nail in the coffin

I liked Dennis Kucinich, I really did. But I'm done with him. He's progressive, but not progressive on women's rights. Apparently the "workers," "people" and "human rights" he promotes are for men only.

First, I found out he hosted a fundraiser with notorious misogynist & pornographer Larry Flynt at Hustler Headquarters. Flynt, let's be clear, isn't just a pornographer. He's a purveyor of sexism and racism. To wit:


"Rape and domestic violence jokes are a recurring theme in Hustler cartoons. One cartoon depicts a billboard where the text reads: "If you have been raped or would like to be raped, call RAPE LINE 555-7675." Another shows a middle-aged white man wearing bright red boxing gloves. He is punching a naked woman's breasts. She is screaming, with her hands tied up behind her head. The caption reads: "Every good fighter started out slappin' one of these around."

This is Kucinich's pal?


THEN, I find out he's got a no-holds-barred anti-choice voting record. I'm not talking just anti-abortion - he's anti-contraception. Here's his comment on it:

"I haven't been a leader on this," Kucinich said. "These are issues I would not have chosen to bring up."

Oh, okay then. We'll just talk about what YOU want to talk about? Uh uh. I don't think so. As Pollitt notes, "That a solidly anti-choice politician could become a standard- bearer for progressivism, the subject of hagiographic profiles in The Nation and elsewhere, speaks volumes about the low priority of women's rights to the self-described economic left, forever chasing the white male working-class vote."

So, Dennis Kucinich: You are a grave disappointment to me. You proved to me that the left is still as misogynist as the right. That even lefty men don't think women are human. That "human rights" don't include "women's rights." I will no longer be voting for you in the primary.

*Props to Blamers gentaggard & Bird for the links.