The torture continues for this Kucinich supporter....

[cryofan]

Right from the git-go first paragraph of this news story about Dennis Kucinich's campaign, let's see if we can spot how Dennis manages to make himself out weird and eccentric for the media yet again:


FAIRFIELD, Iowa — The smell of incense and cinnamon hangs in the air during a reception for Dennis J. Kucinich at a country mansion outside this "meditation community," a town of 9,500 and the home base of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Natural Law Party.

Yeah, this paragraph is really gonna get Dennis a lot of support and interest. Hey, Dennis, a big clue here from one of your donors and supporters: do not show up to any more campaign functions if the word "yogi" is associated in any way with said function. Get it? "Yogi" is a Boo-Boo!

Now, I am an atheist myself, but this happens to be an overwhelmingly CHRISTIAN country, Dennis. Better you should go to a church in a town where some big corporation just outsourced a bunch of jobs and tell us all (and the media) about your proposed laws to punish said corporation. I ain't exactly James Carville here, but I figger my politicking has got yours beat all to heck.

A little more torture, if you please, maestro.....



The Ohio congressman traverses the state in a humbling maroon Ford Windstar minivan, dwarfed both physically and symbolically by the luxurious tour buses used by his bigwig Democratic rivals Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
....



Gee, I wonder why....



Mr. Dean's young followers tend to wear Burberry and J. Crew attire. Mr. Kucinich carries an earnest, earthy gaggle of kids who, like Mr. Hutchison, don Army jackets and jeans and frayed sneakers.


No surprise there.....

.....


"There are a number of groups who have come to me to talk about supporting my candidacy," he says. "And I am looking to build a big tent. And inside that tent we will have three, four, five rings. There will be plenty of room for everybody in this tent."



Oh, I expect there will be plenty of room in the tent, all right....not exactly "standing room only," right now.....


more here:
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040114-113844-3797r.htm

[liberalmuse]

1. The article is crap.

and chock full of stereotypes. I'm so tired of this type of 'journalism'. I don't give a crap what so-and-so's supporters are wearing, or what he drives, or burns. How about the issues? What does so-and-so stand for? This is torture, but it isn't Kucinich's fault. We have a media full of numbskulls in this country.

[Nadienne]

2. Media full of numbskulls...

If Kucinich gets a good showing in Iowa, they will be forced to take him seriously. Or maybe they already take him seriously - hence their present numbskullery...

[Township75]

4. I agree both with you and the original poster...

I too could give a crap less about what he is driving in or if he doesn't eat meat, and so forth. The piss poor media in this country, unfortunately, is entirely dedicated to entertainment, so the pictures and descriptions of the unusual most become the story...and the real story must be set aside.


With that said, Dennis does need to learn what reality is, whether it is unjust or not, and reality is that his message will not be heard when the primary messenger is the US entertainment driven media...so long as he campaigns like the above.

EK is not getting my support anytime soon, but he is getting shafted in his campaign; most of which is not his fault, but he could do more for damage control or prevention. I sure would like DK to preach about how he won't drive a gas guzzling tour bus, rather he will drive his minivan, because it is fuel efficient or he doesn't have the money for a tour bus because he will follow the campaign finance laws, or other things he does that are in line with his politics. Maybe that would help his campaign more, but that message isn't getting out.

[Logansquare]

23. Amen--our "journalists" thrive on stereotypes

They need to keep 'em straight though--I thought Dean supporters wore Birkenstocks and drove Volvos; I don't remember Burberry and J. Crew being mentioned earlier.

What's truly sad is that an adult who presumably has a journalism degree and has seen a little of the world could actually be freaked out by smelling incense.

[WilliamPitt]

3. Well, I'm going to be in that Windstar all weekend

I promise to be more fair than this reporter.

[cryofan]

6. But Dennis is not being fair to himself or to his supporters by ...

.....by letting the reporters play him like this, by letting them paint him into a corner, by letting them stereotype him, he is cheating both himself and more importantly his supporters. And he is depriving the American people of a populist progressive when he allies himself with, or allows himself to be associated with, causes or factions or lifestyles that are commonly perceived as eccentric, weird, outre, bizarre, quirky, etc.

Once in a while is OK, but when you do it time and time again, you LET the media portray you this way. This ain't rocket science. Is he DELIBERATELY taking a dive?! I could not imagine a better way to marginalize myself as a frigging presidential candidate (!) with a major newspaper than to visit a function associated with a freaking yogi...while the damn reporter is riding with me!

Now, it would not be that bad if one of the other candidates did that...once or twice. But DK has already been stereotyped as such....and then HE GOES AND DOES IT AGAIN....on the eve of the damn Iowa caucus! WTF!?

[OhioStateProgressive]

8. hold on a sec

Dennis is an Ohioan politician, a state with a HUGE natural law party

I vote NLP statewide alot

Dennis campaigns to different groups of people, yes, i would rather hear him rail on about class and blue collar jobs, but don't let one newspaper force you to prejudge

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Natural Law Party huge in Ohio?

Their candidate for President got a whopping 0.1% of the vote in 2000.

http://www.evote.com/elections2000/results/NewStates/OH.asp

They must be enormous.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[goodhue]

17. www.ohionlp.org

Well I think enormous is somewhat hyperbolic but they are an organized presence in Ohio (although not as huge as they are in Iowa).

http://www.ohionlp.org/

[Freddie Stubbs]

24. They don't appear to be very orgainized

It doens't look like their website has been updated in a few months.

[goodhue]

25. statewide ballot access in 96 & 00

It's all relative but that ain't nothing. But why do you care?

http://www.ohionlp.org/

The Natural Law Party of Ohio is recognized as the state-level organization of the National Natural Law Party of the United States. The platform, bylaws, delegates, and an executive committee are patterned from the National organization.

The Ohio NLP has achieved statewide ballot access in 1996 and in 2000 with 31 candidates. Annual conventions and regular executive committee meetings are held.

[WilliamPitt]

10. If Dennis walked on water, raised the dead and evidenced stigmata,

the Washington Times would still play the role of the Pharisee, because that is what they do.

[cryofan]

11. OK....but you don't make it EASY for them! --eom

[Freddie Stubbs]

14. He's not running to win

He knows he can't win. I'm not going to speculate here as to his reasons for running, but becoming the Democratic nominee for President certainly isn't one of them.

[bearfartinthewoods]

16. i remember an interview on one of the major newsees when DK

wasted two minutes...about 40% of the interview talking about the power of channeled thought. i wanted to just jump into the TV and shake him....grrrrr..

[iowapeacechief]

20. It's not always the Windstar

I've driven about 2,000 miles for DJK, sometimes with him, other times with supporters.

That's me in the other plaid shirt at friendlywork.com/stormlake.jpeg (8/19/03 Storm Lake, Iowa).

[Clark4VotingRights]

34. Thank you Will. DK is a great man. In a sane country...

His greatness would be recognized, not ridiculed.

[justinpower]

5. Dont blame DK for the media coverage

The Natural Law Party is a viable third party and he was just reaching out to his supporters. When you run your campaign based on truth and honesty you need to speak to your voter base, even if they are Yogis.

[cryofan]

7. But I AM blaming Dennis for this coverage...

....I would not stick my hand in front of an angry rattlesnake. Would you? Why does Dennis let himself be portrayed in this manner? Is he ignorant of the ways of the media? Doesn't he KNOW what is going to happen if he goes to such a function while riding with a reporter from a large newspaper? Is he an innocent naif? Are his top level campaign staff innocent naifs?

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

12. what do you expect him to do?

Look what they did to him at the debates - at least he had a chance to talk back. This is the way the media has been marginalizing him from the beginning - first they ignore you, then they mock you, etc. There's not a whole lot Dennis can do about this.

I certainly understand your frustration though - Kucinich has the best platform for jobs and the economy, and all the Corporate Media will tell us about is the incense at the parties.

What did you expect the Corporate Media to do, be fair?

[cryofan]

22. Here is what I expect him to do, and not do...

...When a reporter for a large newspaper tells you he wants to ride with you on the trail, you DON'T schedulethe reporter to ride with you when you attend functions that may allow the reporter to portray you in a negative light. If you have (through some unbelievably poor sense of political calculus) scheduled some campaign function at some New Age outfit run by a yogi, you ask the reporter to ride with you some OTHER day.

For example, you may want to schedule a meeting with laid-off employees at a church; hopefully, the employees were laid off due to globalization. THAT is when you want the reporters riding with you, and NOT when you attend yogi functions. Not unless you want 2% of the polls and to be the butt of Late Night TV talk host monologue jokes...and Dennis seems to have those aspects covered nicely....

[eridani]

36. Why do you 'let' your employer withold taxes?

[newyawker99]

30. Hi justinpower!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[poskonig]

9. This is the Washington Times.

Of course they're going to paint DK as a weirdo.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. and fortunately, very few people

outside of wingnuts read the Washington Times.

I doubt that your average Iowa voters has even heard of it.

[cryofan]

19. they are in the top 100...

http://www.freep.com/jobspage/links/top100.htm.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

37. Interesting link..

Thanks for posting it!

[Padraig18]

21. I agree with you, cryofan.

This is one reason that 'mainstream Democrats' are not rushing to DK's campaign; let's face it--- just or unjust--- 95% of America views any group surrounding a yogi as 'weird'. I don't make the rules, but I know what the rules are. Stuff like this only confirms most people's impression of DK as a 'fringe-left candidate'.

:shrug:

[Iverson]

26. deciphering the propaganda

This article is kind of ridiculous, and I am considering using it in the classroom as an exercise in bad argumentation.

Here's how I read it:

"Kucinich's own crusade"
- the title. It uses "crusade," an emotionally laden term that connotes religious extremism.

"The smell of incense and cinnamon hangs in the air ... Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Natural Law Party."
- subtext: Kucinich is a damned hippie.

"The Ohio congressman traverses the state in a humbling maroon Ford Windstar minivan, dwarfed both physically and symbolically by ..."
- subtext: His transportation, like his person, is smaller than some of the other candidates and therefore not the stuff of a winner. Pay no attention to his ideas."

""Oh, he'll never win the Democratic nomination," says one elderly woman to her friend as she slips off her shoes to enter the Fairfield event, mandatory behavior among the crystals-and-hugs New Age set. "But I have to vote for him to follow my heart.""
- The first testimonial frames his candidacy in terms of loss and his supporters in terms of eccentricity.

"Mr. Kucinich, 57, is a one-man outpost against even his own party, a faux Gandhi-like purveyor of peace, medicinal pot and alternative medicine."
- subtext: Kucinich is both extreme and phony.

"Close up on the campaign trail, the 5-foot-6-inch, 135-pound candidate is not nearly as comic-book humorous ..."
subtext: Don't forget that he's short! He's also frivolous, as opposed to sensible.

"But his platform ... primarily draws the adoration of the disenfranchised, which bodes poorly for advancing his political status."
- subtext: He sides with unimportant people instead of with the powerful and is therefore a loser. Are you supporting a loser? If so, you may be unimportant!

"His earthy vibe and iconoclast stature lures many third-party adherents as well as those nonvoters ..."
subtext: He is flaky (earthy vibe) outside of the mainstream, and therefore his ideas must be too.

"...says Ralph Hutchison, a 24-year-old volunteer who was shipped into Iowa from Cleveland to do some door-knocking."
subtext: He can't get support in Iowa.

"Mr. Dean's young followers tend to wear Burberry and J. Crew attire. Mr. Kucinich carries an earnest, earthy gaggle of kids who, like Mr. Hutchison, don Army jackets and jeans and frayed sneakers."
subtext: His followers are sloppy (earthy) types with whom you wouldn't want to be seen, in contrast with the front-runner's nice and neat supporters. (n.b.- This also embeds a divide-and-conquer strategy by stirring up resentment between candidates' supporters.)

"But the man who likely won't be president insists he is not solely the alternative choice."
subtext: Not only is he a loser, he is alsointerchangeable with other losers.

""I'm a mainstream kind of guy, too," says Mr. Kucinich, ..."
subtext: Since he needs to point it out, he must be unappealing to the mainstream.

"Nationally, things look even more dismal.:
subtext: His case is hopeless.

OK, there's more, but I'm starting to get tired, and you get the idea.


ê

[goodhue]

27. excellent analysis

thanks for deconstructing this
luckily not very many democrats let alone iowa democrats read the washington times

[no name no slogan]

28. Or if they do read the MoonieTimes, they don't take it seriously

All the lefties I know who read the MoonieTimes read it for the same reason they read the Weekly World News-- the entertainment value.

That POS isn't even worth the paper it's printed on. Even the "legitimate" mainstream press considers it a huge joke, considering it doesn't even make a profit, and has to be propped up by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's money to even stay in print.

Citing an article from the WashTimes is about as credible as citing a post from FreeRepublic, and carries about as much weight.

:nuke:

[ShaneGR]

29. He's running to raise money for a Senatorial race in 2006.

Unfortunately he'll never get out of the primary. Outside of Cleveland, he doesn't have strong Ohio Dem support. Not that he has no support, just not a lot. Heck, he lost his own caucas on Monday.

[no name no slogan]

35. No, he was DRAFTED by thousands to run for PRESIDENT

He ran for president because of the thousands of messages he received after giving his "Prayer for America" speech in February 2002. The letters and emails he received urged him to run for president, not for US Senate.

And what do you mean he lost his own caucus? Did Ohio have its caucuses already? Are their caucuses non-binding?

Not that it matters or anything, but Gore lost Tennesee in 2000, and McGovern lost South Dakota in 1972. :D

[edzontar]

31. Dennis is a fine man, and does not deserve the mocking...

Sarcastic coverage he is getting.

It pisses me off!!!!

I really love the guy.

I hope he will agree to serve as the first secretary of peace in the Dean Administration.

I am not kidding, either (I can dream, can't I?)

[redqueen]

32. Washington Times?

I am shocked, shocked to see such unfair coverage from them! /sarcasm

You raised good points about picking which trips the reporter will be able to join in on, but other than that, there ain't much Kucinich can do to prevent sold out whores from being sold out whores.

hehehe... Moonie Times... talk about scraping the bottom of the barrell!

[SeveneightyWhoa]

38. The Washington Times is the Drudge/Coulter of newspapers.

Totally right-wing wacko stuff.
If papers like the Washington Times and New York Post print these types of stories, just be thrilled that they're paying attention to you. The people reading this crap will vote for Bush anyway.

[indigo32]

33. I agree Cryofan

you can be true to yourself and still display some awareness of the game, even if the game sucks.
Paul Wellstone won MN because of an absolutely unique and lighthearted advertising campaign and lots of creative grass roots organizing. I've just not seen it in DK's campaign.

[Nicholas_J]

39. Oddly Enough

If you check the daily polls in a number of Iowa Newspapers (the Quad City News ( or Times?) comes to mind, for the last week, Dennis Kucinich has been polling highest among Iowa voters (not caucus goiers, but just plain voters), followed by Kerry).I dont have the links, but I was sent an email on this, and when I went to look at the paper, and the results for the last week, Kucinich has been on top in Iowa in the non-scientific polls in a number of newspapers, as he has been in the polls of several Long Island, New York newspaper polls.

[ByRillYAN]

40. I've mentiond this on another thread.

Kucinich won the Truthout.org poll. 44.5%

[goodhue]

41. NYT too

Follows the lead of the Washinton Times, with a DK story focused on meditation in Fairfield. And they put it in fashion. The NYT reporter assigned to presidential primary Adam Nagourney routinely ignores Dennis. Instead they let Jennifer Lee gets to write fluff pieces that break such news as "not all those who support Mr. Kucinich practice Transcendental Meditation." Well, now we know.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/18/fashion/18IOWA.html?8hpib