes me dizzy with silliness!

[burrowowl]

38. Count me in! eom

[Cha]

40. Silly as in freakin'

"genius"! We'll form the Genius Party!

[Ken Burch]

72. And then, of course, to try and stop us, the DLC will nominate

Slightly Silly candidates that will receive no votes at all.

[Lowell]

2. This is a very silly post n/t

[exlrrp]

70. No, it's a very stupid post!

Ive been trying to read the original atrios post as anything but stupid and keep coming up with it as stupid.
kucinich is in no way silly--he's been right all along as the writer plays so coyly around. What we have here is atrios beeing too enamored with his own snarkiness and cleverness, doing a reverse snark that we're supposed to figure out. Kucinich is silly----NOT!! Thanks for the brainfart, atrios.
And what it loks like is more reinforcement that Kucinich and other anti war types are "silly." Don't read between the lines, just read the lines.
I hate posts where the point is sompletely opposite to whats being said. We see this here and on daily kos in posts, like "I love Bush" and then when we click on the post we see inside "NOT!!"
Do these people think theyre frightfully clever? why don't they say what they really mean? Or is that too hard to write?

[Lowell]

76. My sentiments exactly

I see a lot of the same thing here at DU about Kucinich. I happen to like him and think that if more people would listen to what he has to say rather than what he looks like they might find him to be refreshingly honest.

[exlrrp]

79. Wish I voted for him instead of Kerry!!

I won't make that stupid mistake again. He was right all along.
Atrios is full of it, or his own precious self

[Lowell]

84. Kerry took the Primaries unfortunately

Unless we come up with someone better he'll get my vote this time. I do think bot Gore and Kerry have improved over the past couple years, but Dennis has been consistent all along.

[michaelwb]

89. You're missing the point.

Atrios is NOT being serious, he is mocking the MEDIA for NOT treating Dennis seriously. It's is a satirical piece on Atrios' part.

Any careful reading catches that quite quickly.

I'm sick of people here attacking good progressive folks, because of their own inability to actually understand satire.

Like the folks who miss the point again and again here about Colbert.

[Ian_rd]

101. Irony is often a very effective way to make a point

And I think Atrios used it quite well in that little post of his. Without irony we wouldn't have some of the most eloquent criticisms of our government including half of the Daily Show and all of Stephen Colbert.

[NNN0LHI]

3. I will never forget the hit job Tweety did on him before the 04 elections n/t

[Judi Lynn]

81. I saw it, too. There's NOTHING he can ever do to atone for that vicious, vicious

treatment. NOTHING. I have never felt so much disgust and hatred for anyone on tv in my entire life.

He had him on recently, and I couldn't bring myself to listen long enough to see if he tried to treat him with the respect due a human being. Chris is one vile, sadistic "man."

[King Coal]

86. I'll never forget that, either. John Lennon was silly too. So am I.

[LSK]

4. K&R

This is an awesome post.

It amazes me that so many talking heads have been discredited, debunked or caught flat out lying and they keep getting invited back on TV shows as "experts".

And yet people like Kucinich and Dean are labeled as looney nutcases who are silly and they have been dead on correct about everything.

What an upside down world we live in today.

[The Wizard]

98. You want to know what's silly

and tragically insane? (answers own question) Look at who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A dangerous moran is the most powerful man on Earth.
AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[Taxloss]

5. Really good piece.

Rec'd.

[malaise]

6. I love these silly men n/t

[rock]

7. The Bureau of Silly Walks would disagree n/t

[KamaAina]

34. Has the Ministry been downgraded to a mere Bureau, then?

Egads! Will that Bush toady Blair stop at nothing?!

[Greeby]

8. So silly in fact

That he has a hot, smart British wife who is nearly a third his age

[Taxloss]

17. Kucinich: "Silly" AND Anglophile.

It gets better and better.

Can't he get British nationality and sort out Labour? We'll take him if the Democrats won't.

[bobbolink]

31. Now *there's* an idea! Maybe that's why he married Elizabeth?

[nealmhughes]

52. Isn't Glenda Jackson doing that already?

[eridani]

55. More like half his age

60 and 28 are the relevant numbers here.

[Sugar Smack]

9. Silly Howard Dean and his scream...

I was mesmerized. I screamed right along with him. Love that man.

[AndyTiedye]

10. Didn't Dean and Kucinich both have the "Silliest" Idea of All?

BREAK UP THE MEDIA CONGLOMERATES

[cyclezealot]

92. Can you imagine the benefit to the AMerican people if only

Dennis Kucinich and Howard Dean could terminate our silly, silly press.

[Annces]

11. Maybe we should make him minister of silly walks

and keep electing megalomaniacs.

[Czolgosz]

12. I think I have a crush on you

[MannyGoldstein]

13. He's Not 'Electable'

Don't ya know?

[femrap]

14. Peace is Silly.

War is Good.

[ThomCat]

15. He's a Cassandra.

He's right, but never taken seriously.

[mikelgb]

16. Come On DU

let's support a REAL candidate in 08

[ThomCat]

69. The the reason he could not be a Real Candidate is?

[followthemoney]

18. His ears are too big and he's not much of a clothes horse.

How could he be elected as emperor, to serve the interests of the empire?

Of course, if this were a republic he could serve the interests of the public very well.

Alas, we can be either an empire or a republic and the decision has already been made by generations past. Our forefathers have committed us to be dis-empowered collaborators with empire and until someone of this or some future generation reads the Declaration of Independence and understands it, we will be dominated by pretenders to power.

[StrictlyRockers]

19. I am in love with this man.

In a completely non-gay, heterosexual way.

No, really.


Maybe if he was taller... No, wait! What am I saying?!

[eridani]

57. We're talking about a 5000 year old form of social organization--

--which probably needs to end before it ends us. It may or may not be possible.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/eridani/5
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/eridani/6
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/eridani/7

[ArtistFromMars]

105. Of course, if this were a republic he could serve the interests of the public very well.

I agree with you followthemoney. Follow the Money we must.....

....that's why I absolutely refuse to vote for anyone BUT Dennis Kucinich for President.

Any candidate running for President that is taking Corporate Money for their campaign will be corrupt by default (no matter how well-intentioned they think they are or appear to be), IMHO.
We have to ask ourselves the question:
Do we want our President to continue to be held accountable to the Corporate Fascists that have taken over our country or do we want a President who will be held accountable to We the People?

[porphyrian]

20. We need more silly people in charge. The serious people are only fucking things up. - n/t

[we can do it]

45. Silly You - Get Serious

[porphyrian]

94. I don't think I can. I keep having silly ideas I believe in, like these other people. - n/t

[Beam Me Up]

21. We all know, by comparison, how UN-SILLY *W* is

What with those BIG BLACK BOOTS WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL SEAL ON THEM, not to mention the twentygallon all-poke-no-cow boy hat; and lets not forget that Texas drawl w/ the Princeton inflections and that most SERIOUS OF SERIOUS chimp-in-the-headlights expression




The very serious Mr. Bush:

[BeFree]

22. W is not silly at all....

he is seriously fucked up.

If we weren't all silly we would go insane, like W.

[mwooldri]

96. And here's me thinking W's a monster raving loony....

... the Monster Raving Loony Party had silly ideas but they made some sense. W makes the MRLP look like a serious political force.



Mark

[we can do it]

23. I Am Also Silly, I Believe We Can End the War, I Believe We Can Count the Votes

I believe all People are equal, I believe we can slow global warming, I believe we all should have universal health care, I believe in alternate fuels, I believe in fair wages for all......silly me.

[mdmc]

24. silly!

[we can do it]

29. Let's Start A Silly Revolution

[Beam Me Up]

35. I'll Silly That!

[we can do it]

44. In Silly We Trust

[mdmc]

83. Silly this

[helderheid]

26. Silly you. Silly me. Rediculously silly!!

[StrictlyRockers]

27. Silly passivists

Silly silly silly

non-violence is so silly

[NoPasaran]

33. Passivism

The silliest idea of them all.

[we can do it]

30. Here's To All the Silly People - Peace, Love & Silliness

I love being silly!

[RandomKoolzip]

28. Dennis Kucinich is NOT silly, but supporting his candidacy IS.

Dennis is a great guy with lots of wonderful ideas, but I'm saying that because I'm much more politically left than the rest of America. The rest of America would NEVER vote for Dennis.

Sure it sucks, but the candidate for 08 has to be able to win great swaths of the populace and sway centrists (I'll put it in terms that DU can understand: "selling out.")

[ooglymoogly]

43. thats why we have primaries...if he gets enough votes the party will

be forced to take notice

[we can do it]

47. Silly Us - Supporting A Silly Little Man Who Cares About People

Of course, silly little ole me will support whoever we nominate in '08 - whether they be silly or not.

[bvar22]

48. Here IS The Center of America!

Where is "The Center"?
Here is what the MAJORITY of Americans (Democrats AND Republicans) want from OUR government!

In recent polls by the Pew Research Group, the Opinion Research Corporation, the Wall Street Journal, and CBS News, the American majority has made clear how it feels. Look at how the majority feels about some of the issues that you'd think would be gospel to a real Democratic Party:

1. 65 percent (of ALL Americans, Democrats AND Republicans) say the government should guarantee health insurance for everyone -- even if it means raising taxes.

2. 86 percent favor raising the minimum wage (including 79 percent of selfdescribed "social conservatives").

3. 60 percent favor repealing either all of Bush's tax cuts or at least those cuts that went to the rich.

4. 66 percent would reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

5. 77 percent believe the country should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment.

6. 87 percent think big oil corporations are gouging consumers, and 80 percent (including 76 percent of Republicans) would support a windfall profits tax on the oil giants if the revenues went for more research on alternative fuels.

7. 69 percent agree that corporate offshoring of jobs is bad for the U.S. economy (78 percent of "disaffected" voters think this), and only 22% believe offshoring is good because "it keeps costs down."


http://alternet.org/wiretap/29788 /

8. Over 63% oppose the War on the Iraqi People.

9. 92% of ALL Americans support TRANSPARENT, VERIFIABLE elections!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Sounds like DK to me.


Beware of Democrats selling "Affordable HealthCare". It is not.

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[we can do it]

49. Now That's Really Silly - Sensible Ideas To Make America Better for All

[KoKo]

67. One of those surveys to PIN to the Fridge Door....just to remind ourselves

everytime the DC/NY Pundits try to push "Their Agenda" on us. Like they are trying to push Hillary/Obama down our throats before they tear them apart.

Thanks for posting the reminder.

[tomp]

78. exactly!

there's no reason in the world for dk not to be electable (except all the meme-repeaters)

[kenfrequed]

88. And this...

...Is the perfect answer to those that claim a patient is "too liberal" "too unrealistic" or yes, even "too silly."

[helderheid]

59. PTHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I'm in the middle (my temporary blonde moment)

[StrictlyRockers]

62. Never seen your picture, helderheid.

For a second I thought you might be the hot English wife that is about a third his age.

[helderheid]

71. BLUSH

[kenfrequed]

93. Grrr

This is the kind of thinking that accomplishes a little short term gain but ultimately loses everything we stand for.

If your driving in the ditch you really can't put one road up in the gravel on the side of the road and then celebrate that as a victory in automotive operation.

[LWolf]

32. And it's ridiculously silly to expect his party to support him,

just because of a silly little detail like being "right" about current events and issues.

[Son Of Spy]

36. I saw Dennis speak

I saw Dennis speak in the winter before the 04 elections.

Travelled for three hours to another state to catch his lecture.

He put down his notes and spoke for forty-five minutes with his eyes closed.

The man has charisma enough to cause an aircraft carrier to float in midair.

I've been hopelessy silly ever since...

In fact I find myself getting sillier and sillier as time goes on.

[Disturbed]

39. Right after Howard Dean said that he would break up the

Corp. Media Conglomerate he was sabotaged by that Corp Media. The same is happening to Kucinich.

[ooglymoogly]

42. they cant handle the silly truth nt

[KoKo]

68. I saw John Kerry, John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich speak and Kucinich

was the best of the three for dealing with issues in an informative and sincere way during the 2004 Campaign...after Dean went down. I only heard dean on TV but heard the others in person.

Kucinich is a good person with good ideas. And, comes off much better in person than the "image" one sees on TV.

If we lived in a different time when Media Image and Corporate America pushing charisma didn't matter....Kucinich might be President, imho. Of course in another age he would have still had to deal with the "BIG MONEY and OLD GUARD" who always took control of candidates. But, if it was left up to "the people" who heard him speak he would win.

[ooglymoogly]

41. yes indeed he is such a zilly zeitgeist

[rosesaylavee]

46. S.I.L.L.Y.

Savvy, Intelligent & Learned Leaders of Yahoos

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yahoos

Yahoos <(yah-hoohz)>

The crude, dirty “brutes” of the land of the Houyhnhnms in Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift. The Yahoos are irrational people and represent the worst side of humanity.

I chose yahoos because of the 'Y' of course but after reading the definition, have to say it seems more than appropriate unfortunately.

Anyone else have a suggestion for the acronym SILLY?

[lovuian]

50. Kucinich is Brilliant Compassionate Great AMERICAN

and a Hunk

[Donald Ian Rankin]

51. Dennis Kucinich is unelectable, but he performs a very valuable function for America.

It's always far harder for a politician at one extreme of the spectrum of opinion represented by politicians to win an election than for someone who can "triangulate".

Kucinich will never win an election himself, and I suspect he knows this, but by presenting himself as a candidate he makes it possible for canditates further left to win than would otherwise be the case.

That doesn't justify supporting him, though - his victory in the presidential primary would be a catastrophe. But we should be grateful to him for running even so.

[G_j]

58. he already has won a few elections btw

"Kucinich will never win an election himself.."


& IMO calling people "unelectable" is a self fulfilling ah.. prophesy.

[wiley]

60. In the battleground state of Ohio, for God's Sake! Now that's SILLY.

[pberq]

75. unelectable???? "extreme end of the spectrum"???

See post #48.

The REAL Center of America is right with Dennis.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

77. Put not your faith in push-polls.

What people say they want in single-issue polls, and what they will actually vote for, are very, very different.

[pberq]

97. Actually, it has more to do with how the MSM presents the

candidates. I think the point of this thread is that Kucinich is marginalized by the corporate -owned media, not by the fact that his policies are out of step with the majority of Americans.

[Ian_rd]

103. This is totally correct

The only reason people consider Kucinich "unelectable" is because that's what the MSM has told them to think. Kucinich's policy positions are indeed in-step with most Americans, and of course he has the benefit of being proven right on pretty much everything since 2000. But this doesn't stop the media from covering him as if they're covering a clown at a kid's party. "There goes Kucinich again! Haha! Such a fringe unelectable goofball! Back to you, Ted."

This is because the MSM regularly takes is cues on what to report and how to report it based on opinions from political machine operatives who are always on their phones and pundit shows, like the Ken Mehlmans and Rahm Emanuels who both represent interests (corporate) who see no benefit in allowing Kucinich to have a fair hearing.

Unfortunately, however, this may mean in the end that he is, in fact, unelectable because of the forces promoting the idea in the MSM. This I believe is a perfect example of the media actively shaping public opinion instead of reflecting it.

[dad]

102. I call bullshit

GW Bush is at one extreme of the political spectrum

[eridani]

53. Permalink

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_12_24_atrios_archive.ht...

[AikidoSoul]

56. I put "Bush is silly" in Google.com and got 346 replies ...none of

them -- on the first few pages at least -- were about his father.

When I put "Kucinich is silly" in Google I got zero hits. Apparently the word is not out about Kucinich being silly....maybe we should keep it a secret.

But when I put "Bush is a liar" into GOOGLE I got 92,000 hits. Kucinich got zero.

"Kucinich has been right" -- only shows up 8 times... in the Huffington Post, Daily KOS, and Dem Underground.

"Bush has been right" shows up 965 times...mostly people saying how the war in Iraq was such a good idea.

Oh well.

That reminds me of that great front page newspaper headline -- it went something like, "how could 50,000,000 people be so stupid?" or something like that.

If they were silly instead of stupid -- this country would be GREAT again!

[Land Shark]

61. He was so silly, he thought via HR6200 that presidential ballots should

be counted in the open, with public observation (and THEREFORE on physical paper ballots).

IMAGINE a guy, a Congressman at that, who does not wish FOR HIS OWN RE-eLECTION to have his votes counted in secret on electronic voting machines and actually wants the public to be able to supervise the election vote counting and verify the result for themselves. What does Kucinich think this country is, a representative democracy?

Next Kucinich will probably introduce some real anti-corruption measures with more than just "teethiness" and then the corrupt bozos running the media will really call him "silly" -- silly for taking representative democracy seriously???

[Catfight]

64. This article is silly and stupid. I couldn't read beyond the first paragraph

because anyone who uses 'very very' as a writer of serious content knows, they won't be taken seriously.

[Land Shark]

66. You mean like the Washington Post and Boston Globe?

You say that all "serious" writers avoid using "very very" so you couldn't take this article seriously?

How about:
Dana Milbank: Washington Post: Senators so Very Very Not Contrary Toward Gates
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

Senior Democratic Senators? "Very, very pleased," added soon-to-be-chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

The Boston Globe? "Not necessarily the best in class in any one area, but very, very good overall." http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?a...

24,900 Google News Hits on "very very" as a search

But especially when an article is intended to be ironic and sarcastic, and the thought is attributed to others, the use of "very very" could well be justified, as it is in this case.

[hippywife]

65. Then I am silly, too.

Silly to believe that people will ever see what needs to be done to bring about peace.

[still_one]

73. I wonder if the familes of soldiers in Iraq think Dennis is silly? /nt

fortunately, he will be the only presidential candidate that will keep the others honest. The so-called MSM better cover him and what he says, but most important the OTHER Democratic candidates better NOT ignore him

[Canuckistanian]

74. Permalink for Atrios post

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_12_24_atrios_archive.ht...

[Catchawave]

80. I'll join the silly revolution!

I'd rather my candidates be silly than stupid

I love Dennis, he's an amazing speaker and will keep the rest of the Dem field honest about the war.

[Beelzebud]

82. Kucinich is one of the few with the courage to challenge this illegal war.

[sleepingdog]

85. Hearing Dennis on TV

....is truly refreshing. I love every word the guy utters. Sadly, there's a Perot-vian aire about him that you have to confess, will keep him from ever being mainstream. He'd get my vote in a heartbeat, but sadly, I'll never get the chance to give it to him.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

87. And he's so "silly" that the establishment Democrats

feel compelled to trash him at every turn.

They're trying to have it both ways.

If he's irrelevant and unelectable, why spend so much time making snide remarks about him?

If he's relevant and electable, why not support him?

[lilypad_567]

90. how dennis found elizabeth

How Kucinich Found Love, by Evelyn Theiss
Published Sunday, October 30, 2005 by the Cleveland Plain Dealer

On May 4, Elizabeth Harper walked with her boss into Dennis Kucinich's Capitol Hill office for a meeting and immediately noticed three things. In the reception area, she saw a visiting nun in white robes. In his inner office sat a shelf bearing an illustration depicting "light consciousness" and a bust of Gandhi. She studied the lean and intense congressman and felt an attraction. "Now this is an interesting man," she thought.

Dennis had also closely observed Elizabeth, a statuesque Englishwoman with waist-length red hair. "I saw her eyes go to the light consciousness picture, then to the Gandhi bust, then to me," he says. "It was like one, two, three. That's when I knew."

Within an hour, he called his friend, actress Mimi Kennedy, best known for playing Dharma's mother on "Dharma & Greg." "I met her," Dennis said. Kennedy knew exactly what he meant. She gave a little yelp of joy.

http://kucinich.us/node/1194

[cyclezealot]

91. I am more than eager to join the silly, silly club.

Thinking inside the box is not only profundly stupid and wrong; but , taking the world to the brink. Thank god we have those who will dare challenge those who demand restraint in order to protect their special interests.

[guyton]

95. my kids tell me that ...

I'm the silliest person they know. And after reading this thread, it sounds like Kucinich is the best candidate for me!

Silliness over insanity any day

[nolabels]

99. Words can also function as descriptors but not really describe

Many see the Coral snake as one of the prettier snakes (color coordinated and all that) but it's infamous for being poisonous not it's beauty. Get a clue already, evasion of issues is the first order of business when others need to confuse and deceive. Humor has a way of making it okay to focus on issues without having the need in solving them. Dennis is silly because he wants solve complex issues that others think they can avoid.

If being silly is how to solve the puzzle sign me up too


http://www.everwonder.com/david/snakes/coralsnake.html

[mdmc]

104. Silly