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Pro-Kucinich Stalinists? Yes, they are that out of touch.

I recently attended an exhibition entitled "Voices of Dissent" at one of Houston's top-ranked artistic venues. (My excuse: a close friend was doing the A/V portion of a performance in the main hall. My actual purpose: opposition research, of course.) Two tables right next to each other mirrored your observations at the protest in DC: at one, Kucinich for President; at the other, Communists of the most vile stripe, featuring literature idolizing Stalin and Mao. I say "idolizing" instead of "defending" because they acknowledge nothing for which their heroes would need to apologize.

I picked up some Kucinich literature and read of his program. In short, free stuff for everyone, and no mention whatsoever of how it gets paid for. So much for that.

What really got me going, though, were the real Reds. Part of my exchange with the Maoist follows.

"How many deaths would you attribute to the policies of Mao Tse-tung?" I asked.

She answered, "I don't think you can even ask that question, because..."

I gently interrupted, "No, if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I can definitely ask that question, and that's the one I asked. Would you care to answer it?"

She offered, "Where else but in Mao's China could the People gather together and openly criticize and call for the removal of their leaders?", evidently confusing a purge with some sort of New England town meeting. She further bobbed and weaved, but in exasperation at her inability to deter me from the subject, she finally admitted to: "None." That's right: the number of dead from Mao's policies comes to zero.

"That's no better than Holocaust denial," I told her and added that this demonstrated that she had no more credibility than if she were wearing a swastika armband. Sensing that I was a running dog lackey of fascist reactionaries, she gave up and sat back down, exchanging a glance with the Stalinist that seemed to ask, "What can you do with such people?"

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