A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Dennis Kucinich

  • The left-populist case for Ron Paul?

    This Fall I read Jeff Taylor’s Where Did the Party Go?: William Jennings Bryan, Hubert Humphrey, and the Jeffersonian Legacy, in which he argues that the Democrats have traded a “Jeffersonian” ideology (decentralist, populist, libertarian, and non-interventionist bordering on pacifist) for a “Hamiltonian” one (basically the opposite). Bryan and Humphrey are for Taylor emblematic figures Read more

  • Where’s the anti-war mojo on the Left?

    With all the hype around the Ron Paul candidacy (admittedly still a long shot), I’ve wondered why there hasn’t been a comparable anti-war insurgency on the Left. Why, for instance, hasn’t Dennis Kucinich‘s campaign taken off? Is it that Democratic voters aren’t motivated primarily by the war, or is it that they regard the top Read more

  • Elizabeth Kucinich talks Ron Paul

    As a follow up to the other day’s post, Elizabeth Kucinich praises Ron Paul (via YF). And is Mrs. K a total babe, or what? Wow! Read more

  • Kucinich/Paul in ’08!

    In the – ahem – unlikely event that he secures his party’s nomination, Dennis Kucinich has suggested that – wait for it – Ron Paul might make a good running mate. “I’m thinking about Ron Paul” as a running mate, Kucinich told a crowd of about 70 supporters at a house party here, one of Read more

  • One more presidential candidate selector

    This one has neat graphics showing the candidates’ little heads rise or decline in status as you answer the questions. My top three were (unsurprisingly) Gravel, Paul, and Kucinich. Is it worrisome that the people with whom I agree the most are also the most personally, ahem, eccentric? Read more

  • Vote randomizer

    According to this quiz my candidate is Dennis Kucinich, with whom I apparently agree on 60% of the issues. Of course I was also informed that my answers resulted in a tie between Kucinich and Ron Paul and that the final result was randomly selected. So, in the event that Kucinich and Paul end up Read more

  • The “Progs for Paul” myth redux

    I’ve never bought into the “Progressives for Paul” myth – the idea that there was a burgeoning groundswell of support on the anti-war Left for maverick GOP congressman Ron Paul. Gaius links to this rather silly piece saying that Paul’s “support” on the Left may be shot now that he’s “revealed” his radical small-government views. Read more

  • NYT: Public doesn’t want to hear ideas for universal health care or getting out of Iraq

    A friend of mine sent a link to this excellent post at the American Prospect’s Beat the Press blog, tearing a NY Times op-ed for pronouncing, seemingly without evidence, that “minor” candidates like Rep. Dennis Kucinich should be barred from the presidential debates since no one cares what they have to say. On the contrary, Read more