The amazing thing is that Kucinich was taken seriously be Democrats for so long. He was actually given equal time in all the debates with the serious candidates - Dean, Kerry, Clark, Lieberman, Edwards, and Gephart. The result was that everyone's message became diluted and primary voters were unable to truly get to know their candidates. It took a Scream to realize the nature of Dean; Edwards smiled away like a grinning idiot talking about his two Americas; Kerry delivered bromide after bromide and mentioned Vietnam over and over. Real candidates with truly nuanced positions like Lieberman were unable to get their message out amidst the din created by Sharpton, Kucinich, and Braun.

In '08, the debates should be limited to the major, serious candidates. Kucinich served as the elf who repeatedly made preposterously bold proposals that no one took seriously.

Nobody likes Lieberman.

As for the Kooch, well, he's hanging out to the lefties who are still loyal Dems. Hopefully, they'll switch to Kerry rather than Ralph.

And the Democratic party, being, well, Democratic, doesn't annoint Kings like some other political organizations that shall remain nameless.

Almost every Kucinich supporter I know (and I know plenty in Austin) voted Nader in 2000. It is essential to keep these guys the Democratic Party.

I never understood why Kucinich was treated like a real candidate but LaRouche is treated like a nutjob. They seem about equally nutty to me.

I love that your "making fun" of Kucinich consists solely of a sympathetic article. You don't have to try to make fun of Kucinich. Just quoting the things he says is much funnier than writing a joke at his expense.

I never understood why Lieberman was/is treated with such disdain by 'asdf' and his/her/its ilk. If Lieberman were on the ticket, I could actually have looked forward to voting this November. Instead, one of the few adults in Washington appears to be treated as a joke by the majority of his party.

Kucinich and Lieberman are nitch candidates--Kucincih, what ever his stupendous faults, happens to be right on the main things , even if he cannot make them sound sensible, not a bad place to be, considering where many are. Lieberman gives a totally uninspiring stump speech--I heard him give a toothpick-propping-the-eyes-open speech in a union hall in 2000. Talk about non charismatic. This man will never be a President if he has to be elected to become one, not even if he is correct in all the stands he has taken in recent years and his opponent was a George W. Bush who had somehow managed to escape being sent to Gitmo because of the number of Americans who have died due to his mismanagement of the US Government and its policies..

Instead, one of the few adults in Washington appears to be treated as a joke by the majority of his party.

I could say the same thing about Bill Weld.

“I never understood why Lieberman was/is treated with such disdain by 'asdf' and his/her/its ilk. If Lieberman were on the ticket, I could actually have looked forward to voting this November. Instead, one of the few adults in Washington appears to be treated as a joke by the majority of his party.”

I also would have voted for Joseph Lieberman. An election of a Jew would give a clear message to the Muslims that it’s time to join the modern world. Lieberman was also the last chance for the Democrat Party to save itself. Instead, it has so far picked, John Kerry, a man who should be held in contempt.

I think Lieberman's problem (other than flip-flopping on some issues as a VP candidate) is that he mostly _is_ and adult, and thus is willing to say clearly that Bush is right at least occasionally, and that any Democratic President would have had to have made similar choices, etc. He doesn't excoriate Bush and therefore is unacceptable to the sandbox containing some of the above commenters.

Kerry is willing (even eager) to castigate Bush to the extreme. This goes over very well with the ABBs, but I'm not sure how it plays to the non-partisan. I could have voted for Lieberman. I can't conceive of voting for Kerry. He's making me long for the days of lyin' AlGore, the sucking black hole of charisma, who at least had a few opinions that the stuck to.

Kerry's campaign slogan seems to boil down to: "I'm not Bush. Anything he's for I'm against (unless you want me to be for it). Here are my principled stands, subject to change without prior notice."