Oh, Shit. This IS What Democracy Looks Like.

A part of Glenn's point is well-taken; it is crazier, in a philosophical, categorical sense, to believe that the President is some kind of absolute monarch with the power to launch wars of conquest and assassinate his own citizens and so on, but down here in the phenomenal world in which objects and actions must be judged, alas, by their actual attributes alone, the Gulfstream Media is factually and, uh, actually correct: wherefore there ain't never gonna be a motherfucking Department of Peace, therefore Dennis Kucinich wuz nuts.  Sanity and insanity aren't really absolute values, are they?  I mean, they're positional; they stand relative to the times in which they are uttered in judgment.  Or, like, dude: the human condition is insanity, and sanity consists simply of those insane sentiments which, because they are sufficiently widely shared, appear normal.  I don't know; point is: all the things that Glenn says are crazy, the wars and killings and endless so-called failed policies, are not crazy because they are so goddamned real; they have all been prestodigitated by thousands of years of state-backed, taxpayer-funded avarice from sick delusion into total normalcy.  What's crazy is thinking you can unscramble those eggs and put that BOOM back into the stick of dynamite.

On the question of Grand-Slam's larger impact, Glenn seems to be of the opinion that he is a molar, ingrown, subtly undermining the rest of those mean chompers:

For one, enacting legislation is not the only way to have an important impact on our political culture. Shining light on otherwise-ignored issues, advocating rarely-heard political positions, using one’s platform to highlight the corruption of those in power and to challenge their warped belief systems are all vitally important functions. Advocacy of that sort may not produce immediate, tangible successes, but it is a prerequisite for changing prevailing political mores and persuading citizens to think differently.

I have a hypothesis that the word citizen is, for many minds, a safety word; what was whipping along at a fine pace comes to a swift and sudden halt, lest it do any actual damage.  Is this what Dennis Kucinich was doing?  See, here, well, um, I have long been under the impression that what Dennis Kucinich was doing was providing a reliably quote-unquote liberal outlier, a lonely tentpole on the far, far side of the bombing range where the Democratic party pitches its big tent, around which the sort of folks who overpay for yoga instruction and carry their own bags to the grocery store could crowd, having convinced themselves that its slender shadow is the shade.  A few paces to its left is a single, well-occupied dining room chair, upon which rest all of Ron Paul's supporters; it's their seat at the table, get it?  Look, people within institutions serve institutional functions, whether the like it or not, whether they know it or not.  Does Dennis Kucinich help you to continue to believe that you are an, oh, god, citizen?  That by speaking out you are "changing prevailing political mores"?  Maybe all isn't lost . . . maybe . . . maybe I ought to continue to participate . . . it may not produce any immediate, tangible successes, but, given time . . . attitudes change . . . people change . . .

And this is how you end up reliably offering your consent to one or other gang of murdering psychopaths.  So who's crazy, here, the murdering psychopaths, or the fella who keeps handing them the keys to the gun cabinet?  The old saw about the real definition of insanity is the truth: it consists of the endless repetition of the same action with the expectation of a different result.  If the Democratic party can contain a Kucinich, it must be less evil than the evil rethuglican menace, right?  If the Republicans have a Ron Paul, they must be at least somewhat, marginally more committed to some kind of reasonable limits on the reach and scope of the federal government, right?  No, wrong, wrong!  If a fucking candy bar contains real coconut, that does not make it a fruit; if you fruits drink enough Miller Ultra Lite, you will still get fat.