Dennis Kucinich: The Invisible Man, the Prohibited Message

[natrat]

"The corporate media boycott of Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign is in full swing. No, you can't hear the boycott - that's the whole point. The intention is to create a great silence, to pretend that something doesn't exist. The media boycott of Congressman Kucinich's campaign is very much like the banking practice of redlining, in which the captains of finance capital draw lines around whole neighborhoods, pretending they do not exist. This non-fact then becomes reality, as the neighborhoods are starved of investment and fall into inevitable decay.

and the most salient point

"Instead, we are led to believe the lie that the Democratic anti-war candidate is Barack Obama - who has in fact made it indisputably clear that he is pro-war, that he supports U.S. imperial policy, but would just like to make it less "dumb" - whatever that means. Obama is allowed to pretend that he is for universal health care, when in reality his proposal would only line the pockets of the rich people who profit from death."

the dems are a fraud only to a lesser extent than the thugs

http://rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blackagendareport.com%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D176%26Itemid%3D34

[Jonathan50]

1. Not to mention that Kucinich is the only Democrat in favor

Of ending the War On Drugs.

He is anathema to the corporate state.

[ixion]

2. Kucinich gets my vote... he's the only one concerned with the reality-based community

as it were...

[mmonk]

3. Eveybody could help Kucinich not be invisible

by donating to his campaign whatever you can send.

[cyclezealot]

43. I intend to. Kucinich's idea of reinstating the Fairness doctrine 4 the media

Is poison to the media moguls. Those fooled by OBama's recent conversion to the get out of Iraq crowd even fooled Move On. Kucinich has the only plan to end the Iraq conflict. Along with taking on the insurance titans. After Kucinich our enthusism drops off to near zero. Again, the power of the media. If their talking heads can't dis you, the next step is to ignore. All our federal refund will be going to Dennis Kucinich and we had a really good year, tax wise.

[pretzel4gore]

4. this could be good!

unless americans are stupid, they must know the media is a gopig promoter, and a liar....Obama seems almost like 'too good to be true' in regards his ideas, his colin powell-ness. Truely, Dennis KUcinich should be the alternative to 'same crap, different ass' which constitutes the usual pattern of the dope pusher media, the quality of the product. It's outta our hands. If the bigmouthed rightwingers win, then they damn their own to a hell on earth, if they lose, and are denied, then ...well, the trouble would be just beginning!
Interestingly, i heard a promoter on local hateradio fending off the mediawhore host and saying 'global warming is very real, but rather then a downer, it must be impetus to adapt economy and re-create the jobs as the big guys are already doing; 15 billion invested in solar alone yada yada yada'....wow. So the 2 forces at work are in plain view!... are both rightwing, both capitalist, but the one is shouted down by an endless stream of callers saying 'it's all bs, an effort to regulate wealth; humanity is arrogant to think it affects weather' etc (which the host has always agreed with) confronts a glib capitalist who says 'even if we agree with that, what's the problem with cleaning up our act'? etc....
LOL! the problem is mr pig would have to admit he's wrong to the extent he'd have to force those who react by telling lies about truth etc to 'stfu!'...and watching THAT battle will be worth watching the polar bear and snow leopard etc go extinct! hell, it would be worth dying for :) don't you agree? pass the popcorn

[Jonathan50]

5. It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

=Mark Twain

[mmonk]

6. Can any of you spare

$50 to get an important message out? One million donors @ $50, well you know, could go a long way.
http://kucinich.us/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1

[Jonathan50]

11. Not $50 but I can go $10

Done

[mmonk]

13. Wonderful.

I believe we can make him be heard.

[Jcrowley]

7. Kick and Rec n/t

[leftchick]

8. What he Said!

<snip>

By redlining Dennis Kucinich, the corporate media are lobotomizing the American political dialogue. They are not in the news business - they are in the business of imposing silence.

:applause:

[LWolf]

9. Exactly.

Why do so many Democratic voters allow corporate media to choose their candidates for them?

If voters weren't listening, and obediently repeating, or ignoring, then MSM wouldn't be controlling the process.

[Annces]

10. He is not invisible to me

He is a progressive, my cup of tea.

[JNelson6563]

12. How very sad

It saddens me to see a Kucinich supporter spoiling his postive message of hope and possibilities with Naderite shit like:

the dems are a fraud only to a lesser extent than the thugs

As I am quite tempted to use a Cheneyism in response I will hold off and just hope that such tripe isn't allowed to remain here at DemocraticUnderground.

Julie

[pretzel4gore]

14. our party should not be a fraud...

that such an idea can not only exist but be widely accepted as fact says Dennis Kucinich would be the best leader for dems- i never even heard of Obama a couple years ago, and Hillary was 'hitlery' according to mr pig(!)
the mass media is corrupt. that is the issue. it's 'Dennis versus corruption' (or Kerry/Gore/Edwards/Clark etc versus corruption!) as long as it isn't the dope pushed by the dope pusher newsmedia aka the MSM...
and Obama/Clinton had better distance the pigmedia asap if they want to be taken seious. bush=pigmedia

[JNelson6563]

17. An avoid the point post?

My point was that the valid points in the OP could have been just as effectively made (or even moreso) without the nasty attack on Dems as a whole. I for one work very hard to affect positive change in the world by getting Dems elected and booting Rethugs out of office.

But hey, if you want to defend nasty broad-brush attacks on all Dems as a valid way to gain sympathy and support for a good candidate that is certainly your choice to make.

Julie

[mmonk]

15. A kill the messenger post?

There are some points in that piece that make some uncomfortable. That however is irrelevant to the issue of the lockout of his message or the problem of mass media creation of "legitimacy".

[JNelson6563]

18. Point lost on you?

Indeed, there were some vary valid points in the post. Sadly the OP chose to include broad-brush attacks on all Dems. As I said above to another poster, if you want to go with that as a valid way to promote Kucinich, that's your choice.

Good luck with that. I don't think you'll be doing much recruiting of allies at a Democratic forum with the "Dems are the same as Rethugs" approach.

Julie

[mmonk]

21. Fine.

But I don't think that's what's sad. It's a candidate with a harder hitting message being denied treatment as legitimate by the media. I also don't think its ok to gloss over things real easily or suggest one is less of a democrat.

[Jonathan50]

29. As I unequivocally proved on this board just the other day..

Democrats almost to a man (Kucinich being the only exception) are willing to base a major policy entirely on fantasy.

Show me a Democrat other than Kucinich who opposes the war on Cannabis.

Until then, Democrats deserve bashing for supporting the most freedom destroying policy this nation has.

[Usrename]

32. You may be proud of the Dems being silent about his treatment.

Most people are ashamed of their silence about Kucinich.

They sure were not silent in their support of their friend Lieberman.

Reality is an uncomfortable place right now. The OP was just being honest.

[femrap]

36. As RFK, Jr. said.....

95% of the republicans are corrupt and about 75% of the Democrats.

Seriously, you must realize that there is some heavy collusion going on...I take RFK, Jr's numbers to heart.

Please don't be naive. Hell...just look at the DLC.

[cyclezealot]

45. quibbling about numbers.

I'd say only 65% of Democrats are corrupt.

[femrap]

56. Talk to RFK, Jr....

and he's in a pretty good position to know.

[cyclezealot]

69. my theory as to why fewer Dems are corrupt.

Many come from congressional districts that are economically devastated. In those districts corporate money has less affect. Large urban districts with lots of urban poor. How many TV spot(corporate sponsored) ads do you see for those districts. Corporate money only goes to where you have higher income consumers. A theory. A supporting assumption. Do not urban distict congressman congressional elections cost less than in Republican districts? I believe the level of congressional corruption can be displayed at the FEC summary of who raises how much campaign cash from whom.

[femrap]

71. Remember Ike's closing speech about the

Military-Industrial Complex? Originally that was to read Military-Industrial-CONGRESSIONAL complex. A piece of the War Machine is located in each and every of the 435 Congressional Districts....that means jobs and money. It was planned that way.

The way I see it, the poorer areas are just bought off using less money....they're cheaper to buy. Or they're used for 'dumping.' Like the polluting chemical plants or a depository for nuclear waste and such.

I would love to see Publicly Financed campaigns...but there is so much more corruption involved than just with the campaigns. Makes me want to move to Tahiti or some other little place and drink pina coladas. The system is a mess....we need a strong leader (like a FDR) who told the Robber Barons: I welcome your hatred. The Greed has to be curtailed and REGULATED...as best we can.

[John Q. Citizen]

40. Yes, it's sad that people even have such thoughts, much less express them.

thinking people are aware that the Dems are incapable of doing anything but unmitigated good, always.

It's the law.

The three leading Dem candidates only voted for the war, or to fund the occupation, because bush was smart enough to fool them.

[warren pease]

60. And what does it say about someone if...

...they're so dumb they can be fooled by Bush? Who here was fooled by the war run-up propaganda? Who here believes BushCo ever tells the truth about anything? How can people in a position to know better be duped by a moron shilling for a fantasy?

And Kucinich is the only one talking about single-payer, universal access health care. The rest are all talking about some version of "universal coverage," which is code for let's let the insurance industry fuck this plan up as bad as they have the existing one.

wp

[John Q. Citizen]

64. I couldn't agree more. It's either vote for change or vote for

a kinder and gentler empire. I'm going to vote for change. I'm voting for Dennis Kucinich because he's the only candidate who is speaking to me.

[warren pease]

68. Unfortunately, we need to give him lots of money...

I see on another thread that he's only got something like $350K. It will probably take a hundred times that to compel the professional observers, who are paid to tell us what to think, to acknowledge his candidacy.

And even then, it'll be all about his less than perfect hair, and his height (which I think isn't all that tall), and his low-budget (read: non-credible) campaign. If a single issue slips out in all this alleged coverage, it'll be a huge mistake and immediately corrected with another round of bad hair jokes.

So it's essential that he get serious money, and he's only going to get it from people who share his values. He's the worst nightmare of corporate America; he's not going to get any help from the DLC, and probably not even from the DNC, although Dean might surprise me.

Personally, I'm going to give him a hundred tomorrow, and more if I can afford it later on. I don't think I can afford NOT to fund his campaign, given what's at stake. And there must be at least a million others who agree with him and have enough money to kick in fifty or a hundred, which would add up to a pretty serious war chest.

I have no use for "a kinder and gentler empire," as you so accurately put it. And that's all I'm hearing from the rest, with Edwards a notable exception, but even he's advocating expanded "coverage," not single-payer.

It's time for a clean sweep. Compromises have achieved nothing but continued funding of the occupation, with everything that actually means -- torture, slaughter of civilians, a commitment to fossil fuels and the naked resource grabs to secure them. And by the way, 3,301 and counting US deaths and who knows how many maimed and rotting somewhere in the bowels of the VA system.

OK, that's enough ranting for now. Send money. Larger sums are fashionable this year.


wp

[mmonk]

16. A kick for Dennis

The only "tripe" is not covering this particular democratic candidate.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. Dennis is the only candidate that even begins to offer anything different.

The rest just tinker with a corrupt system - or, pretend to.

[Breeze54]

20. I voted for Dennis Kucinich in MoveOn's TownHall meeting the other night.

[NYC]

38. So did I.

:)

[blondie58]

46. so did I

and I have to ask- WHY do they consider him unelectable?

He is a good man and a moral man and he would make a great President. I am so tired of political leaders being 'bought' by big money.

[Ron Green]

22. The American political system isn't yet ready for somebody like Dennis,

and the big question is Can we get ready, over the next few years and decades, by building local grass-roots support for real change, before the corporate masters take us to Armageddon?

[Breeze54]

23. Why not now?

;)

I don't want to wait anymore....time's a wasting. Let's move on!

[Ron Green]

24. Hey, I'm with you. I gave him money and voted for him in 2004. But the reality of the OP

still stands. The corporate media has not yet been replaced by local energy. It's going to take a few more years, in my guess, and perhaps (though I hope not) more big disasters.

[Breeze54]

25. I know

you stand with me. ;)
I'm just trying to remain hopeful and positive.

[mmonk]

26. Change does not come waiting for the system

but rather by those that push it.

[John Q. Citizen]

41. Yes, we are the change we seek.

[lumberjack_jeff]

52. I don't speak for "the american political system" - only for me. Go Dennis. n/t

[bvar22]

27. Hasn't DK pledged to....

Hasn't DK pledged to break up the Media monopolies and return to the Fairness Doctrine?

Where do the "mainstream" Democratic candidates stand on this issue?

[Ron Green]

28. This is an excellent question.

I hope someone can ask this of all the candidates in a way that people hear their answers.

[Jonathan50]

30. I wouldn't count on that

[Breeze54]

35. Then we all need to get busy!!!!

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[The Count]

34. Ding!Ding!Ding! Ding! It's when Clark went invisible as well in 2003 - after

saying exactly that! I know then the other candidates (kerry, Edwards - had vited for a humongous bill containing everything from Medicare to media consolidation provisions. I can only guess oh the others....)

[mmonk]

48. As a former Clarkie, I can attest to that.

[cyclezealot]

44. they are too chicken.

Instead they make excuses for Imus in the Morning.

[G_j]

31. your subject says it all

all the more reason to help him out

[leftchick]

47. hi G j

:hi:

[G_j]

50. Hello

:hi:


peace and love!

[The Count]

33. he is also the only dem - in the race - who spoke of the immorality of this war

The rest have identical views: bad intelligence, bad strategy.

[Cleita]

37. I really don't watch the media anymore so I will be backing

Dennis and I'm sure radio personalities like Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann will be giving him airtime throughout the upcoming campaign. As a matter of fact, Thom Hartmann usually lets people call him about anything you want to talk about once a week. It may be a good time for us Kucinich supporters to call Thom and ask him to have Dennis on as a guest to discuss his campaign. I think it's going to be us at a grass roots level that's going to get his name mentioned.

[EFerrari]

39. I see Dennis. K&R

[epppie]

42. Thanks.

We need to know more about Dennis. He shouldn't be dismissed. How can we blame people like Nader for running outside the Dem party, when the Dem party operates like a machine to make candidates with challenging ideas invisible, "unelectable".

[EFerrari]

55. I didn't back any one Democrat in the 2004 primaries but did contribute

to campaigns that seemed to me to be "shortchanged" by the media and by the "establishment".

[MadHound]

49. And it isn't just the corporate media

It is also the rest of Corporate America, the DLC, and the majority of Democrats who are redlining Kucinich. What are they all so afraid of? The truth? A candidate with the message and the plan that Americans want to support?

Apparently so. Kucinich is just a step above third party candidates in the eyes of most of his own party, and if by some miracle he actually got the nomination, most of the party would do the same thing that they did with McGovern, sabatoge him at every turn.

Pathetic when the man with the plan can't even get heard inside his own party.

[bbgrunt]

51. where are these other candidates on repealing the patriot act?

we sure don't hear anything from them about this. Dennis is the only one with a broader vision. I can only hope that one day soon our fellow citizens will have had enough of blood and death and injustice and poverty and slavery and embrace Mr K's message. Unfortunately, I think we have to suffer much more as a country to wake up enough people.

[Dawgs]

53. Do you really expect me to take a post seriously when it makes the claim that..

Barack Obama is pro-war; a claim that is so ignorant I can't even respond to it. If you want others to support Kucinich, you might want to quit posting "articles" that basically attack other Democrats.

[mmonk]

54. You are free to defend Obama with facts.

Post some. I think the general theme of the piece that was posted had to do with the media ignoring him while making nuanced political positions by some democrats running for office out to be more politically different from US policy than they are.

[bling bling]

57. Sigh. That IS how it tends to work around here isn't it. Double sigh.

Critical and Accusatory OP's with 30+ recommends on it that attack a Democrat with baseless untrue character smears, yet it's up to the responders to "defend" that Democrat "with facts."

I'm starting to see why there are a LOT more of the accusers on this forum than defenders. Being an accuser is a piece of cake.

[mmonk]

66. I make no accusations other than Dennis is ignored and marginalized.

I actually would be interested in a response as I don't go around reading every candidate's statements. I've been way too busy working on present issues so I only really know 3 of the candidates' positions on Iraq.

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[annabanana]

62. (p.s.

sticking the same post on unrelated threads is not polite...)

[Jcrowley]

59. Every cry

is a song

Every song is a prayer

And our prayers must be heard

For the record I'm an atheist.

Up with you

[KoKo]

61. Didn't you hear? Kucinich looks like an "elf" and he doesn't have

OBAMA or HILLARY's STAR POWER! He's small and his wife is large and what he says NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR!

He's OUT OF IT....He needs to GET IT and just move along.

Besides: DU's OWN..William Rivers Pitt worked on his Campaign in '04 and Will said Kucinich was very disorganized and we DU'er should think twice before supporting him. Here on DU, Will Pitt's word is kind of taken for truth.

So..that's the story on Dennis Kucinich..

(BTW! He's a great candidate ...but those "in the know" say he will never go ANYWHERE!)

[Matsubara]

63. I don't have enough posts yet to rec...

So I'll just kick.

Sometimes I think the dems are more of a fraud than the dems.

The repugs promise needlessly belligerent foreign policy, tax cuts for the rich, diddly for the poor, hate for gays and demonization for women who want to control their bodies.

And they ALWAYS DELIVER.

The dems promise to help working families and the middle class, but between being distracted by the right's wedge issues and pressure from their corporate contributors, they seem to deliver less and less for regular working people.

But look at Kucinich's paltry campaign kitty, and you can see why few other dem politicians would want to follow his example.

It sucks all around. The only way to fix things is to get the big money out of the election system, which seems impossible to do as long as the big money controls all the people presently in office...

[tritsofme]

65. I suppose there's a corporate media blackout of Duncan Hunter too?

Or maybe they're both just vanity candidates that no one pays attention to because they are irrelevant?

[mmonk]

67. Maybe. The only problem is the leading candidates and powers behind

them are the most vain. Maybe a truth candidate (like Dennis that pulls no punches) only appears to be a vanity candidate because he keeps fighting even when he is marginalized by the powers that be.

[and-justice-for-all]

70. Dennis Kucinich; good or bad????

I like what he has said so far.

If he needs airtime, he needs to contact Democracy Now! they will give it to him. I know he was on once, but if this guy is the one then we need to try and elevate him as much as possible.

WE NEED CHANGE NOW, NOT A CONFORMIST RETHUG LAPDOG!