Give Dennis Kucinich His Due

[cyclezealot]

From the Nation. by Steve Cobble.
about
Steve Cobble

Steve Cobble is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and a co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org
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Five years ago, this month, the world said no to the Iraq War, with massive demonstrations all around the world involving 10 million people. In the US, more than 100,000 people came to New York City to challenge the Bush/Cheney rush to war--and one of the speakers, one of the very few elected officials to speak that day, was Dennis Kucinich.

So what, you say? Well, maybe it's time to give Dennis his due.

Compare the outpouring of affection and respect for John Edwards with the snark and abuse offered Kucinich when they each bowed out of the presidential race last month. Most liberal columnists and progressive bloggers offered kudos to Edwards for forcing and/or encouraging Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to move left on health care, on trade issues, on poverty and inequality. John and Elizabeth Edwards did exactly that, and I offer my own thanks for the issues they ran on, especially given everything that was going on in their family. They deserve our appreciation for boldly putting good issue positions on the table, fighting hard for them, and opening the door for the other candidates to get bolder, too.

But why stop there? Why not ask who opened the door for Edwards? Because on almost every issue that John Edwards battled hard on in 2007, helping move Obama and Clinton closer to the light, it's indisputable that Dennis Kucinich pushed on those same issues back in 2003, again in 2007, and every year in between. In other words, Kucinich was against the war, for fair trade, against NAFTA and the WTO, against the Patriot Act, for single-payer health care, for an infrastructure plan to rebuild America and put forward a plan to bring the troops home--all long before not just John Edwards, but long before almost anybody.

Consider the Patriot Act vote, cast by the Congress in October of 2001, only a few weeks after 9-11, in a scary time of threats and intimidation from the Bush/Cheney Administration. This vote had our lawmakers so scared that only a few brave House members stood up to oppose it, and in the Senate, only Russ Feingold had the guts to say no. But Kucinich voted no. Why? Because he read the bill. He risked his political career to oppose an intrusive, liberty-violating, fundamentally un-American bill. Very few others did, especially House members from ethnic urban districts.

So give John Edwards his due. But give Kucinich his due, too.

Because the truth is Dennis Kucinich has the best voting record in Congress of anyone from a mostly white, ethnic district. No one else who shares most of Kucinich's positions--even those who are much less outspoken than he is--also has a district like his. He's not from Berkeley or Madison. He doesn't have a huge, liberal base constituency. Dennis Kucinich is consistently braver than his district would suggest he should be; and perhaps no other progressive is as brave compared to the people they represent. If you disagree, I offer impeachment as an example. Or gay marriage. Or animal rights. Or the abolition of nuclear weapons. Or no weapons in space. Or his early opposition to pre-emptive war.

Maybe those brave votes are a big part of the reason that Kucinich currently has four opponents for his House seat, including at least one who's being massively funded by outside corporate interests. Maybe his tough race is not all due to his absences, but to his outspokenness. Maybe it's not his ears, but his votes. Maybe it's not his size that irritates the big corporate boys, but his willingness to act on his beliefs.

Maybe the special interest money that's pouring into Cleveland these days for his opponents is not really because they're dissatisfied with his constituent service, but because they don't like his commitment to ending the war economy; because they're irritated by his feistiness on behalf of canceling NAFTA, for fair trade, for living wages, for card-check union organizing; or because they hate his years of leadership on behalf of getting the insurance and drug companies out of people's health care.

Think about this: Kucinich campaigned in 2007 on almost exactly the same key issues he ran on in 2003--ending the war, fair trade, and single-payer health care for all. Since that time, the Democratic Party as a whole has moved more towards his early positions on these issues, as have all his opponents (to greater or lesser degrees) in the presidential primary last year--but he hardly moved at all. He was right then, and he's right now, on most of the fundamental issues that base Democratic voters care about.

Here's a fun experiment. Go to ActBlue right now, pick out any House candidate randomly, and see if their proposed issue positions outdo Kucinich's existing votes. And then think about the fact that progressive groups will in the coming months spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the blogosphere will correctly exalt and extol many of these challengers, and activists will offer up thousands of words and hundreds of hours and dozens of dollars each, all to elect people who do not now--and likely never will--measure up to Kucinich's existing track record.

Then consider treating him with a bit more respect

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080303/cobble

[lazyriver]

1. Big K&R for Dennis.

[MuseRider]

2. Me too!

Love the article and agree with it. Dennis is an original.

[cyclezealot]

3. Downing Street memo people

credible organization in this household. First class work.

[MuseRider]

4. My household as well.

There are some great people out there doing hero's work (REAL hero's). It is too bad it is so hard to confront and hold against the PTB anymore. Yes it is first class work. Thanks for this article, it made me smile when there has been little to smile about politically since DK dropped out.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. If you've got some extra change, send it to Dennis

he's got a fight on his hands (corporate carpbetbagger) to retain his House seat.

All contributions are appreciated. Since my conman is a repuke of the worst sort, and not likely to be gone, I've decided that I am going to support Dennis with my money and have been able to donate twice--small sums, but I like to think others are doing the same.

http://www.kucinich.us

[cyclezealot]

6. appreciate it.

lots of little contributions can add up. We sent in three checks to his Congressional race. Same for the presidential. We don't have Kucinich to lead the way for the needs of the American people, I almost think i'd be inclined to give up and not pay attention. because few others are as reliable as DK.

[caseycoon]

7. K&R for Dennis....

He's the best!

[NikolaC]

8. "Then consider treating him with a bit more respect"

Amen. I find it absolutely amazing and disheartening the amount of abuse, snide remarks and disrespect that has been hurled Dennis' way from the beginning of his run for president. The saddest thing is that it was not coming from the RW, but from our own side of the isle. Even now, there are tons of threads from supporters of one of the two Dem candidates full of accusations and love that get tons of Recs and posts. Yet, whenever there has been a thread about Dennis, it receives very few recs or posts. It's sad really that this public servant who has spent his entire career working on behalf of the people in his district and the country gets so much disrespect, or just plain ignorance about him, his stances and work.:banghead: :rant:

[eridani]

9. K&R for Dennis n/t

[Cronopio]

10. But he's got big ears! But he's a short guy! But he's unelectable!

Having the balls and the integrity to actually act like a populist and a progressive, with little consistent support from his colleagues in Congress, just doesn't seem to be good enough for American politics these days.

That's not Dennis' shame. That's the enduring shame of America and American politics.

Maybe Dennis really is just too good for the game.

[rosetta627]

11. For Dennis

The great one.
Still my candidate.
Who would already be our president if we were in a sane country.

[Briar]

12. Hear Hear

If the US really wanted change, not a feel good, fairy tale narrative built round a handsome prince, Kucinich would be the candidate.