Posted 3:46 PM by Floyd

Lawrence Lessig continues his presidential blog-hosting stint. This week he plays host to Dennis Kucinich.

My early reaction (Kucinich has posted twice) is that Kucinich is a better blogger than Lessig's first guest, Howard Dean. Kucinich presents detailed proposals; Dean's writing was vague. Kucinich is friendly and engaged, whereas Dean came across as distant. Even the photo is better.

Of course these are minor issues. Let's not lose sight of the important data: Kucinich is nuts. This, is, after all, the guy whose reaction to 9/11 was to propose the creation of a Department of Peace. An example from today's posting:

Yesterday, Rob asked several questions:

1) It is almost certain that you will be working with a Republican-controlled Congress at least initially during your tenure. Given that, do you believe it likely that you will be able to get the Congress to pass bills authorizing programs for national health care, withdrawal from NAFTA and WTO, reversal of the Bush tax cuts (which will probably be permanent by then), and dealing with other hot-button issues that the Republicans have been so steadfastly against. You can’t just declare these things by executive order; and I don’t see how you can get such “radical liberal” programs passed. That makes many of your 10 key issues non-starters.

My nomination will set the stage for a Democratic Congress. In 1932, when president Franklin Roosevelt was nominated, he ran on a platform of broad economic reform, which excited people to come out in vote in their own enlightened self-interest. As a result, FDR led a Democratic sweep, which resulted in a pickup of 90 House seats and 13 Senate seats. This was accomplished because he represented profound change. He represented jobs, he represented rebuilding America, he represented a hope for popular control over predatory corporations. My nomination will reverse the results of the 1994 election when the Democrats were unable to regain the House and lost the Senate principally because the parties’ ties to corporate interests muted the differences between the parties and discouraged the Democratic base. My nomination will excite the Democratic base, will broaden the reach of the party, and will engage third party activists to join us in a mighty effort to reclaim our government.

Kucinich's posts have attracted a fair number of comments, though fewer than Dean's. As was the case with Dean, the discussions drifted away from the candidate into a left-vs.-right/libertarian flamefest. Doing his best to help this process along was bomb-thrower Richard Bennett:

However, holders of broadcast licenses have specific responsibilities to the public. It is the public which owns the airwaves. The public provides a license in exchange for service.

It would be a good idea to try and get up-to-speed on technology. Over 85% of Americans now get their TV programs from cable or DBS, so the issue of public ownership of airwaves and government control of content is irrelevant to all but Marxists.

It would behoove you to check out Bennett's blog. He's smart, witty, a good polemicist, and an A's fan!

Anyway, enough posting for now. Time for me to get back to choosing fonts for a living.