Kucinich talks with Democracy Now about platform language (Iraq)

[G_j]

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/14/1410234

Did Dennis Kucinich Sell Out Anti-War Democrats?


Democratic Party delegates supporting presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich struck a deal this weekend with representatives of John Kerry over the Party's stance on the Iraq war. The deal happened this weekend at the Democratic Party Platform convention in Miami. Kucinich's delegates withdrew their proposal for a quick withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.
The critical paragraph was worked out in negotiations led by Sandy Berger, who was President Bill Clinton's national security adviser.

It pledges to remove American troops "when appropriate so that the military support needed by a sovereign Iraqi government will no longer be seen as the direct continuation of an American military presence."

Ana Dias, the chief sponsor of the pullout proposal, said Kucinich had called off his forces. Dias is a delegate from Hawaii and she told The New York Times she was "terribly disappointed" not to get a vote on the issue, but added, "We do want to be unified."

Berger characterized those he was negotiating with as "a group of people who want to win." Berger added, "We didn't give up anything."

The platform retains a sentence that the antiwar delegates originally found objectionable stating that "people of good will disagree about whether America should have gone to war in Iraq."


Rep. Dennis Kucinich, U.S. Congressman from Ohio and a Democratic presidential candidate.

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RUSH TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: We're joined right now by the democratic presidential candidate, Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich. Welcome to Democracy Now!.

..more..

[4_Legs_Good]

1. Woo hooo!

I didn't get a chance to see the show this morning, but hey! I got TiVo now! Mwah hah hah

I love Amy and Dennis together! Will watch tonight.

david

[mike_c]

2. You can stream it right now....

http://www.democracynow.org/streampage.pl

[4_Legs_Good]

3. Feh! stupid work

I sometimes try that, but in cubeland it's hard to hit the volume loud enough that I can hear it, but quiet enough that I don't disturb others.

Thanks for the link, though!

david

[G_j]

4. snippet:

<snip>

"AMY GOODMAN: Will you stand with people outside the Convention in Boston who are protesting war, protesting the vice-presidential and presidential democratic nominees who both supported the invasion?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: I'll be participating in events inside and outside the Convention and I expect to, you know, a number of the people who will be there are people I've urged to come. Again, the Democratic Party has to have enough resilience to be able to create challenges such as we brought to the Platform Committee. At the same time, be able to countenance challenges at the Convention, both inside and outside. But I also think that, you know, we have to ask, do we want another four years of George Bush? And-- or his policies. And I think that we can find a different direction with John Kerry. It's something that I'm going to work with Senator Kerry on to achieve. And at the same time, I think that there are Americans who realize that not only the war, but there are so many policies that we have to work for change and I'm going to keep working within the Democratic Party. Again, it is not that easy to do, as we saw in Miami. But I think that we also have seen in state after state, eight states where they adopted language supporting a department of peace, that there is a movement inside the party, for a more progressive position. And so if we don't get what we want today, it doesn't mean that we quit and walk away. It means that we continue our efforts until we finally win.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you get to address the Convention?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Yes.

AMY GOODMAN: Will you be criticizing its stance on the invasion?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Yes. "

[redqueen]

6. Kick

"there is a movement inside the party, for a more progressive position. And so if we don't get what we want today, it doesn't mean that we quit and walk away. It means that we continue our efforts until we finally win."

[truthspeaker]

5. I find that sentence objectionable as well!

I'd like to see it reworded thusly:

There are still a few morons who think America should have gone to war in Iraq, but they have no place in the Democratic party.

[G_j]

7. lol !