dennis kucinich in syria: "President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians." and also he seems to take seriously the idea that some of the violence is caused by 'a third party,' maybe theorizing the cia or taking seriously bashar's 'armed gangs' and 'terrorists.' so look: does the american left really love these dictators? do the little disclaimers that come before the condemnation of the us really (barely) cover up a real sympathy with totalitarianism? let's just say it wouldn't be the first time. maybe you weren't too happy with the right's affection for pinochet, or papa doc, or marcos, or somoza. maybe you used that as a stick to beat nixon, or reagan, as well you should have. now would be the time to do better than your opponents.
i'd personally sort the world's leaders into totalitarians and non-totalitarians, and ignore the trivial question of right or left. if your spot on the political spectrum has you defending mass murderers and oppressors such as, let's say, mao, you've just misconceived the whole situation; you're blinded by ideology. you might think john reed vs emma goldman: i'm a leftist, so i love left dictatorships, left executions, left starvation, left total regimes of censorship etc. vs: wait, vladimir. you're doing what?
