Cleveland Corporate Media vs. Kucinich

Posted by David Swanson, After Downing Street at 11:28 AM on February 26, 2008.

Cleveland, Ohio's corporate media has passionately opposed the progressive populist efforts of Dennis Kucinich for decades. This week marks the climax of its most ferocious crusade to remove him from Congress.

Unable to be confident of motivating enough Democrats to vote against Kucinich in Tuesday's primary, Clear Channel right wing radio station WTAM (these guys http://www.wtam.com/pages/personalities/#newsstaff ) is openly encouraging Republicans to participate in the Democratic primary and vote against Kucinich.

My advice to such infiltrators is to take care or they may get stuck with a Republican nominee who believes the world is more than 6,000 years old. Don't risk it, folks. Vote for Huckabee!

Of course, leading the charge against Kucinich is the Cleveland Pain Dealer. Oops, I mean Plain Dealer. Having savaged Kucinich for years in reports and editorial for, among other things, failing to raise more money, the Pain Dealer attacks him in its latest anti-Kucinich editorial (the third in the past week) for having raised too much money: http://tinyurl.com/yv46uv

Here's the headline: "Editorial: Kucinich's far-flung fans fatten his finances"

Here's the text:

"Dennis Kucinich can't plead poverty anymore. Since posting an Internet video warning that 'corporate interests are converging on Cleveland to knock me out of Congress,' Kucinich has raised $700,000 to defend his hold on the underrepresented people of the 10th District. Not surprisingly, most of his biggest donors live in other people's districts. Other people's states, in fact. Maybe viewed from Newton, Mass., or Hanapepe, Hawaii, Kucinich looks pretty good. Maybe when you see Cleveland only during playoff games, it seems just fine. But people like spiritualist Marianne Williamson of Nipomo, Calif., really ought to try living here. Then maybe they might understand why a lot of the people who are actively investing in Northeast Ohio's future have also given money to challenger Joe Cimperman. They're not out to silence Kucinich. They just want someone in Washington willing to help push a very big rock up a very steep hill."

The Pain Dealer fails to note that Cimperman himself doesn't live in the district he is seeking to represent, and says nothing about the corporate sources of his massive funding. But Kucinich has for six terms represented the people of his district and city and state better than just about any other group of constituents is represented in Washington. And he has done something else that every member of Congress is supposed to do: he has represented the people of the United States of America.

This past Tuesday morning, in the rain, in front of the U.S. Capitol, Kucinich took time off from campaigning in Cleveland and from his busy schedule on the Hill to join a handful of New York Congress Members in an event that no other representative from outside New York attended. Gathered on the Capitol lawn were hundreds of 9-11 rescue workers suffering from health problems dating from that toxic day, heroes lacking affordable health care. These people risked their lives for others and suffer every day for having done so.

Every district in this nation would vote to give these people health care for life. Many in Congress cheer for them and support the occupation of foreign nations in their name. But only Dennis Kucinich showed up, spoke, encouraged, and committed to holding the city of New York accountable through committee investigations. The people of Cleveland should be proud. The people of America should be proud.

AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.

Tagged as: media, ohio, kucinich, clear channel

David Swanson is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com.