Where's my Stetson Kennedy?

The following is a set of lyrics written by Woody Guthrie in 1952 (from this album).

I done spent my last three cents
Mailing my letter to the President
Didn't make a show, I didn't make a dent
So I'm swinging over to this independent gent

Stetson Kennedy
Writing his name in
Stetson Kennedy
Writing his name in

I can't win out to save my soul
Long as Smathers-Dupont's got me in the hole
Them war profit boys are squawking and balking
That's what's got me out here walking and talking

Knocking on doors and windows
Wake up and run down election morning
And scribble in Stetson Kennedy
I ain't the world's best writer, ain't the world's best speller
But when I believe in something I'm the loudest yeller
If we fix it so you can't make no money on war
Well we'll all forget what we was killing folks for

We'll find us a peace job equal and free
We'll dump Smathers-Dupont in a salty sea
Well, this makes Stetson Kennedy the man for me

I’ve been playing this song a lot on my guitar and I’ve been kicking around a way to make it accurate (it’s already relevant) to today.
It’s pretty obvious that Bush-Cheney is Smathers-Dupont, they’re the war profit boys that need to get dumped in a salty sea.
But who is Stetson Kennedy?
Is there an Independent gent that I can believe in like Guthrie believes in Kennedy? Is it possible to have such belief in a politician anymore? Are we too cynical? Is the system too corrupt?

I believed in Kucinich during the primary. I didn’t, however, believe he had a chance of winning. Curious. I wonder where I drew that line between believing in him as a person and believing in his viability as a candidate. And I wonder why I drew that line.

I expect this is the point where people say in the comments: “Why? Because he couldn’t win, stupid! He didn’t have a chance.”

And I suppose that’s why I drew the line. But I guess I need to stop thinking that I believed in him, because obviously I didn’t.

But! I want to find somebody to believe in. I think the left needs a Stetson Kennedy. A candidate we can lift to our shoulders and parade around; an independent gent we can believe in as a person and a candidate.

I don’t think belief is dead. I don’t think we’re too cynical or the system too corrupt. Whatever he is, regardless of how he got there, George W. Bush has been president for 6 years. A lot of (insane) people believed in him during the 2000 primaries when, next to McCain, he looked like a damn developmentally-disabled monkey.

And, it’s not like the left doesn’t believe in people. Most of the blogosphere is practically falling at the feet of Stephen Colbert ‘cuz of his White House Correspondents dinner speech. Read the comments from the Colbert posts at crooks and liars, we’re just DYING for someone to believe in.

What I’m saying is, let’s find that person, let’s believe in that person, and let’s make them President regardless of what ANYONE else says.

‘Get us a peace job, equal and free
And dump the wingnuts in a salty sea’