DU Kucinich Supporters...Josh Marshall's Reporter David Kurtz Needs to Hear from YOU...

[KoKo]

I've been a reader of Josh's Site since the beginning, and I've always found his Lawyer Poster David Kurtz to be a good read. BUT...this from the site today is straight out of the Karl Rove Playbook (the same one that trashed and spread lies about Al Gore) and Kucinich supporters need to get over there and defend him.

If the Pelosi/Reid/Emanuel/Hoyer and DLC are using this kind of tactics against Dennis then this is the Lowest of the Low...when I didn't think that things could get worse:

Here's whats posted on Josh's Site:


---------------

Kucinich Had A UFO Encounter, According To Friend Shirley MacLaine
By Eric Kleefeld - October 23, 2007, 10:19AM

In Shirley MacLaine's new book, the actress and longtime friend of Dennis Kucinich makes an interesting claim: During a visit to her home in Washington state, Kucinich said he saw a UFO and heard messages from it.

"Dennis found his encounter extremely moving," MacLaine writes. "The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him.

"It hovered, soundless, for 10 minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind."

Kucinich's campaign and Congressional offices did not return calls or e-mails from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

(NOTE: DU KUCINICH SUPPORTERS CAN GO OVER THERE AND POST COMMENTS AT THIS LINK:

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/10/kucinich_had_a_ufo_encounter_according_to_friend_shirley_maclaine.php
-----------------------------------

And THIS which is up on the main TPM site where reporter David Kurtz makes a snarky comment to a TPM READER who is defending Kucinich. You can't reply on this link though...you need to reply on the above link for "Comments."

-----------------------------------



From TPM Reader DF:

If Kucinich actually thinks he's seen a UFO, that is, at some level, "fair game", but consider this - on the scale of rating as prima facie disqualification for holding high office, how does belief that one has encountered an alien spacecraft above Shirley MacLaine's house compare to all the stated beliefs of all the GOP candidates (let alone their top advisers - cough, Norman Podhoretz, cough)? And, how much harm might come to us all if that person got into said office and could then act on those beliefs?

And with that consideration in mind, how appropriate is it for TPM to pile on with all the righty smear-merchants, when Kucinich is one of the few candidates out there consistently uttering the truths that TPM "holds dear"?

One particular point I take exception to - David included the part of the Plain Dealer article with this graf:

"I'm in favor of expanding opportunities for people to have a deeper understanding of the universe. . . . I don't think we could ever discount the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe," he said.

That's a totally non-controversial statement. There are 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe, of which ours is but one; ours, alone, holds 100,000,000,000 star systems, probably averaging more than one planet each; many serious astronomers not only don't "discount" the possibility of other intelligent life, many millions of dollars are being spent searching for radio signals from possible civilizations in other star systems.

So, please, don't participate in a slime that's partly based on Kucinich agreeing with significant numbers of very reality-based scientists.

Getting back to the nub of it - by peddling this unconfirmed (if undenied) report, you are doing us all a grave disservice by reinforcing the meme that Kucinich is a far-out wacko (DFH, even?) and helping to spread the notion that he shouldn't be listened to, when you could, instead, be talking about the substance of his policy ideas and helping to foster the national debate we need regarding where we want to go as a country, and how to get from here to there.

You folks do so much good work - please don't descend to the level of the sloppy, lazy reporting of the conventional media, the countering of which I thought was one of the main motivations for forming TPM in the first place.

(COMMENT FROM TPM REPORTER KURTZ:

I would draw a distinction between assuming there is other life in the universe and thinking it is sending you messages.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/056756.php

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. What an absurd assumption

"I would draw a distinction between assuming there is other life in the universe and thinking it is sending you messages."

The majority of the people on Earth think they are receiving messages from God, Allah, Ya we, the tooth fairy, His supreme holiness the Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc, etc, ad infinitum. Personally, I don't think it is anymore delusional to think you are receiving messages from alien life forms than from any of the above. No pun intended.

[KoKo]

2. kick...if they come against one of us ...they come against all of us...

and YOUR CANDIDATE COULD BE NEXT! This is on Josh Marshall's site...not Rush Limbaugh's.

[OzarkDem]

3. Kucinich is making those in power very nervous lately

His push for impeachment action is generating some of the usual idiotic media backlash.

I'm surprised Josh Marshall would allow this kind of crap on his web site.