When I first heard that Democratic Candidate Dennis Kucinich wanted GOP Candidate Ron Paul as his running mate, I expected an out-of-context quote to be given undue prominence. However this is not the case. Cleveland Plain Dealer has recent audio of Kucinich clearly expressing his wish to an audience of seventy people for Ron Paul to be his running mate.

This may not be of great consequence, since either candidate has little chance of winning. But it does indicate a severe error of judgement on the part of Kucinich. Ron Paul is one of the most socially conservative members of Congress, as well as a darling of the far-right, from conspiracy theory entrepreneur Alex Jones to the white supremacist Stormfront website.

Kucinich's like of the "good doctor" is emblematic of a wider misinformed attitude on the left. Ron Paul has been lauded by many on the US left as the "good Republican" who is anti-war and anti-PATRIOT Act. These two platform positions mask a frightening agenda of far-right lunacy, as mentioned in a June 2007 article at Daily Kos.

This story also illustrates that Dennis Kucinich may be not what he is cracked-up to be. Kucinich's infatuation with new age woo, and pseudoscientific nonsense like "chemtrails" make it difficult for a sceptic to take him seriously as as an administrator or a legislator. It can be argued that Ron Paul is the woo "yang" is Kucinich's "yin", given Ron Paul's own wooish reputation for global warming denial and creationism.

procrastinate later's blog | 8 comments