Emma on Kucinich

Emma at Notes on the Atrocities recently saw Kucinich speak in Portland and expresses her feelings about his slim chances. Snippet:

I don't know if the man has any chance to win the Presidency. But as I was listening to him, I had a thought: revolutions occasionally happen. They arise when the circumstances for the unlikely ripen. By their very nature, they're unlikely--at the front end of revolutions, what they always look like are a bunch of idealists on doomed ventures. But in order for the circumstances for revolutions to happen, you've got to have people willing to give the unlikely a chance.

Watching Kucinich, I saw the doomed idealists. They're so doomed that Kos--a Democratic blogger, not Fox News--won't even consider his candidacy legitimate enough to comment on it. And yet I look at Kucinich's positions, and I think they're actually closer to what most Americans believe than the other Democratic candidates, and certainly the President's. So really, the big problem is that no one wants to stand with the doomed idealists.

Well friends, revolutions are always longshots. So the question is, do you want one?

And here is the comment I left at her post:

Hi. I have to agree with many of your views about Kucinich. However, I disagree that KOSonians are doomed idealists. I don't think they are idealists, but good writers and researchers. I do enjoy reading such blogs and have honed many of my newly-discovered ideals by reading their words. You and I are idealists because we embrace that which is morally and ethically sound, rather than that which is practical and realistic. Practically and realistically speaking, Kucinich has a bat's chance in hell of successfully garnering the Democratic nomination and would otherwise be eaten alive by the Republican juggernaut. However, we will support him to his political death because he represents to us what is good about our country and speaks his mind and acts according to his own convictions, not according to the whims of the largest campaign contributer. He gives us hope where none can otherwise be found, and he seems to be the only candidate who sincerely believes what he says, all of which are reasons he won't succeed in today's corporation-sponsored, wealth-controlled, political state.