Transcription of Kucinich on Randi Rhodes

[eridani]

For those of us with slow downloads--

http://www.kucinich.us/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=31921&highlight=#31921



DENNIS: Thank you Mr. Murtha and the Out of Iraq Caucus.

The president will not bring an end to this war. He says it's a decision for the next president. But he's building permanent bases in Iraq, and he's determined to keep 50 thousand troops in Iraq, into the distant future.

This Congress may not bring an end to this war because the real power to end the war is the cut-off of funds. Congress keeps appropriating funds in the name of the troops, and the troops will stay in Iraq instead of coming home.

Only the American people can bring an end to this war, as they brought an end to the Viet Nam war. Let this be a time of stirring of civic soul. It's a time for a reawakening of civic conscience.

There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But there are WMDs in D.C. Lies are weapons of mass destruction. Twenty-five hundred soldiers dead; over ten thousand innocent Iraqis have died.

It's time for an end to our national sleepwalk through the graveyard of the Iraq war. It's time for truth. The time for clarity. A time for action. A time for teach-ins, for meet-ups, for marches, for rallies about the war to begin at college campuses, at churches, at labor halls, and libraries. Time to gather in civic centers, in town halls, to discuss the truth about this war and to plan civic action to end it. Time for the American people to exercise their First Amendment rights. To stand up and speak out. Time to redirect the policies of this country. Time to learn and practice peaceful, nonviolent conflict resolution. Time to believe in our capacity to evolve beyond war. To believe and act under the belief that war is not inevitable. And peace is inevitable if we're ready to commit to the daily work of peace-building everywhere.

The global war on terror has become a global war of error. Attacking or threatening countries which did not attack us. Bombing neighborhoods to save neighborhoods. Committing atrocities in the name of stopping atrocities. Losing our vision. Losing our way in the world. Sacrificing our children and their future. Giving up their future resources - for education, for health care, for housing. Piling it all high on the alter of war and worshiping a false god of destruction.

When we begin these proceedings with this remembrance: "Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory," we're not talking about any nation. We're talking about a force which is above all of us. The world is not ours to conquer. There's not glory in the abuse of power.

This president will not bring an end to this war, absent the Murtha resolution. This Congress may not bring an end to this war. But the American people certainly will bring an end to this war. They will do it in the streets, and they will do it at the ballet box. And the American people will become the Out of Iraq Caucus.





RANDI: That is just stunning.

You know, what kills me: why I get so heated with some callers is because they say, "Where are the Democrats?" And unless you watch C-SPAN in the morning, or unless you watch when the House is in session; unless you listen and watch and pay attention and work towards finding the Democrats, hearing the Democrats...You won't hear them on the shows. You're not going to see them on Meet the Press.

Now I will tell you this: Dennis Kucinich - who is the man you just heard, the Democrat from Ohio - did hold himself out for the people to vote "yes" or "no." As a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. And it was stunning, because he was able to figure out that, by holding himself out for ridicule and scorn, by opening up his personal life, by saying 'I am a congressman from Ohio, but it doesn't matter; anybody can be president of the United States. Why not me? Why not me?' he was able to get his voice out there. He was able to get on the Sunday shows. He was able to get the invitations that are never extended to Democrats, like the Honorable Congressman Dennis Kucinich, who we've asked to join us today for the next hour to talk about government, and liberty, and security, and matters of war and peace.

Hi, Dennis.

DENNIS: Randi, thank you very much for that very kind introduction and for playing that speech, which I gave on the floor of the House of Representatives in support of John Murtha's resolution.

RANDI: I watch in the morning, and I see this stuff, and I try and record it and bring it in and play it on the air, and people still call and ask, "Where are the Democrats? Where are the Democrats? Where are the Democrats?" And I tell them: "They're there. They're speaking; they're talking; they're yelling; they're screaming. But they don't get the invitations."

When I do the little talk shows - or the big ones, actually - I always have to be there with 12 Republicans or 10 Republicans or 3 Republicans. It's never a conversation about war and peace. There's never a conversation about liberty and security. There's never a conversation about government, corruption, deception, or how we got here and how we get there.

So I thought: "I don't know anybody more eloquent, more dedicated to the cause of peace and to the solutions that plague us now, than you." And so I asked for an hour with you, instead of just the normal interview.

So I guess my first question is for the audience: What is our foreign policy? What is it?

DENNIS: Well, our foreign policy is a disaster. But let's look at what its origins are. You have to go back to the Project for the New American Century, before the Bush Administration came to office. Because the central policy makers in the Administration were, early on, looking for a way to justify a policy of preemptive war; preventive war. And Iraq was the first opportunity to strike. There are other targets, of course.

The Bush policy has been one of deception and destruction; and it's based on grand misassumptions about the nature of the world: that, somehow, we can have a Pax (that's P-A-X) Americana, which has become a pox (P-O-X Americana), that we can impose upon the world. The narrow view of some of our leaders that they can achieve a type of hegemony for the purpose of securing not just the narrow economic needs of a few contractors but control over a good part of the world's oil supply, to militarize our society, to destroy any hope of a social program or commitment in our country.

I would believe, as someone who is familiar with American history, that this is one of the most perilous moments in the history of our country, because the very constitutional basis of governance is under assault. The president has assumed the ability to make war, bypassing Congress. He's trying to nullify Congress with so-called signing statements that pick and choose which laws he wants to abide by.

Where do you start, about our foreign policy, except to say Iraq was based on lies? And so much of what we are doing right now in the Middle East is based on lies. Until we are ready to create a moment of truth, we'll have great difficulty bringing about the reconciliation, which Americans really yearn for.

The people of this country are not people who hunger for war, although some of our leaders do. They're not people who are in love with violence, although some of our leaders are. They're people who try to live out their own lives in a way that supports their families and supports their vision; and there are a lot of people who just feel totally helpless to be able to respond to these times.

And so what I try to do, as one individual, is to try and point a direction which gives people hope, which is the end of fear, the beginning of hope. And do it through practical means. Through showing that we can work to create a Department of Peace and Nonviolence. There are 74 members of Congress who are doing that and more who are about to join us. Through creating with my wife something that we'll be announcing more formally in a couple of weeks called the 9/10 Forum: going back to describing "Who were we before 9/11?" Of course there are myths involved in that, but looking at "How can take our highest aspirations, reclaim them, and make them part of the America of our hopes?" And also putting together a new social network on the Internet that's designed to assure peace through communication, with a dramatically new means of communicating across national boundaries through multilingual programs.

There are practical ways that are starting to emerge. And not just through myself but through many people all over the country, looking for ways to reclaim the kind of a world that is gentle, that is peaceful, that is possible. And at the same time it's mindful of the challenges we are presented with but responds in a way that doesn't create this self-fulfilling prophecy of doom.

RANDI: Well, you know it is that foreign policy that you began to talk about - the neoconservative Project for the American Century, the whole Pax Americana - a unipolar moment theory that said that America was as strong as it has ever been, which is true. And that they were going to use that for something. That unipolar moment where America was the last great power. That could have been used for good. That could have been used to build multinational coalitions, to end poverty, to eliminate joblessness, to cure disease, to end hunger, to bring fresh water. It could have been used for a million things. They used it for unitary power in a unipolar way.

DENNIS: You know, the idea of power is something that's worth looking at here.

RANDI: Well then let me take a break, and you can say what you see when you see people be imbued with the awesome power of the American people's vote, or the awesome power of the American military. You know, you've served through many presidents. It would be interesting to see the differences between how power is being wielded now and how it used to be or could be wielded better. So hold on a second.

We're speaking to Dennis Kucinich, who is the Democrat from Ohio who ran for the presidency and held himself open for a lot of negativity, which is what happens when you run for public office. He's still a congressman, he's got to hold himself out for election and re-election again in November. Nobody worries about Dennis Kucinich. Everybody says "When you listen to Dennis Kucinich, you can't do any better." And that's the truth. So why don't you see Dennis Kucinich on TV. Or why don't you see Maxine Waters on TV. Or why don't you see any Democrats who do a good deal of talking about issues of war and peace, liberty and security, corruption and deception, how we got here, how we get out of here. Why don't you see them?



RANDI: We're having a conversation with Congressman Dennis Kucinich today about war and peace, about government corruption and deception, and liberty and security - how can you do both.

I will ask some of the questions that were posted for you, Dennis, on my message board, that are so thoughtful and so really good. But first I just wanted to go back to what we were just talking about: How different administrations or different presidents wield power. Is arrogant foreign policy always going to create war and terrorism?

DENNIS: Well, aggressive war puts us in a position where we lose the respect of nations. And I think that we are in an aggressive war right now, which has undermined support for the United States around the world.

Throughout U.S. history, there have been just concerns expressed about U.S. policy really carrying out the narrow designs of various corporate interests to assure a kind of economic hegemony.

RANDI: Isn't that basically fascism? Aggression for the sake of corporate hegemony, or a government that takes its cues and is owned by corporations? Isn't that fascism?

DENNIS: Well, some can call it fascism, and some can call it business as usual.



DENNIS: I think that what we have to do is look at "How is our national interest defined?" "Who's defining it?" and "Does it really represent the broad-based interests of the American people?" And that's something that is always problematic.

Now, let's go to what we know about this moment. This Administration told the American people that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. That turned out to not be true. They made a persistent effort to link Iraq with 9/11. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. When the true pillars of their case for solving Iraq crumbled, they then tried to say, "Well, we had to get rid of Saddam Hussein."

If the president had come before Congress at the beginning and said, "I want you to commit hundreds of billions of dollars and the lives of thousands of troops and their families - because the families' lives change as well - and suffer tens of thousands of long-term casualties in the form of injuries, and kill over 100,000 Iraqis, so that we can get rid of Saddam Hussein,

RANDI: Yeah...

DENNIS: I don't think anyone would have bought that, because there are plenty of people around the world with whom we can have strong disagreements about the way that they govern their county, and yet we don't have the right to go in and remove them, just as we don't want China or some other nation relieving us of our suffering under a certain Administration.



DENNIS: We just have to realize that in a community of nations, there's a fragile compact that sharply limits the use of the power of war. This Administration abused that and has put America in a situation where we basically have gone down a kind of a rabbit hole. And we've come out into a whole new world of terror at every turn, where people now can't even take toothpaste on an airline without that being seen as some kind of an agent of terrorism. And we're being told that we're safer?

I mean, my God; what have they done to our nation? They have degraded our Constitution. They have created a fence, in effect, around America. They've militarized the thought in our society. They've hijacked the Bill of Rights. They've taken us on a path that has disconnected us from our deep inner connection to liberty. And they call that a government.

RANDI: It's so specific, you know? It's like "You will do this action everyday. You will take off your shoes. You will surrender a lighter. You will not pack lotions." And really, shouldn't we be cross-checking people against a terror watch list; putting air marshals on every plane?

I have to take a break. We'll be back with Congressman Kucinich right after the break.



RANDI: Thirty-four after with Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio. And we were just on the verge of, I think, having a conversation about civil liberties vs. security. I mean, my question is: If you really cared about civil liberties, wouldn't we be checking people's names against the terror watch list? Wouldn't we be more careful about how we actually made sure people's names who needed to be on the terror watch list would get on the terror watch list? Wouldn't we have air marshals? Wouldn't we have the cargo that flies with us screened? These kinds of things.

DENNIS: And wouldn't we start an exploration into the fact of cause and effect and the science of cause and effect so that we could come to an understanding of how terrorists emerge? How terrorists are created? And the role that policy can play in causing people to feel that they cannot peacefully coexist with the United States of America?

I mean, one of the problems that has come up since 9/11 is that we basically suspended the laws of cause and effect. It's all been about attacks on the United States. But how have we made the United States safer by killing over 100,000 innocent Iraqis? How do we make the United States safer by standing on the sidelines while violence wracks the entire Middle East? How do we make America safer by insisting that we have a right to unilateralism? That we have a right to arm ourselves with nuclear weapons to the teeth, but no other nation has that right unless we say they have that right?

We are really trying to construct an alternate reality in which we are the only aggrieved parties in the world, and we suffer the only losses. And when we do that, we separate ourselves from the rest of humanity. And I will tell you, Randi, that all across America there are people whose hearts are open. There are people who believe that the world is interconnected and interdependent. And that this type of thinking, which separates us from the sympathies and the concerns of the rest of the world, cannot prevail. It cannot help our nation survive. It's only when we start to connect with compassion to what's happening in the world that we can come to a kind of a policy which can provide security for Americans in the long term and also to restructure our relationship with the world.

RANDI: Well, I agree with you. And on my list of things that will make the world safer each and every day - I sit and think about these things; it's my job to do that - not only is it the mechanical things, like screening cargo and having a watch list that is put together by allies who help us with intelligence. Scotland Yard works with the FBI; CIA works with MI5; Pakistani ISI works with Mossad. All these things are very technical - law enforcement and intelligence operations.

But again, that's why I started the conversation with you about the arrogance of our foreign policy. Does that not go to the root cause of making more terrorists?

DENNIS: Of course it does. And you have to keep in mind: everyone who flies has an absolute right to be safe. However, how is it that people keep on looking for ways to attack America? Could the fact that we have spent over $300 billion wrecking Iraq have anything to do with it? Could the fact that we stand on the sidelines in the Middle East and don't use our influence to try and end the suffering of all sides? Could that have anything to do with it? Could the fact that our leaders take an approach which engenders enemies by declaring an Axis of Evil, creating polarities, setting aside the hopes of people to be able to talk to each other, despite the differences that do exist?

We basically have set forth a foreign policy which not only guarantees that there's increased risk for travel but it may at some point substantially limit the mobility of everybody in America and around the globe.

RANDI: I see it coming, too. And I say to myself, "Either we're going to be flying nude - and I'm going to be looking really ugly most of the time; no lip gloss - lip gloss, Dennis; blush; I mean, this is craziness - or flying is going to be banned in the United States for our own good and mobility will be limited. Every American will have to live in their community, and if you have to fly to work, bye-bye job: we'll find somebody else that can be there and do that job."

DENNIS: Well this corrupt foreign policy, which separates us from the rest of the world, not only has brought us the war in Iraq but has also brought us a new architecture, domestically, of the Patriot Act; the Transportation Security Administration, which was created after 9/11; the Department of Homeland Security, which spends over 40 billion a year and, generally, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing; a $300 billion war that could cost two trillion dollars, a $420 billion military budget - and it brought us the kind of indifference we've seen reflected with people drowning in their attics in New Orleans and drowning in a sea of blood in Baghdad. Just indifference, distortions of policy, a belief in war, a separation from the rest of humanity.

And yet, I tell you, Randi - and I know this from having traveled the United States - that this does not reflect the deeper yearnings of the American people, who really believe that it is possible to peacefully coexist, and it is possible to connect with people, despite differences; who believe it is possible to live in peace.

And so what we have is a world view being impressed upon the people of this country. A view of imperialism, of unilateralism, of preemption, which leads to disaster and yet the American people are looking for something else. And my responsibility, I believe, as one person - and there are others, too, in the Congress - is to present an alternative view: that we can have a life which is whole and complete, which can achieve peace through not just a different policy abroad but a different approach domestically, as well.

RANDI: All right, let me ask you two questions I get asked most often. One - the bigger question I get asked, and now I'll ask it to you - is "Do you think that things might get so dicey that martial law might be the only way to keep us safe from each other and we won't get to vote?" Do you see something like that for the mid-term elections if these polls go any lower? It seems like terror and George Bush's polls are on a pulley, and when his polling goes down, terror goes up. It's crazy, but it does seem that way.

DENNIS: We're moving in the United States from a condition where people had expected to be protected by government to a condition where we're expecting and hoping to be protected from our government. And any type of rollback of civil liberties - and we've had plenty of them since 9/11, and I was pleased to be one of the first ones in the House to point out the danger of the Patriot Act - what we've had, through the Patriot Act, the National Security Agency, the wiretapping, the spying, the gathering of databases to spy into the life of innocent Americans...

RANDI: Creating dossiers on every American.

DENNIS: Pardon?

RANDI: We're basically creating dossiers on every American.

DENNIS: Well, yes, and what we -

RANDI: You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of Germany with the IBM data punch cards. The numbers that my grandmother had - her IBM data punch card number.

DENNIS: But, understanding that exits, the next question is: "Does this represent who we are?" Or is this some narrow view that some people who are in power have some kind of a manipulative, almost a martinet approach that says "Well, we're going to tell you the freedoms that you can have," as opposed to the basic guarantees that are outlined in the Bill of Rights.

I think what we have here is a moment - and goes back to the opening of your program, where you were kind enough to cite that speech that I gave on the floor -

RANDI: That was just one of many unbelievable speeches you give.

DENNIS: Thank you, Randi. And this is a moment when we have to say "Who are we?" Are we to cower in the face of terrorism? Or do we try to find a way to change the way the world is. Not reacting to it, but fashioning new possibilities where we can deal with those who would threaten us but simultaneously create a new approach in the world where we're not creating more terrorists.

We have to reach out. Instead, we're withdrawing. We have to talk to people. Instead, we stand alone, not willing to talk to those who we describe as being threatening to us.

I mean, if John Kennedy had not opened up some kind of a line of communication with Nikita Khrushchev during those days in October in 1962, God knows what could have happened?

RANDI: Well we actually had this discussion, and I asked people, "What did they think the result of the Cuban Missile Crisis would have been if Bush were president at that moment?" A very critical moment for the whole world, for the entire globe. And people have concluded that he would not have had the patience. There would be no diplomacy, it would have been a sheer show of force, and, you know, we would have poisoned the planet for all time.

DENNIS: Well, you know, there's fantasy baseball and football that people play, based on what teams would play what teams at a given time...

RANDI: I know.

DENNIS: ...in time and space. But let me tell you: We know that the type of governance that we have right now is not sufficient for the maintenance of our civil liberties at home, for the maintenance of America's security, for the maintenance of our position in the world, for the peace of the world, for the survival of the world.

And that's why it's time to take a whole new approach, which involves reconnecting with the world. Understanding that we have to insist on international law. Understanding that it is urgent that we take steps to get rid of nuclear weapons. That we take steps to stop trying to insist on a right to military domination. That we look at our thinking.

I mean, think about this for a minute. What does a bomb represent?

RANDI: Death.

DENNIS: What does a bomb represent?

RANDI: Power. Death.

DENNIS: Right. I mean, this is a discussion that your listeners could be very helpful in. Because some might say it represents destructive thought. We have to stop making our own bombs in our own lives, every moment. We have to see the connection between ourselves and the world at large; that what's innermost becomes outermost.

Every one of us can help to build a world of peace. It's not just that it's Geoge Bush's fault that the world is tilting right now, away from its axis. It's really all of our responsibility. That's why, what I do tends to go even beyond a partisan approach to some deeper questions about what we can do as individuals, every day of our lives, to try to achieve a more peaceful world? How are our relationships that we have contributing to peace or a lack thereof? Because that microcosm becomes the macrocosm.

We cannot deny that there's a connection between who we are as individuals and what we achieve in the world. Our president is an exemplification of that.



DENNIS: Somewhere he's at war. I wish him peace, but...

RANDI: I know.

DENNIS: ...he can't achieve it. And yet he's our leader; and he then creates for us conditions of war around the world. The people who are advising him are somehow trapped into thinking that says, "You can use destructive power to achieve peace."

RANDI: Yeah...

DENNIS: It's never been that way.

RANDI: I know. And it's a very nasty cycle, once you go down that road. You can't stop. It's almost like crack cocaine, you know? Once you break a country, once you bomb a country, once you see death, it's almost like you become numb to it. You either want to break that cycle or you just keep repeating it. And I'm afraid that we've got the latter holding high office here in this country. But you're right; it does come down to the individual. It comes down to "We are a democracy. What can each one of us do?"

So I'm going to take the break now, come back, because I want to leave time for some questions. And know that they have to do with getting your vote counted and how we get out of Iraq and - you know, this one guy, Poli Sci Nut, he asked a really great question about impeachment. So those are the questions that we'll put to you when we come back. All right?

DENNIS: Okie doke.

RANDI: All right. Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio; a watchdog of democracy and a purveyor of peace. He does live it, too. He doesn't just make speeches. He's an amazing guy.



RANDI: I just want to let you know that we are talking to Representative Dennis Kucinich, the Democrat from Ohio - from Hawaii. He is in Hawaii.

He is campaigning for Senator Daniel Akaka, whom you know we love. In the Roll Call, he's the first name you hear because they call them in alphabetical order. But Senator Akaka is running for his re-election, and he's been challenged. So of course Dennis Kucinich, knowing that Senator Akaka had voted against the Iraq war, went to lend his support and is taking the time today to call us from that campaign trail in Hawaii.

So I do thank you for making this hour available, because it's very rare that you can get a Member to make an hour available. And I really appreciate it.

DENNIS: Thank you. And I am here for Senator Akaka, who has had a wonderful record of standing up against the Administration's policies in Iraq and has had great courage. Twenty-three members of the Senate voted against going to war in Iraq, and Senator Akaka was one of them.

RANDI: I know.

DENNIS: And I think it's important for the people of Hawaii to know that they have an opportunity to show their appreciation for the Senator's courage. And, of course, when I ran for president, I received very strong support out West; and in Hawaii it was substantial. And I came here to urge my supporters to get behind Senator Akaka, who really is deserving of support and whose election is important, not only for Hawaii but also for the United States.

RANDI: Well I agree. He's an honorable and wonderful man. And obviously, I watch C-SPAN enough; I know his work, and I'm really proud of you for doing this. Listen, I wanted to get to some questions; and we have about four minutes, here. Maybe three. So I'll do them really quick.

One of the questions came from Poli Sci Nut, and he had a multiple-part question. He said, "Is there ample evidence for impeachment hearings to go forward after the Democrats take back the House? Will this happen? Can we get hearings on war profiteering? Can we find out who upped the chain of command? How the military prison abuses were committed? And bring criminal charges against people, as opposed to stopping at a private or a sergeant?

DENNIS: The bottom line of his question is accountability.

RANDI: Yes.

DENNIS: And if the Democrats take back the Congress, I think you'll see for the first time accountability. I become Chair of a subcommittee that has jurisdiction over an investigative subcommittee that has jurisdiction over national security. And I certainly intend to play a part in assuring that there is accountability.

The issue of impeachment is academic until there is a change in the Congress. If a president is going to be held accountable for his decisions, then you have to have a government which really has an active check and balance. We don't have that right now.

RANDI: I know. I keep telling people, "Democrats don't have subpoena power." And they don't understand that Democrats can't hold hearings; they don't get how it works and that if you don't have the Rules Committee that you don't have the ability to have a hearing. They don't get it.

DENNIS: If the Democrats take control of the House, John Conyers is the Chair of the Judiciary Committee.

RANDI: I know.

DENNIS: Everyone who is listening knows what that means.

RANDI: Yup.

DENNIS: I think that we have to stand for the truth. And the Democrats, if they take a strong enough stand - and this is where I challenge my own Party at times - to make this illegal war an issue; to make getting out of Iraq an issue, as a Party; to talk about a new direction in the world, then we can hope to achieve the kind of support among the American people that would cause us to become the majority and take America in a new direction.

RANDI: Okay, this is from "High Seas," and he says "Hello, Congressman" - he actually wrote Senator, which I think is a good idea - but he said, "Although I think we're in Iraq on a complete lie, I feel a great sense of guilt for the Iraqi people's suffering, and this gives me pause for thinking it's proper to completely withdraw. I still wish there was a way to solve it. Could partitioning the country be a solution?"

DENNIS: No.

RANDI: Right.

DENNIS: We can't even go there, because what we're talking about is, our presence has precipitated a civil war. Until we come to the understanding that we're there illegally, that the occupation is illegal, we can't talk about a way we can protect the Iraqi people.

I will suggest, however, that we need to negotiate our withdrawal in exchange for a regional peacekeeping force that can help, or transition to control by the Iraqi people.

But they're in a civil war. Our troops are trapped right now. And we're not only trapped within the civil war. We're trapped by Iran, because all that has to happen is that the Mullahs in Iran can call down a fatwa upon our troops in Iraq, and our troops are going to get annihilated. That's another reason why we need to get out of there. It's also another reason why we need to open up talks with Iran, we need to open up talks with every enemy in the region, we need to open up talks with North Korea, we have to start using communication as a means of peace. And that's how we can help the people of Iraq, as well as the region and the world.

RANDI: Thank you so much for spending this hour with us. And I hope it won't be the last time that we spend this much time together, but at least on the air. Thank you for the hour.

DENNIS: Thanks, Randi. I want to talk to you more about the 9/10 Forum and what we're doing with them.

RANDI: We will!

[nealmhughes]

1. Thank you for the link, and as always Dennis, I love you and Bernie and

Tom Harkin so much! Especially, you, Dennis!

[renate]

2. "I wish him [ie, Bush] peace"

I admire Dennis so much. When I see Bush on TV my blood pressure goes up instantly, and to try to cope I find it really helpful to remind myself that he's a child of God (sorry for the religious overtones, but as I said, it helps me) and that God loves and cares for him just like anybody else, BUT I struggle with actually believing that. Somehow when Dennis says it, I believe that he means it. He's such a good person.

[Nutmegger]

3. 0 votes?

:kick:and:thumbsup:!

[eridani]

4. Kick for latecomers

:kick:

[CollegeDUer]

5. He's a leader and a fighter in a way the establishment dems never were

"A more multilateral foreign policy" MY ASS

"More affordable healthcare" MY ASS

"Less obsfucating" MY ASS

Kucinich knows how to speak the truth in a bold and clear way; he never triangulates for corporate politics or news bytes. He just speaks the truth. He's a King/Lennon/Gandhi; Kerry, Reid, Pelosi, and the rest of the in-the-club politicians will never be that.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. The proudest vote I ever cast

was for Kucinich in the Minnesota caucuses of 2004.