Kucinich on Conservative Radio

Mr. Kucinich is to be commended for appearing on conservative talk-show host's Hugh Hewitt's show for a short interview (audio here). That took some guts. Unfortunately for Dennis, he did not come off very well. That's an understatement, by the way.

In the course of the interview he was unable to explain how to prevent a chaotic Rwanda-type situation following an American withdrawl, unable to name the supreme leader of Iran, and was unable to say anything but "We should talk to them" when asked how he'd confront a leader like Khamenei, among other things. He also flatly stated his faith in the accuracy of the Lancet study that claimed 650,000 Iraqi civilians have died. It's a short interview that does not do justice to the serious topics, however. It would have been nice to hear Dennis answer more questions on his proposed handover process for Iraq and the impact of it.

But beyond the content of Kucinich's words, a more revealing image of his personality emerges when he seemed unwilling to acknowledge that he might not know something. It's understandable he'd be very embarassed to not know who the Ayatollah of Iran is. But he didn't have reason to feel embarassed if he didn't know who the Kuds are. Yet he refused to just say, "No, who are they?" Instead he paused, hemmed, hawed, and got prickly...

HH: Congressman, do you know what the Quds forces are?

DK: (pause) I'm sorry?

HH: Do you...are you aware of the Quds forces?

DK: What are you talking about?

HH: The Quds forces from...they're an arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Are you familiar with them?

DK: (pause) Go ahead.

HH: Are you? Because I don't want to pursue it if you're not.

DK: Well, go ahead. I want to hear what you have to say.

I'd try and blog more in response to this interview, but this interview has left me speechless.