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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=undisclosed-recipients:
href="mailto:undisclosed-recipients:">undisclosed-recipients:</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 19, 2010 6:25 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Kucinich and the Media-The Meaning of the Cave In
</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial color=black size=2><BR><BR>
<DIV style="CLEAR: both"><SPAN class=style2><FONT face=Verdana
color=#990000>March 18, 2010</FONT></SPAN>
<H1 align=left><EM><FONT size=+1>The Meaning of the Cave In </FONT></EM></H1>
<H1><FONT color=#990000 size=+2>Kucinich and the Media </FONT></H1>
<DIV><FONT size=+1>By DAVID SWANSON </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana><FONT color=#990000 size=+3>W</FONT><SPAN
class=style12>hen I worked for Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign in 2003,
he routinely won the most applause at debates but was minimized or entirely left
out of the next day's stories in the corporate media. This meant that peace, and
fair trade, and single-payer healthcare were left out too. At one debate at the
University of New Hampshire, Kucinich pushed back.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=style12>Ted Koppel of ABC opened the debate with questions about
endorsements. The second round of questions was about standing in the polls. The
third was about the campaigns' bank accounts. One had to wonder when, if ever,
the debate would touch on, you know, what the candidates intended to do if
elected. Kucinich cut Koppel off, saying:</DIV>
<DIV class=style12>"I want the American people to see where media takes politics
in this country. We start talking about endorsements, now we're talking about
polls and then talking about money. When you do that you don't have to talk
about what's important to the American people."</DIV>
<DIV class=style12>The applause for this was so intense that the other
candidates on the stage started joining in the media bashing. Kucinich had
briefly changed the narrative from a horse race to a demand for decent political
reporting. </DIV>
<DIV class=style12>That's what he should have done on Wednesday when he flipped
to support a disastrous health insurance bill. Rather than talking about the
legitimacy of the presidency, Kucinich should have talked about the illegitimacy
of the current narrative in the corporate media. </DIV>
<DIV class=style12>The major corporate news outlets, and all the smaller outlets
that follow their lead, and all the partisan outlets that obey the White House,
have created a false story that was clearly turning Kucinich's own constituents
against him. According to this story, of the dozens of Democrats and over a
hundred Republicans not committed to voting for the insurance corporation
bailout bill, only Kucinich's vote mattered, so the blame would go to him if it
failed, just as Ralph Nader alone was blamed for Al Gore losing the election
that Gore won in Florida in 2000.</DIV>
<DIV class=style12>Kucinich was to be blamed for denying people healthcare by
opposing a bill that makes the healthcare system worse. Now he'll be credited
with helping to provide people with healthcare, even though he's done the
opposite. I think he gave in to the power of a false narrative, and that he
ought to have said so. When Kucinich fought with us for impeachment, and John
Conyers refused to act, Conyers admitted that his greatest fear was of media
hostility. When Kucinich pushes to end wars, other congress members tell us they
cannot afford to challenge media nonsense about "supporting the troops." The
corporate media now run our government, and need to be called out.</DIV>
<DIV class=style12>I don't think Kucinich flipped because of money, either
direct "contributions" or money through the Democratic Party. I think, on the
contrary, he hurt himself financially by letting down his supporters across the
country. I don't think he caved into the power of party or presidency directly.
I don't think they threatened to back a challenger or strip his subcommittee
chair or block his bills, although all of that might have followed. I think the
corporate media has instilled in people the idea that presidents should make
laws and that the current president is trying to make a law that can reasonably
be called "healthcare reform" or at least "health insurance reform." </DIV>
<DIV class=style12>I don't excuse Kucinich flipping his vote. I just want to
find the right explanation for it. There may be many factors I'm unaware of. But
I have no doubt that with real freedom of the press in this country it wouldn't
have happened. This sad incident is not an argument for ending the two-party
system. That argument has been made overwhelmingly for many years. We must end
that system. Nor is this an argument for campaign finance reform, although we
won't survive long without that either. Nor is this an argument to give up on
Dennis Kucinich, since we would clearly have a dramatically better Congress if
we had 10 others as good as him. Kucinich's cave in is most clearly an argument
for media reform and for progressive investment in truly independent
media.</DIV>
<DIV class=style12><FONT
face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><STRONG>David Swanson</STRONG> is
the author of <EM><A
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583228888/counterpunchmaga">Daybreak:
Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union</A></EM> by
Seven Stories Press. He can be reached at: <A
href="mailto:david@davidswanson.org">david@davidswanson.org</A></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT><br />--
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