Kucinich Renounces "Eyes and Ears"

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = (still) 662 *fingers drumming*

I just checked my inbox, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but this:

A Special Message From Dennis Kucinich Regarding A Recent Campaign Communication

Dear Friends,

Our campaign has arrived at a teachable moment and an opportunity for growth. Yesterday, you received a message from our campaign entitled: "Eyes and Ears: We need your help!" relating to a project which advocated the monitoring of the campaigns of my fellow presidential candidates.

I believe such tactics are spiritually and politically counterproductive, therefore I am asking you to disregard the request. The focus of our campaign has been and must continue to be: What kind of a nation and world do we want to create? The intellectual or emotional focus on any campaign dissipates that creative energy.

The vital organ of this campaign is the heart. This campaign is about transforming politics, not mimicking stale political trends. The other candidates are all fine public servants and long-time friends. I ask that you join me in wishing every one of them well by expressing compassion for all candidates who strive to serve. "Monitoring" projects are inherently pretentious, divisive and mean-spirited and have no place in a campaign which desires to change the world for the better.

When we "track" other candidates, we come from a place of fear which shows that we are off the track of our own objectives. I reserve the right and accept sole responsibility to draw factual comparisons on policy matters. But such comparisons must come from a place of integrity. It is not the job of our campaign to keep other candidates honest. Each candidate must accept responsibility for his or her own integrity.

Let's use this moment to joyously and courageously recommit ourselves to the highest principles which animate our campaign, the imperative of human unity, and saving the planet from global warring and global warming. We have so much work to do. Let us not shift our focus for even one moment from our dedicated efforts to achieve the America and the world we desire.

I am so grateful for your support.

Sincerely,



Dennis J Kucinich

I wholeheartedly commend Dennis Kucinich for this statement. But beyond this being a teachable moment for his campaign, it is also an accountability moment. The next question to be asked is, will Dennis Kucinich identify who in his campaign originated the "Eyes and Ears" project, and who approved it, as well, and will he dismiss them from his campaign? Unless Dennis Kucinich follows through and does this, his disavowal will be proven to be nothing more than empty rhetoric and transparent political posturing after getting caught entangling himself in a public embarrassment.

Verified, Unfortunately

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 662

OK, I must confess that I had been a little nervous that the whole Kucinich Spy Ring story I ran yesterday stemmed from some sort of early April Fool's Day spoof. But, no: the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Kucinich's home town paper, picked up the story and has independently verified the email's authenticity.

I have read comments elsewhere making the point that all the Kucinich campaign is after here is just opposition research, performed at a netroots level, and so there's nothing out of the ordinary, and certainly nothing wrong, with trying to recruit people to help out with that. Fair enough, up to a point. But, honestly, has anyone making even the most cursory rounds of the political blogosphere and mainstream media seen evidence of the other candidates, from the rock stars on down, taking any notice of Dennis Kucinich at all? Does the Kucinich campaign really think it's stuck in Nowhereland due to the contrivance of the other candidates? And if Clinton, or Obama, or Edwards, or any of the other candidates in the Democratic field are up to anything unsavory or unflattering, does Dennis Kuchinich not realize the extent to which they, as *ahem* serious contenders for the White House, are already under nanoscrutiny from the GOP and right-wing media? Wouldn't Dennis Kucinich - and the rest of us - be better served if his campaign concentrated on getting its own message out, instead of worrying about what the other candidates are doing?

The whole thing so reeks of desperation and ineptitude that it is just sad. What an embarrassment to Dennis Kucinich...and honestly, does he need any more of those?