Dennis Kucinich: Who Are These People?

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 01:41 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ-LNeLxOrE   Posted on YouTube: June 09, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 10, 2009 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 11239

 
C-SPAN - 9 June 2009: Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaks on the floor of the house.

"It's good our administration is reaching out to the muslim world. It's bad to spend another $100 billion to keep wars going which will kill innocent muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's good we try to create an incentive for people to buy efficient cars. It's bad that the car vouchers will not be expressly for the purpose of purchase of cars made in American. It's even worse that we tie such an incentive to a war funding bill. Cash for clunkers and bunkers in the same bill. Cash for more war... Meanwhile back in the U.S. of A., factories and auto dealers are closing, people are losing their businesses, their jobs, their homes, their health care, their investments, their retirement security. Who are these people who keep coming up with these innovative ideas to keep wars going and to move jobs out of America. Who are these people?"

[defendandprotect]

1. They are BRIBED legislators . . .

we have to STOP campaign finance BRIBERY . . .

[Mind_your_head]

2. "Who are these 'people' "???? Indeed!! n/t

[KoKo]

80. One might go further and ask "Who ARE THESE SCAM/SCUM who CORRUPT US?"

and then one might go futher and ask: "WHY ARE THEY STILL OUT THERE? In Powerful Government Posts, filling the THINK TANKS and the MAINSTREAM MEDIA (PRINT & CABLES/NETWORKS)

WHY ARE THEY STILL OUT THERE? IT has ALL FAILED? :shrug:

How can this BE?

[emilyg]

3. k/r

These are people we trusted. Sad.

[Alameda]

4. Yes, who are these people. I love Kucinich!

[Peregrine Took]

33. Me, too. The world would be a better place if he was president. n/t

[suzie]

47. Since he has no interest whatsoever in becoming President,

we're all lucky that he has no shot at it either.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

54. Why would you say that? DK is good man, he would never bailout corporations

without taking care of us first.

[earth mom]

56. Who the hell are YOU to say that?!

If you aren't part of the solution YOU are part of the problem.

[SammyWinstonJack]

60. Yes because we are so much better off with 'HOPE' and 'CHANGE'.

:eyes:

[suzie]

69. Sotomayor vs. Alito.

Unless the Supreme Court doesn't count. You run an unelectable candidate, you let the other side get to choose their permanent majority for the next 30 years.

[Mind_your_head]

84. suzie downer

:thumbsdown:

[suzie]

94. I read the comments by the Kucinich devotees every day.

Obama can do nothing correct, because he's not Dennis.

Gore would have done nothing correct because he was not Dennis. Oh wait, he wouldn't have gone along with the right-wing and destroyed women's reproductive rights as Dennis would have.

But, Gore is a DLC, corporatist, unlike the all-impressive Dennis Kucinich.

A downer--perhaps if looking at reality is downing.

[glitch]

5. K & R for a damn good question that I wish more in government and media asked. nt

[empire we are]

6. Who are these people?

The Wealth controllers. In statistical talk, the top tenth of one percent.
The greedy.

[burning rain]

10. lulz. uz 2 weird 2 uz dat phraze, dennis.

God bless his weird ass; he's usually on the money, as here.

[Raster]

46. This country will never be all it can be while that top tenth of one percent control our destiny.

lobbying = institutionalized bribery
lobbyists = accomplices to the crime

[RandomThoughts]

7. I think on that also.

Who are these people, who makes these decisions.

And the answer I found was really surprising.

They are not people that want to hurt people, or want war, or want poverty. They are people that are motivated by things like money, ego, ideas of self supremacy, that claim a right to rule, or think they are better then others.

They could be a secretary in an office, a car salesmen in a lot, or a CEO in a office. Their combining unifying factor is what they think is most important. In that they form a network of common ideology. One that will hurt oneself to further that ideology, because the thoughts of profit or self are first.

Its very interesting, because a person that wants to own what a rich person owns actually does the same thing. If you want to be rich, or you want to take from a rich person, you do no different then the rich person that wants to take more for themselves. Since just like the poor person believes they should have moderate existence, the rich thinks they should have it all. In each persons mind they justify having more then they currently have, and that creates a struggle to take from somewhere else.

So I try to think of the problem outside of groups, but in a more simple fact, if manufacturing is moved over seas, then the problem is their is not enough demand. Quite simply if there was more demand then their would be a factory in both places.

So the fix to the problem is to make demand, not only by better wages, but also by actually lowering world wide production capability by providing schooling for children, time for families to spend together, and ways for unions to negotiate lower hour work weeks, by requiring pollution standards, and retooling for more ecology smart cars. But this has to be done everywhere or that money motive will just make the old systems exist.

It is amazing how simple that thought is, if you could just make demand and production equalize, then the world would have complete employment. But that is the opposite of old school capitalism that always wants more production cheaper and more effective. An idea that lost value when production outstripped demand around 200 years ago. Now increase in production just puts people out of work, since we already have to much production for the amount of demand.

There was a big attempt to solve this with consumerism, but this was a stop gap that just wasted what production existed by moving it to things like buying things people don't need. It seems better if we create demand by moving into new areas, and by removing people from work force by service projects and education, and even supporting arts and music.

But this will always be tried to be crushed by the most productive being cheaper in money to buy something. Money itself is trying to drive people into unemployment, it is trying to raise productivity and lower demand, thereby lowering production as fewer places need to operate.

It seems pretty simple, it is our distribution systems that are flawed.

When you think about it, the entire financial system, insurance system, and many other sectors really are their just for people to have a way to work, and still get the items actually produced by that small percent that make everything people use or need. Some of the sprawl and complexity of many sectors are just for 'demand' manufacturing, so moving paper around becomes a reason to work, even though many times it doesn't do anything accept lower production by increasing productivity as people find cheeper labor or better returns. And since increase productivity lowers demand as fewer people work.

There is almost a comical humor to it, a slave labor force working 100 hours a week, would be more productive, but would lower demand and hurt the overall society. But 30 hour work that is less productive puts more people to work, and produces the same amount of goods, but the money is spread around to more people, so more people buy things, leading to more demand, and then even more employment. But at any time, someone can step in with money first and break the whole thing by competing it into oblivion, and again 40% work, and yet they still support the 60% that now do not work, because the 40% wanted to be in a system of 100 hour work week.

Its all a mind set, for example, why people put up with foreclosures is insane, literally they are allowing people to tell them they can't live there because someone who created money says the house is theirs. Its all insane, but it is a system. And if people say the system will change then the system has no power, because it really has no power except that people think it is the only way it can be.

The whole ideas of the system are supported by the system, things like contracts or laws, made legal by the people they help, enforced by people that like them, and followed because we are told that is the way it is. It is how the world has been enslaved by the few. Because they know that as long as they can tell people it has to be that way, then they can rule. And maybe that's ok, since people let them, who knows, but it is funny how ridiculous it is to increase production just to lower demand and rid yourself of need for production.

Even trade is a way to add demand, every time you ship something you have to hire someone to ship it, it literally is this big demand creation for transportation sector. Their is not an increase in productivity by trade, raw materials shipped from USA to china, assembled into furniture, and shipped back to USA. How is that more productive? it is not. It is based on one factor money first and people in developing companies work for less money. But it has a side effect of some demand creation in moving the goods.

People are slaves to money first, I think someone said it was the root of all evil, because it drives everything to worse situations. And then it rewards those that advocate it the most ruthlessly by giving itself to them first. Hired mercenaries of money.

Pink Floyd Money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl6NfQyNLto

Some of you might be calling me labels, but the simple truth is we created a world system that plays to our weakest and worst tendencies. Then when ever someone tries to fix things a bit by challenging that ideology, they are attacked as being bad. When the system that attacks them defends greed, envy, selfishness, and suffering if it makes profit.

That is also why thinking and free flow of information is so opposed by that system, it will lead to a better world.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. Excellent post---should be an OP

:thumbsup:

One way we can exert our power is by patronizing locally produced food, small stores (if the lure of paying a bit less hasn't sent everyone to WalMart in your area), and resisting the "bigger is better" mentality.

[bobshin]

35. Second that!- great post.

If there was such a vision communicated on a wider level more people would take on that vision. It's putting it all together to make it easier for others to understand thinking so differently that is the first step. You've done it well.

[Robeson]

37. Thoughtful post...

...enjoyed reading it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

42. excellent post.

[DemReadingDU]

61. Very Good, thank you!

[earcandle]

8. They are our keepers. Lets face it, we are heading for third world status and pandemics and nobody

gives a fuck.

How do we stop it?

How do we stop it?

Hell if I know, I am just one woman screaming silently in
written word. 

[slipslidingaway]

9. knr - they also tied the minimum wage increase to a war supplemental

not sure whether or not that is how it finally passed.

[winyanstaz]

11. They are traitors.

We are in such big trouble and once again it is Dennis trying to stand up for us.
Thank you sir for all you do for America and for all of us.

[bdamomma]

31. we need to stand up beside Dennis.

Dennis always an advocate for the people.

[farmboxer]

12. Kucinich for President!!!

He would stand up for "We the people" for a change. America the Plutocracy is sick!

[NorthCarolina]

22. I wish, but the media wouldn't allow it and people would immediately buy into

their "He's unelectable and he see's UFO's" crapola. Kucinich was my hope for the future at the beginning of the primaries last season, but of course plagued by no media coverage other than ridicule, and an electorate that cannot see the truth past what Fox and other corporate media intetests tell them doomed his chances from the get go.

[HillbillyBob]

97. The media is what killed his campaign

he said he saw something he could not identify..it was Shirley McLean that wrote in one of her books that it was flyin saucers or some shit.
I voted for him in the primaries too.
I have seen things I could not identify too..over a nuke testin site way back when.
That does not make me crazy. What I think is crazy is believing in some vengeful skygawd that is going to send you to hell for bein a homo, or that Rapture crap.
We NEED to get the corpse lobbies and campaign bribe system out of our government.
I have been sayin that since runnyraygun. This 'war on drugs' has created another bureaucracy that lobbies for ever more money to fight drugs, yet the dea is one of the biggest importers of said drugs in the country. Remember Iran Contra?
So called defense contractors lobbies that call for ever more of our income tax to 'defend' us from whom? The ever increasing Police state who get ever more money to tazer little old ladies who want to know why they are being pulled over on some lonely stretch of road?

[Iwillnevergiveup]

13. Clunkers and bunkers indeed.

A big K&R for Dennis.

[omega minimo]

14. HFS

:wow: :yourock:

[cooolandrew]

15. Beats them upside the head with the truth every time. DK was my first choice, I can say that.(nt)

[kestrel91316]

29. He was my first choice, too. I have gotten progressively more liberal

as I get older, lol.

[lib2DaBone]

16. K&R Dennis should be President... He'd get us out of this mess

[suzie]

48. Dennis has no interest in being President.

The President is actually tasked with doing things other than complaining about everyone else.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

53. He actually had a pretty long list of positive suggestions

such as cutting the defense budget to actual needs, universal health care, and preferential options for small businesses and family farms.

Of course, when the NY Times and other mainstream media outlets discussed the presidential candidates, they either didn't mention him at all or dismissed him in one sentence.

[earth mom]

57. Kucinich would have made a helluva better prez than Obama except for Gore.

Obama is a yes man and has only done what Corporate America tells him to and people are starting to catch on to it.

As Abe Lincoln said: "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

So, I doubt Obama will be a 2 term president.

And it's a shame because Obama could have left a lasting legacy of REAL change and been one of the greatest presidents of all time.


Oh well.

Gore/Kucinich 2012!!! Now that's change we can believe in!!! :woohoo:

[hangman86]

66. Gore would have acted the same as Obama on the bailouts and troop withdrawal

He may be a stone cold liberal on the environment, but he's a moderate overall. Kucinich on the other hand would offer major change in almost every aspect of this country's direction, including environmental policy. I say we flip the Gore/Kucinich 2012 ticket around.

[suzie]

87. Yes, Dennis Kucinich is a man you can trust on his principles.

He'd do exactly what you'd expect--and we know that because of his long record of never changing his stands on the things important to us.

Oh, except for women's reproductive rights, where he was among the most anti-woman legislators in the Congress, certainly on the Democratic side. But then, upon deciding that he'd get more exposure for his speech making and play to wider adoring audiences, POOF! he changed that overnight.

Yeah, Al Gore was so "moderate" that he never opposed women's reproductive rights, and that matters to so few people. Gosh, Dennis is such a far more trustworthy guy than that Al Gore.

[hangman86]

95. If you really want proof that Al Gore is a moderate

then I suggest you ask none other than *drum roll* AL GORE!!!! He called himself a "raging moderate" when he was a Senator. He was a huge champion for gun rights, he supported minimal school prayer, and that's not all, *drum roll* he also voted against the federal funding of abortion! If he was President, that law that Bush reinstated that blocks money from going to agencies that provide abortions might have never been overturned. Plus he helped Bill Clinton write that idiotic welfare reform bill and picked Joe Lieberman as his vice-president.

So please tell me you have more to go on then just a single change of mind by Dennis to make the argument that Gore is the better presidential candidate and/or more liberal. A politician changing his mind? Wow! What a shocker. No one else but Dennis does that, and certainly not the great Al Gore. And if changing your mind to support the right cause is such a crime then I guess all those members of Congress should go back to supporting the Iraq war and we can be there for the next hundred years.

[suzie]

96. A single change of mind?

Yeah, because reproductive rights is such an insignificant little issue, correct? Well, maybe not to ONE-HALF the population of the United States. That part of the population, women, that somehow isn't included in all the "average Americans", "struggling Americans" that Dennis Kucinich didn't stand for.

And your savior, Dennis, stood as solidly against those rights as any rightwinger, because his district was heavily Catholic. This was not pro-choice Catholic, Kerry, this was someone who went right along with the Church's stance against women so as to remain a Congressman. But you and all the little Kucinich adorers want to minimize the fact that he stood against ONE-HALF the nation's population. On issues that had been pretty much in the news for 30 years.

But wait, somehow Al Gore might not have overturned a law that Bush reinstated--that's your rationalization for how Dennis Kucinich really didn't stand against the rights of ONE-HALF the population of the U.S.

So, when you want to blame Gore for everything that Clinton did--making Gore responsible for every piece of legislation, every decision that Clinton made that you dislike. But somehow, he was not responsible for a decision that Bush overturned, and he would have overturned it himself--because he was a part of the Clinton administration that put the regulation into effect....but according to you, he must not have been in favor of it? What?

Bob Graham was always pro-choice, scoring 100% by NARAL, Bob Graham was anti-Iraq war. Bob Graham is a respected and well-loved politician. Kucinich couldn't even stand in his shoes in 2004.

Did any of you support him rather than the good speechifier?

[hangman86]

98. I love how you keep bringing up abortion

because I didn't even mention abortion in my original post. But you knew you didn't have a leg to stand on when I said Gore would have reacted the same when it came to corporate greed and ending the war. You just threw in abortion out of nowhere because you can't stand people loving Kucinich over Gore. So if your going to respond to this next post at least tell me what you think the almighty Al would have done about these two subjects.

Also, guess what? The president and the vice-president don't always agree! Blows your mind doesn't it. Al Gore voted against federal funding of abortions in Congress but kept his mouth shut when Clinton overturned the regulation because he wanted Clinton to look good. Nothing wrong about that. But when he helped form and support that disastrous welfare legislation, well my friend, he hurt a lot more "average" people then Kucinich ever did by being pro-life for a while. That wasn't just an everyday bill that does little to nothing for this country. It spit in the face of the poor of America.

And what the hell does Bob Graham have to do with this? Did I say name me a pro-choice, anti-war Senator and win a prize? No, I said that many of the current anti-war Congressmen were previously pro-war but changed their mind and we'd be worse off if they hadn't.

[wutangfan85]

67. I just saw him grill Dr. David Gratzer on

CSPAN during the Single Payer Commitee hearing when he couldn't answer his questions about Canadian's "complaints" about Single Payer. I hope someone posts it up on youtube!

[Bluebear]

70. Oh brother

[WinkyDink]

75. You must not have read much of Dennis Kucinich.

[fascisthunter]

17. they are the same "Good Germans" Some Have Read about

the same weak-kneed filthy pigs who would do anything for the powerful.

[Enthusiast]

18. K&R, I love Dennis!

As usual, he is right on.

[pjt7]

19. Kucinich needs to sign H.R.1207

& be a team player.

I love the guy, but he has to stop playing to the audience & be an effective legislator.

[Bluenorthwest]

21. Take a look at how long Dennis has served his district

Guess they, the only people with a say in it, think he's plenty effective. They vote for him again and again and again. He represents them.

[pjt7]

25. Bluenorthwest

Our Federal Reserve bankrolls the military industrial complex. Dennis knows this & if he wants to represent the folks in his district, auditing our money-printers is step number 1.

H.R. 1207 has 200 co-sponsors, I hope Dennis adds his name & support.

[TheUnspeakable]

20. Thank You, Dennis

[Soylent Brice]

23. is he the only person left that makes sense in congress anymore?

Dennis Kucinich, i love you.



:hug:

[bobshin]

38. He's the only one who ever made sense. And then there's politics.

and it all goes down the drain.

He posed a great simple question. It is easy to understand and will hopefully get others to look beyond what they see- or that which is being shown to them to keep those thoughts down.

[Soylent Brice]

40. belated "Welcome to DU" to you.

:hi:

[suzie]

49. He makes sense only if you want someone who loves to spout off, but has zero interest

in getting legislation passed.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. I'm sure he's interested in getting legislation passed

Too bad so many of his colleagues are more interested in pleasing their corporate contributors or making sure they stay on the invitation list to Beltway cocktail parties.

[NikolaC]

79. Exactly

I am pretty sure that Dennis knows who "those people" are, but wants those who have heard him speak to think about the answer to that question. It's difficult to get things done that benefit those who are struggling in this country when there is so much money and power floating around to make sure that that does not happen.

[suzie]

93. Spouting off and getting legislation passed are two different things.

One requires only an ample degree of narcissism--which most politicians possess.

The other requires patience, ability to listen to others, and willingness to compromise--abilities which Kucinich obviously lacks.

Rationalize it however you please, Dennis Kucinich does little for those who are struggling. His great emphasis is on making himself a "spokesperson".

[Mari333]

26. knr for dennis.

[Lena inRI]

27. Powerful as poetic brevity can be. . .

. . .I love all you represent and do for us, Mr. Kucinich.

This minute-shout-out of conscience is still ricocheting within my brain.

Peace be with you my dear warrior for us people.

:applause: :loveya: :applause: :loveya: :applause:

[Jefferson23]

28. A true patriot, that is Kucinich.

[RufusTFirefly]

30. Thank you, Dennis. Big K & R! n/t

[spooked911]

32. these people are simply evil

thank god for Kucinich.

[nichomachus]

34. They are the same people

who gave GM a CEO who admits he doesn't know anything making cars.

The one thing that will turn any manager into a failure is not knowing what the people under you do for a living.

This is one of the things that has destroyed the US economy, from newspapers to health care, the "management class" that is totally divorced from the actual work being done.

[sellitman]

36. I am bored.

I am bored of saying this is the man who should be our President.

But I will keep repeating it as long as he is still speaking for me.

[katty]

39. many are people you have to work with, Dennis-so glad

you continue to stand up for the People.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

41. If I could be a dictator I would

have national health system like the UK
have electirc cars
high speed electric trains
electric street cars
no wars
nationalized companies
etc

I would not worry about Republicans

[madrchsod]

43. who? start with the president of the united states...

and the people he appointed.....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. The first time I heard DK speak, I was in tears, because I had never before

heard a Democratic Congressman actually SAY the things I'd been thinking for over 20 years.

For all of you party cheerleaders and believers in the notion that we have a free press and free and fair elections, I suggest the exercise of working on the campaign of a candidate whom the establishment doesn't like.

I learned more about how the system really works than I had in my entire life up till then. To have to beg for press coverage, to see officially approved primary candidates receive more coverage for speaking to smaller crowds or for speaking only to donors (all of DK's events were open to the public), to have local party leaders tell caucus attendees not to "waste" their votes on anyone but Kerry, to see how well guerrilla politics can actually work against the odds.

I am now extremely cynical about the system, especially when I saw how many people fell for the "Clinton/Obama wars" ruse, when there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between them. It was all, "Are you a racist or a sexist?"

[suzie]

50. That's interesting.

When I heard Dennis Kucinich speak, along with a whole group of other candidates, I was repelled by the way in which he lectured the audience of Democrats. And similarly, his self-righteous tone in undercutting all the other candidates.

The people in the audience that day were "the system" that you speak of. Would it be possible for DK supporters to ever understand that many voters, including Democrats, dislike a candidate who constantly condescends to them and everyone else in politics as if he alone had the inside track on purity?

And that party activists, having usually had substantial contact with voters and campaigns, naturally turn away from the self-righteous "I alone have absolutely all the answers and the rest of the candidates are dodos" candidate.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

51. Actually, I saw DK at one of many events, speaking at a

banquet, and afterwards, the kitchen staff--who were employees of the facility, not of the organization sponsoring the banquet--gathered around him, told him how much they liked his speech, and wanted their pictures taken with him.

Maybe smug mainstream entrenched party types don't like DK, but despite the near media blackout our dedicated, multiracial multi-age group team of volunteers won him 17% of the vote statewide in Minnesota, and 27% in the Twin Cities. He actually won some precincts in the Twin Cities as well as the Iowa county that our group targeted.

By the way, what you see as "condescension" is actually straight talking and informing the high-and-mighty Dem party establishment types on what life is really like for the majority of Americans. They hate him because he points out their shallowness and obsession with gamesmanship over principles.

What you refer to as "purity" is actually having a set of core principles, something that the Dem establishment hasn't had for so long that it looks alien to them.

Our "big tent" is full of Republican Lite camels who have stuck far more than their noses in.

[suzie]

68. No, no one in the political process likes a DK, because he

isn't a politician, he's a speech maker. Politicians get something done. Their constituents or self-righteous individuals may not always approve of what happens, because politics involved compromise.

Sorry, I've been out on the campaign trail a bit, and worked directly for politicians a lot, and it's not hard to know the difference between condescension and "straight talking" and Dennis Kucinich is flat-out the most condescending "candidate" that I've ever heard.

But you're correct, party activists would dislike DK because they'd like to see something actually happen. And they'd like to see other Democrats elected. If you have that mindset, terrible as it is to those of you more pure of motive than the rest of us, you don't want to see the rest of the people down ticket lose because you have a candidate who is the most condescending person ever running and the electorate hates that.

Activists also hate a one-timer. Does it occur to you that Dennis Kucinich could get less done in office than any president in the history of the country--because he'd be a guaranteed one-termer? Who is gonna vote for anything you want if they know you'll never get elected again--why should they?

And besides, who wants to go along legislatively with the guy who has told the whole world that you're a jerk? So under a DK presidency, zip would happen on the favorite things of the DKers, unless you believe that he should become dictator and simply impose everything by executive fiat.

So please, tell me how helping the majority of Americans is a result of being a one-term President that no one can get along with.

And spare me the high-and-mighty Dem establishment garbage--I'm a local Democrat who works hard to get local Democrats elected because I've generally found them to be better in office than Republicans. Just as I think Sotomayor will be more important to the citizenry than another Alito, but hey, nothing the SC does counts anyway, does it? And we'd be better off losing with a DK and having a permanent, large Court majority under Scalia than our current possibilities.

And I'm sorry, but I saw George McGovern speak when he was a candidate. He was a man of principle--he was never condescending. But he'd also been a legislator who worked with others to get things done for the "majority of Americans". McGovern and Bob Dole have their names together on a lot of legislation that helped regular Americans.

But we wouldn't want Dennis Kucinich to dirty himself with actually legislating on behalf of the citizenry at large--he needs to make those important speeches.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

73. So what's preventing the other politicians from signing on to DK's

eminently sensible agenda? They're against small business? They're against reining in the military industrial complex? They think the insurance companies are fine, altruistic corporate citizens that only have the good of the American people in mind? They like seeing living wage jobs in the Midwest turned into slave labor jobs in China?

If they would speak up for the little person instead of declaring that anything that the corporations didn't like was "off the table," there'd be a lot less cynicism about Congress.

Oh, I'm well aware why a lot of Congressional Dems don't like him.

[KoKo]

81. When Kerry/Edwards were running/2004...Dennis came to NC...and

blew away the crowd that came to see him as the alternative. His speech resounded with those of us up there in Durham (Carrboro, NC) and he was ON TARGET as to what the country faced unlike the Dem DLC PAP that Kerry/Edwards were pontificating about.

Sadly...people like Kucinich can never get to be President. BUT...why is it that they NEVER GET LEADERSHIP in our HOUSE OR SENATE?

BECAUSE OF THE LOBBY MONEY! Why can't Dennis Kucinich be Speaker of the House..over Nancy Pelosi?

Is it because he's "short of stature" or because NANCY HAS THE MONEY, CAN BRING IN MORE MONEY, AND KNOWS HOW THE GAME IS PLAYED.

So...why can't Dennis become a SENATOR...where he would have GREAT POWER for OHIO?

Take a look at HARRY RIED and TOM DASCHLE before him. WHAT better bunch of WEENIE POWERBROKERS could one find outside a Bush/Cheney Fundraiser?

OUR SENATE is a BODY OF SHILLS for CORPORATIONS. Harry Reid=Las Vegas (Gambling) and Tom Daschle, before him, = Wife, Airline Lobbyist..and Daschle, himself, Ethanol and Banking and helping his Wife and along with Dodd, Lieberman and others and "I just want to get along" ...while I rake in the dough." That's Tom (Go Along to Enrich Myself, Daschle).

[KoKo]

83. Good Damned KICK FOR KUCINICH!

:kick:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

85. Right, when I moved to Minneapolis in 2003

I decided that I would see every Dem candidate who came through the Twin Cities.

DK was the first one. He held a series of public rallies on three occasions between August 2003 and March 2004.

I waited for the other candidates. They all came and spoke to rich-donors-only gatherings.

It wasn't until June 2004 that another candidate (Kerry) held a rally that was open to the public. By that time, he was already the presumptive nominee.

And that in a nutshell is one of the major problems with our system.

[suzie]

88. So, maybe Kucinich should spend his time trying to get money out of politics.

Oh wait, that's not that interesting--it won't bring him the adoring crowd that complaining about everything and everyone does.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

91. Well, he can't do everything

and he actually LIVES getting money out of politics.

When running in his district, he holds fundraisers that ordinary people can afford, sort of like Peter DeFazio of Oregon, another "ineffective" Congressman whose constituents adore him.

How many Congresscritters hold $35 fundraisers (pizza and beer at a brewpub) and invite the general public?

I was disgusted when I found out that the Minnesota DFL had a fundraising event and that you had to pay some exorbitant sum even to TALK to a Congresscritter or Senator informally.

I guess in your mind "ineffective" means "doesn't play with the big boys."

[suzie]

92. I ordinarily don't go to events where there is a giant fundraising cost,

and I've met all kinds of Congresspersons and senators.

They tend to show up for events locally that are usually well-advertised in the local media.

Your attempt to make Kucinich seem like something different either shows inexperience or an extreme bias in favor of everything that Dennis Kucinich does.

[KoKo]

99. It was FREE...and I was not Required to Donate...

Kucinich is clean..and if he wasn't we would have heard about it by now.

[suzie]

101. I just said that I'd been to all kinds of free events, where there was

no charge, where I've met all Congresspeople and Senators.

What's different about the events you've mentioned about Kucinich? There are lots of free events out there.

[suzie]

86. I'm sorry but I heard Kucinich when he was running in 2004, along with all the other

candidates and he didn't impress anybody.

And whining and pointing "DLC" fingers doesn't make Dennis Kucinich leadership material. You want to talk 2004--you had Bob Graham running, who had way better credentials on being against the Iraq war than Dennis Kucinich. He'd actually tried to do something to stop it. Something that didn't just involve carping as usual at his colleagues and playing for adulation by a certain crowd like Kucinich does. Bob Graham got the NIE declassified so his Senate colleagues could read it. He was yelling at them on the Senate floor--which was noted because he's usually a calm, gentlemanly kind of guy.

Of course Graham is kind of the anti-Kucinich. He's the worst speechmaker there is, but a really well-liked politician by the average folks.

But,did "progressives" who spent so much of their time complaining about Iraq get behind Graham--no he's just your average politician--not the great speechifier.

As to why Dennis Kucinich can't become Speaker--because your colleagues have to like you to support you for those kinds of offices. Because "plays well with others" and not "makes speeches against others" is the key requirement for leadership positions.

[earth mom]

58. ROFLMAO! You have got to be kidding.

:rofl:

[The Green Manalishi]

63. Awwww

you mean he didn't kowtow to the little moneyed clique of corporate shills? You mean he wouldn't kiss butt to the "military-industrial complex light" that is the real core of the anti progressive wing of the party? Too bad.

I bet DK had, and has, more integrity, guts, and true patriotism than everyone else in that audience.

If you are repelled by one of the only politicians speaking the truth today that tells us far more about you than about Dennis

[suzie]

89. That's right, insult me because I don't agree that

the guy who has done NOTHING for the average citizen in the country is the most wonderful person to ever set foot in the Congress.

And yeah, Dennis had more guts--traveling around the country making speeches to adoring crowds--than those of us average little Florida Democrats who decided to stand up and do something after 2000. You remember 2000, when all of the "Anti-progressives" were too pure to vote for Al Gore and allowed ******* to become president. Then suddenly, became Democrats so they could whine for 8 years about the president that they helped put in office.

And tell me about integrity. I was an adult woman before Roe v. Wade and women's reproductive rights have been a key to my support of candidates for all my adult life. So it's pretty difficult for me to believe that a guy who actively opposed women's rights in a way agreeable to the right wing, and suddenly changed that so that he could run his "play-like" presidential campaign, is a person of integrity.

[WinkyDink]

76. Yeah? Well, sometimes the truth hurts. DK clearly doesn't suffer fools gladly.

[suzie]

90. Yeahh, just like he didn't suffer women's rights gladly

until he decided he'd run for the Presidency.

How about that "truth"?

[The Green Manalishi]

100. looking at the record

you have a point. Just knew he was pro-choice, did not know he came to that conclusion relatively late.
But he did come around, and he is one hell of a lot more progressive than either President Obama, Hillary or Edwards, at least on nearly everything else, at a point that Obama is siding more and more with corporate America, the military industrial complex, homophobes, and the jack booted drug warriors and less and less with the powerless, poor and non connected.

[suzie]

102. He came around after 3 months before he decided to run his first campaign

for President.

So how can you know whether he's progressive or not? He was fervently anti-women's choice for years. He had a 0 rating some years from NARAL. Then suddenly he's pro-choice, overnight, POOF.

And you trust anything the guys says after that, just because he says it?

I mean, pro-choice, reproductive rights, that's not an issue that just came to the forefront recently--like the bailouts. But Kucinich changed virtually overnight because he wanted to run for a different office. And yet, everyone acts like he's different from other politicians.

C'mon, Kucinich's not at all different, he's just worse, because at least some of the others are working to do something. He's just talk.

[DutchLiberal]

103. No, the majority of the people you speak of don't like to be told the truth...

That's why Jimmy Carter lost to that lying B-actor Ronald Reagan. Because Carter dared to tell Americans to lay off the oil, that the American way of life (meaning overconsumption and exploiting the earth) couldn't last forever. The majority of voters didn't want to hear that. They wanted to "feel good" and that's why they elected a Feel Good President. And still Reagan ranks consistently among the top 10 presidents in public opinion polls. Because he wasn't "condescending", because he wasn't big on "purity". He supported the apartheid regime in South-Africa, he funded terrorists in Nicaragua, he drove millions of Americans into poverty. But he made the public feel good about the country. Nobody wants to hear the truth. And you are a shining example of this.

[Piewhacket]

45. Dennis, you magnificient bastard! Clunkers and Bunkers.. who indeed!

[earth mom]

55. Right on Dennis!!! That's EXACTLY how I feel about it!

Obama can pretty up his speeches all he wants-but talk is CHEAP.

Actions speak louder than words and what is happening right now is the DESTRUCTION of the U.S.A!

I don't see a building up or a rebuilding. I see a tearing apart and a theft of everything we all hold dear-not to mention our hard earned money!!!


WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE?!!! :grr:

[roberto]

59. Dennis Kucinich is an American Hero

you Dennis Kucinich are one of the most pro-eminent US of A's persons of all times. You're my hero.

[L0oniX]

62. A true servant of the people. Kucinich 2012

[Wednesdays]

64. K&R

:kick:

[MC Blitzen]

65. who are these people?

are we ever going to get to see 'the plane' hit the Pentagon?
that bit of evidence trumps the importance of all other
classified docs of the failed Bush era

[DutchLiberal]

71. The only thing I don't like about Kucinich is his protectionism.

Protectionism only hurts the economy. No country or economy is isolated anymore.

[BumRushDaShow]

72. Wake up America! K&R

:kick:

[PuraVidaDreamin]

74. kucinich is what the Democratic party used to be.

how do we get it back?

[stillrockin]

77. I love you, Rep. Kucinich!

[KoKo]

78. Indeed...I've been asking myself this since Reagan got Elected!

"Who are these People" ...and "WHY are they SO POWERFUL?"

[MissDeeds]

82. Saw this too late to K&R

But Dennis Kucinich speaks for me. The last two sentences says it all.

Kick for Dennis, and the voice of reason.

:kick: