Lawrence Lessing has invited Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich to be a guest blogger on his site. I think this is going to do more harm than good for Kucinich, as he writes as if he’s writing a speech (which makes you wonder if he’s even writing the posts at all — perhaps it’s an aide). For example:

We are now being hoisted on the petard of NAFTA and the WTO. America?s trade policies have been dictated by powerful multinational corporations whose flag is not red white and blue, but green with a dollar sign.

Quick, what’s a petard? Don’t cheat.

It is through such dialogues on democracy that we can fulfill our responsibility to form a more perfect union.

Huh? Perhaps he should have modeled his speech on what Howard Dean wrote when he was a guest blogger:

No matter what the issues are that we as individuals care most about– whether intellectual property, healthy care, the environment ? I believe that the only way we are ever going to come to a real solution on any of these issues is if we all stand together against the special interests in Washington. There are now 33 lobbyists for every member of congress. How do we change that? By working together. One of the amazing things about this campaign is how the Internet has allowed people to meet and work together in common cause. Only by taking an active part in our democracy will we be able to restore a government of, by and for the people.

Sure, it’s still a bit _campaigny_, but it doesn’t sound like he wrote and re-wrote it until it sounded just right.

Posted on 12 August 2003