Failure of the Day: Politics

I took the 33 bus yesterday and noted the John Kerry volunteers on the corner of 18th and Castro. I thought to myself, Gee, that seems largely unnecessary.

On the north corner of Haight and Ashbury, there was another Kerry ironing board brigade. On the south corner, there was a little group of Dennis Kucinich supporters holding up signs and marching in a little circle around their ironing board (OK, not really, but metaphorically, it’s an apt description). They were generally making a ruckus and trying to draw attention away from the Kerry people.

Now look, I am totally behind the whole, “it’s an election, not a coronation” thing. But you know who gets to say that? Edwards. Does Dennis Kucinich really think that if the media stopped hyping Kerry, he (Kucinich) would actually win something? Here is a great lose/lose: If he answers Yes to that question, he is delusional, and if he answers No, he is willfully wasting my time.

But really, here’s the thing: 18th and Castro? Haight and Ashbury? Are there any two street corners on the Earth less in need of political persuasion to vote for the guy on the left? Was the lobby of the DNC already covered then? Are there no other street corners they could have gone to where they might have done more good, perhaps one in Concord or Benicia? Was there no better way to spend that political energy than preaching to the goddamn converted? Man!