Kucinich Predicts Winning Democratic Nod

[redqueen]

WASHINGTON - Democrat Dennis Kucinich (news - web sites) has only two delegates and low single-digit showings after nine nominating contests, yet he said Wednesday he's staying in the presidential race.

"The race for the nomination will go all the way to the convention," Kucinich said in a statement. "It is at the convention where I will win the nomination, based on the emergence of Iraq (news - web sites) as the defining issue."

(snip)

Former CIA (news - web sites) weapons inspector David Kay recently said he doubted that Saddam ever possessed such weapons. Bush agreed this week to name an independent commission to investigate the intelligence used to go to war.

"We have a president who is saying he wants to get the facts and yet he sent people to war without the facts and we have Democratic front-runners who said they were misled and yet they sent people to war," Kucinich said. "Where's the accountability?"

link


Sweet. :)

[beyurslf]

1. I thought the voters in the early priamry states were going to swell

towards support for DK and surprise all the pollsters?

[redqueen]

3. Really?

I don't know where you'd get that idea. His campaign's growth has been slow and steady and I never expected it to rocket up once the primaries started. I think the swell of support for Kucinich will develop as the Iraq WMD threat is exposed as a giant lie (with the frontrunners supporting it, of course), and as other candidates' campaigns run out of funding.

[Nadienne]

39. I must be too much of an optimist

I thought things would be better.

But what you say makes sense - that his campaign's growth has been slow and steady.

I'm in it for the long haul, too.

[MaddogTerp]

2. I don't think it will be because of new Iraq news

but I think he could emerge from the shadows then and carry some waight and influence at the convention. if only we could get the press to stop treating Dennis like a nutcase and take him seriously! thats' true for Dean too. and Edwards they only pay attention to his looks and not his message.

[redqueen]

4. Hi MaddogTerp

Welcome to DU! :hi:

I don't expect the media to ever really focus on any candidate's message. I think they'll treat this like a homecoming king contest until the GE. I think that then they'll revert to bush is righteous and holy and dems are capitulating valueless vote chasers.

[MaddogTerp]

21. Thanks for the welcome!

well maybe the delegates can be split enough to keep the convention open, and the delgates can actually have an open mind to hear what the candidates have to say for themselfs instead of just what the media tells them. I really think that's our best chance. Kerry is just Bushie Lite, so what good is that? none, if you ask me (not that you did...)

[creativelcro]

5. I don't know.... Somehow that seems nutty... Sorry....

[IrateCitizen]

8. Don't count on the mainstream media to EVER give fair coverage

The most important thing to keep in mind about the US mainstream media is that their real task is to help shape public opinion -- rather that to just give the facts and allow the public to come to their own conclusions.

For this reason, more than any, Dennis will never get anything approaching fair coverage from the US media. It just amazes me as to how I have NEVER seen anything about him on the front pages of the NYT. And while people can dismiss that now as sour grapes, during the run-up to the primaries he was saying some things that DEFINITELY should have been front-page news -- simply because they were so different from what the other candidates were saying.

But the things he was saying were a threat to the establishment. That is why, most of all, he had to be ignored. That is why he will continue to be ignored. That is why the only way his movement will succeed is through a massive grassroots effort.

As much as I support him, sadly, I think his campaign will end up being an "I told you so" after the house of cards begins to fall. :-(

[democratreformed]

6. I like Dennis more and more every day

His great positive attitude is a delight to see.

[redqueen]

11. Did you see him on the Late Late Show?

I usually don't watch it, but I was impressed with the treatment Craig gave him, and also with the way Dennis managed to add some personal stuff in with his usual hammering away on his message. He came across more on the personality level this time and I was glad for it.

Also I really liked that while the Kooch missed the 3 free throw shots he got while holding the baby (campaign trail gimmick), that the show played footage of him making the shot during the end of the show bumper. :D

[Iverson]

7. would be nice, but it's doubtful

The corporate wing of the party is dead set against it, likening him to Donald Rumsfeld (even though he is far less similar to Rumsfeld than they). Here:

"DLC | Blueprint Magazine | January 8, 2004
Stay and Win in Iraq
By Will Marshall

Table of Contents

Are Dennis Kucinich and Donald Rumsfeld secret allies? You'd think the Democrats' most vocal peacenik and the GOP warlord would have little in common, but both seem to be in a hurry to get U.S. troops out of Iraq. Even with Saddam Hussein in the bag and awaiting trial, that's a bad idea."


http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=252289&kaid=450004&subid=900021

When principled opposition to an illegal war is unacceptably far left (instead of, say, conservative), that is a clue that rationality is intolerable.

But it would be nice.

[Iverson]

9. postscript

How much do you want to bet that the same people will demand the votes of Kucinich supporters?

Lie back and think of England, I guess.

[IrateCitizen]

10. Vietnam, redeux???

Stay and Win in Iraq

Now, I wasn't alive yet back then -- but does this kind of prenouncement sound eerily similar to the official lines being given back in the 1960's regarding Vietnam???

It infuriates me to no end how America is probably the most historically ignorant country on the face of the earth, making the same mistakes time and time again. :grr:

[redqueen]

12. Yes, it's EXACTLY the same spin as during Vietnam

I saw Howard Zinn speak on Book Notes (he was suppoed to be talking about his new book) about Iraq and the occupation and he said that all the 'can't cut and run' and 'leave with honor' and 'peace with dignity' and all that nonsense is STRAIGHT out of the MIC spin from Vietnam.

I, however, am more optimistic than you or Iverson. :D

I think (hope!) that this time, the people won't take so long to wake the hell up. If for no other reason than the deficit and the next $50 billion installment on the war is going to hit us harder now than it did then. Sad that money matters more than lives, isn't it?

[IrateCitizen]

20. Nah, I get more pessimistic by the day

Why? Because I see in statements like this one by Will Marshall the historical ignorance that permeates American society. Not even the so-called "intellectuals" can bother to gain any kind of historical perspective -- and the phenomenon surely enough trickles down to the greater masses as well.

It only took 50,000+ American (not to mention 2-3 million Vietnamese) lives for us to learn the lesson the last time. Like GHW Bush proclaimed at the end of the first Gulf War, "We've licked the 'Vietnam syndrome' once and for all!"

Call me crazy, but that's a lesson we should NEVER have forgotten.

[no name no slogan]

41. Nixon's "Peace With Honor" cost us another 30,000 dead soldiers...

...as well as another million or two dead SE Asians too. It also led to the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, who killed over 3 million people in a mass genocide unseen since WWII.

Nixon inherited the Democrats' war in 1973, saying he would give us "Peace With Honor®". It led to escalated bombing not only in Vietnam, but in Laos and Cambodia, destabilizing those countries as well.

I think Dennis may very well be the last one standing by June if he's not the nominee. He runs a very cheap campaign, and he's got the money to stay in the race until the end. He may be the last alternative available to the "Anybody but Kerry/Edwards/whoever" crowd.

[Iverson]

14. yes, similar to Nixon and conservative Dems

Whether one called it "Vietnamization" or something else, the mainstream bought (or sold) the idea that it was a noble cause. Anti-war protestors were marginalized as awful hippies, but at least the anti-war contingent had a voice in the Democratic Party and even a nominee in 1972.

You see the respect for George McGovern around here. The less said on that count the better.

Of course, the dirty hippies were right, as their counterparts are today. Details, details.

[Taeger]

31. We need help hollywood

We need someone to do an "Apocalypse Now" remake staged in Iraq. The protaganist would run up the Euphrates trying to find a renegade Colonel who has realized the whole campaign is full of shit!!!!!

[IrateCitizen]

16. This Will Marshall guy is f***ing clueless!!!

Perhaps most demonstrated by his call for more light infantry to be deployed to the region in order to engage in more joint US/Iraqi policing efforts. :wtf:

Anybody who knows ANYTHING about the military knows that policing is just about the LAST THING you want to have light infantry doing. Why? Because they are trained to carry out combat operations, not policing duties. Only military police are really trained for policing duties -- and already something like 90% of all MP's are called up for active duty.

If you're foolish enough to put light infantry in a policing mode, two things will happen. First, the US troops will begin to sustain heavy casualties by being put out in the open in a role they are completely untrained for. Second, the US troops will start engaging in reprisal raids each time they are attacked, further aggravating the Iraqi populace, leading to even more attacks.

This guy is completely indicative of the mindset that gets US forces into even MORE trouble abroad after they have been placed in harm's way only as a means to extend the US military "footprint". He's too filled with a mixture of historical ignorance and hubris to admit that we were wrong to go in in the first place, coupled with even more hubris in thinking that he can come up with some plan to win an unwinnable situation.

Hell, why doesn't he propose deploying more armor units while he's at it so that M1 Abrams tanks flood the streets due to the lack of patrol cars??? :eyes:

[Iverson]

19. The important thing is that he supports the war

... unlike those damn peacenicks who have so much in common with Donald Rumsfeld. Learned your lesson yet?

:thumbsdown:

[Ficus]

18. HAHAHAHA!

Kucinich = Rumsfeld

now I've seen everything

[charlie]

27. Nice

Gratuitously smear a Democrat and laud the PNAC ambitions of the most malevolent presidency of my lifetime

"The administration has rightly made the democratic transformation of the greater Middle East the grand American project of the 21st century. That job starts in Iraq. If we fail here, our hopes for liberalizing the region will be stillborn..."

Of course, next column Marshall will return to his schtick -- blaming everyone to his left for fracturing the Democratic coalition -- without so much as a pause to enjoy the irony.

[redqueen]

28. Pretty much par for the course where the DLC is concerned

Why do you think so many grassroots Democrats HATE them? They have put the slide to the right into overdrive, and they're proud of it!

[charlie]

30. I used to have a copy of one his columns

I'll rummage around, see if I still have it -- where he goes off on the nascent Iraq war opposition building amongst progressive Dems. It was his usual boilerplate tripe, a litany of Democrats past who were "strong on defense", assertions that a "muscular foreign policy" was the province of true Democrats, we were never historically "weak on security", blah, blah. Four long pages of it. But not once in the article did he actually define what a "muscular foreign policy", etc, would be, except to say that resisting Dubya's Iraq folly wasn't it. The thing was larded with testorone-fueled buzzwords, but no actual policy. You could smell the desperation of a man watching his party miss the grand opportunity to smack a no-count country against the wall and settle once and for all that it could be as steely-eyed as the Republicans.

[The Sushi Bandit]

13. They will once Dean drops out!

Dennis is the conscience of the party

[Cuban_Liberal]

17. Who said that?

I don't believe that's a widely-shared opinion.

[John_H]

15. Somebody needs to save Dennis from himself

If he polls in low single digits after the midwest, he needs to go along with Dean or risk looking like a lunatic who does not deserve to serve in the senate instread of an optimist visionary who does.

[Iverson]

22. Perhaps Will Marshall.

He already thinks that Dennis Kucinich looks like a lunatic, or at least like Donald Rumsfeld.

[IrateCitizen]

23. I think the Will Marshall piece deserves its own thread

It's just demonstrative of how completely out-of-touch the DLC is/has become, IMHO.

Then again, I'm just one of those whacked-out peaceniks who opposed the imperial invasion/occupation (I refuse to refer to it as a "war"), and is therefore one degree of separation away from Don Rumsfeld.... :eyes:

[redqueen]

24. Regardless of where the blame lands

Kay, bush's handpicked stooge, just had to admit in front of God and everybody that there were no WMD stockpiles.

Do you really think, as the deaths mount, and the costs spiral, that people will see the only guy who not only recognized the truth, but spoke up about it and acted on it as a 'lunatic'? I don't.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

25. LMAO!

Yes, I agree with Kucinich. He'll come out of nowhere and win handily! I predict 50% of the vote for him, in at least thirty of the upcoming states.

I mean, Kucinich has been right about everything so far, and he isn't idealistic, so why not just believe him?

[IrateCitizen]

29. Well, he sure as hell was right on Iraq!

And if you bother to listen to anything he says or read any of his speeches, you'd find that he's pretty dead-on with many domestic problems we are facing as well.

Of course, if you're basing your opinion on what the media reports, it's easy to arrive at the conclusion you did.

If you want to talk about just the statement he made regarding getting the nomination, that's one thing. But to try and extend that statement to cover everything that he and his campaign have stood for thus far is just disingenuous.

[youngred]

40. Sarcasm noted

but you're right, he isn't an just idealist, he's a pragmatic idealist and he's been damn nigh on right about all his positions so....

[revcarol]

26. If you want the troops out of Iraq, send him five bucks.

If you want a real surge toward energy independence, send him five bucks.

If you want universal health care, send him five bucks.

Let's keep him in the race, have him stay the course,and see.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

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

[IrateCitizen]

33. Ahh... just like clockwork

Your thought-provoking insight is always much appreciated, dolstein.

[rucky]

34. Is this what you mean by having a "real debate"? n/t

[IrateCitizen]

35. Yes. Except instead of "taking shots" at Kerry...

... he's taking them at Kucinich.

Wasn't that the reason that dolstein called for winnowing the debate field? Because with 6 people up there, nobody would be able to "take shots" at Kerry?

And yet I sometimes still wonder at the sorry state of politics in this country. :eyes:

[charlie]

36. Not as long as DLCers have been snorkeling Dubya's crack

n/t

[redqueen]

37. LOL

gotta love those DLC candidates!

:puke:

[underpants]

38. Glad to hear it --I was torn between him and Moseley Braun

Now that I know that he will win it I don't have to worry about making that decision though I must say I am kind of upset that the press is making this decision for me.

[mvd]

42. Go Dennis!

I hope he is right.

[redqueen]

43. Well really it's not up to him - he's counting on Dem voters

Apparently they're too busy making excuses for their candidates' decisions to tell bush 'I got yer back' on his WMD lies.

[mvd]

44. Yes, I knew that

And it would be sweet justice if the voters put him over the top! :hi:

[redqueen]

45. Yes it certainly would

But judging by the excuse making, we've got a lot of work to do!

:hi:

[Nederland]

46. That would be anti-Democratic

If the convention delegates gave the nomination to Kucinich they would basically be ignoring the wishes of millions of primary voters who had the opportunity to vote for him but chose otherwise. I can't imagine why any Kucinich supporter would be in favor of that. The primary voters have spoken. So far a large number have said they prefer Kerry, a fairly large number have said they prefer Edwards or Clark, a handful have said they prefer Dean. Hardly any of them have said they prefer Kucinich. Those are the facts.

To ignore those facts and give the nod to Kucinich would be to ignore the will of the people.

[stickdog]

47. I predict that I'll sleep with Shannon Elizabeth tonight.

Sweet.

[Nederland]

48. Sweet

You the man!