Thank you Dennis Kucinich

[info being]

I supported and caucused for Dennis Kucinich because he was the candidate who spoke for me. When it was clear that his campaign was a long-shot, he told us that he'd keep fighting for the dream that his platform might be adopted by the Nominee. It sounded impossible, but we had no other choice but to believe.

Last night, aside from channeling Kennedy, Truman, and all of the other great Liberals of the past, I know that John Kerry was channeling Dennis Kucinich as well. I broke down and sobbed when he spoke of healthcare as a right. I continued sobbing tears of joy when he talked of bringing the UN in and bringing our troops home. My jaw dropped when he spoke of corporate wellfare...raising taxes on the rich. All of it.

I sent a thank-you note to Dennis Kucinich because I know John Kerry listened to him and listened to us.

Thank you Dennis Kucinich, and thank you John Kerry.

[JohnKleeb]

1. dont know about some of you but those were my one and two choices

Kerry and Kucinich are both great. He also channeled Kucinich but didnt exactly say what he would say but same message, he spoke about the fearmongreling. I am glad Kerry had a great speech too, personally wasnt surprised though, I know Kerry has a lot of potential.

[Fovea]

2. It is very comforting to hear

that our candidate also believes in Dennis Kucinich's America.
I think he will create as much of it as he believes possible.

THis is good, because community, justice, and peace are the only true realpolitik.

[JohnKleeb]

3. it is great, isnt it

He plays the role of a moderate but Kerry in fact has a progressive agenda, thats why I supported him 2nd after Dennis, because I knew this was a man like Dennis inspired by the beliefs of RFK, and other great dems.

[redqueen]

4. From me as well... thank you, Dennis Kucinich.

I had given up on politics and politicians. Now I know I can help make a difference, for my children, my country, myself, and the world.

[Kanary]

5. Yes, Dennis is having an effect!

What was even better, was this morning I saw him on Democracynow!, taped from yesterday, when he was out speaking to a crowd of anti-war protesters who had suddenly been surrounded by storm troopers, and the situation was escalating. Dennis agreed with them, let them know he is completely on their side, let them continue to shout their disapproval of the war and the interloper in the WH, and as they started to wind down, he told them that the number one job to do right now is get the jerk out of the WH, and then work for a rapid end to the war, and he'd be right there with them, supporting them, and working to end the war, and bring about other changes.

Dennis is wonderful in his knowledge of and concern for people. He doesn't work by trying to control people, he works by listening, and understanding and pledging his support. We could ALL learn that lesson from him!!

I was never prouder of being a Kucitizen, as when I saw him this morning!

It's really a shame that this side of him is *never* shown to the public, and that this nation is so immature they won't elect a man of his stature.

WE all lose.

Kanary

[info being]

6. Last night, after the historic speech...

The camera panned past Kucinich. Along with Sharpton, he was ALL SMILES, but interestingly, even at that wonderful moment, he was LISTENING intently to someone at his side. Dennis speaks for us because he listens.

[Kanary]

9. His LISTENING is true peace-making!

And, that smile of his is so infectious, and so beautiful.

I didn't see him, but wasn't watching the screen every moment. Hopefully, the friend recording it got that part.

Do you suppose we'll ever be ready to elect a person of his magnitude to HIGH office?

:hi:

Kanary

[info being]

16. I think we just might. His name just might be John Kerry.

[Kanary]

18. completely different order of magnitude

[JohnKleeb]

7. the real tragedy to me is most of the public doesnt know Kucinich is even

I could hear of what I believed in Kucinich about when I heard Kerry speak last night, no outsourcing of jobs which is something that Kucinich and Gephardt both deserve props for, he also brought up the fear mongreling as well which was a Kucinich point, not only that, Kerry thanked his former opponents for teaching him and helping him, it was a gracious thing to do.

[lostnfound]

12. Me too! The fact that he was out there talking with protestors

and listening, and a credible member-in-good-standing of their movement, was awesome.

If we had a 100 more like him in Congress we'd be in great shape.

[Kanary]

19. Even 50 more like Dennis......

Y'know, it gets really hard sometimes "settling".......

Just the image you brought up made me breathe better.....

sigh....

Kanary

[eridani]

38. That's our job--

--to GET 100 more like him in Congress, starting now.

[lottie244]

8. I'll add my thanks to Dennis also.

Thank you Dennis.

[G_j]

10. thank you Dennis!

:loveya: :yourock: :loveya:

[cheezus]

11. I'm a progressive for John Kerry

I'd love the Kooch to be president, but I'm for progress. And moving from Bush to John Kerry is rapid progress. In the end, ideas are more important than the man, and our man is embracing the ideas of Dennis. Before last night I was voting against Bush, but now I'm 100% behind John Kerry. He spoke to us, he spoke to middle america, he spoke to the republican that feels left behind. He made it clear that we have a big tent, and that our core values are AMERICAN values.

[never_get_over_it]

13. Can you explain to me the difference

between a liberal and a progressive?

[cheezus]

14. sure thing, in my mind it is this:

liberal is an ideology

progressive is a way of getting it done

[never_get_over_it]

15. OK I must be really thick

because I have no idea what your answer means. I guess I asked the question because I think alot of liberals call themselves progressives because liberal has turned into a dirty word. I guess I want to start taking the term back - I think John Kerry went a long way in this convention to take back the term family values - I'm just sick of playing on their terms -

Another example is pro-life - they have no right to claim that phrase what am I pro-death - no I'm pro-choice and they are anti-choice.

[IrateCitizen]

20. Liberals seek to tweak the status quo, progressives seek to change it.

If you're interested in some of the roots of progressivism, I would suggest you review some of the history of one of the nation's finest Senators, Robert Marion "Fighting Bob" LaFollette, a progressive Republican from Wisconsin back in the early part of the 20th century.

You can read a little bit about him by going to http://www.fightingbob.com. After reading his "About Fighting Bob" piece, the difference should be pretty clear.

[no name no slogan]

22. Try this one on:

You know that old proverb "Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime."? Well, start with that line, and then add these phrases to it to get an example of each philosophy:

CONSERVATIVE
"Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. But make it damn near impossible for him to get a good fishing pole."

LIBERAL
"Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. And if he can't catch any fish, give him one of your own once in a while."


PROGRESSIVE
"Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime. But how do they expect us to catch any fish in a dry lakebed? And why aren't the Conservative and Liberal sharing the fish they're not eating?"

[DemBones DemBones]

29. Great! I'm copying that! I'll also suggest "The Progressive"

which has been published since 1909.

A subscription is only $12 a year for 12 issues (yes, $1 an issue), they post a lot of articles at their site for free, and will even send you a free copy of the magazine.

http://www.progressive.org

[no name no slogan]

35. My favorite mag!

Right from the heart of LaFollette country, too! We in the midwest may be in "flyover country", but we do know a thing or two about honest to goodness progressive politics!

:toast:

[info being]

32. Here's the wikipedia definition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism

Don't like that definition? Change it yourself!

[johnnie]

17. I was young when Dennis was the mayor of Cleveland

But even back then I thought the guy was something else. As I grew older and learned about what he did in this city, I realized the reason why I liked him back then. He is. was and always will be for the people. I don't know how much you know about his time spent in Cleveland politics, but to me it is impressive.
I supported him when he entered the ring this time and I was proud to see him the other night up on that stage. A lot of people here still tear in to Dennis, but I set them straight. The bad rap he got here has become more myth than truth and I make sure people know that if they begin bad-mouthing him.
Dennis still rocks!

[AnnInLa]

21. Can you tell us a little more?

about Dennis's time as mayor of Cleveland...give us a sense of his accomplishments? Being in Louisiana, I just had never heard of him much...didn't get to see what he was all about until I heard him speak the other night. His speech was fantastic..second only to Kerry's. He made me want to break out in song---"Imagine" by John Lennon. He reminded me of the John Kennedy idealism/toughness. Please tell us more about him!

[no name no slogan]

23. "Imagine" was actually his campaign theme song!

As a DK supporter, I played it at a couple different rallies for him.

...And you're right, he's very much of the old-school populist New Deal liberal school. He was only one of two candidates who were actually drafted by the public to run for president. Dennis made a speech called "A Prayer for America" in Feb 2002 against the march to war, which gave him widespread notoriety and compelled many to draft him to run for president.

When Dennis was mayor, he stood up to a big energy company who was trying to buy the city's publicly-owned power company. He prevented the sale, which made him VERY unpopular with big business and almost got him recalled.

The city was later forced to default on some debt obligations because the bank who held the debt would not roll it over. Coincidentally, the band and the energy company shared many directors and colluded to make Dennis look bad.

It turns out he ended up saving the city tens of billions of dollars for resisting the sale, and keeping the municipal power company out of private hands. Visit www.kucinich.us to read more about his amazing past as the "boy mayor" of Cleveland.

Incidentally, the company that tried to by the city's power company later went on to be the one that was responsible for the huge east-coast blackout in the summer of 2002. And Kucinich filed suit against them the next day for their negligence!

I have a feeling we'll be seing a lot more of Dennis in the next few yaers. This race was just the beginning. He's one of the most honest, thoughtful and courageous politicians in the country, if not the world. Even more so than Paul Wellstone in many ways (I worked on several campaigns for/with Paul, starting in 1988).

If (God forbid) Kerry loses this year, expect to see Dennis in '08.

[AnnInLa]

27. Thank you!

Thanks for the insights, and I will visit his website. In the South, it is hard to find someone (political) with that sort of integrity...I really, really hope he stays in the public eye, not only to serve as a model for integrity in politics, but in some real, tangible way. What a great addition to the Cabinet he would be...or to any other post to which he was suited.

[no name no slogan]

34. He'll be around, for a LONG time

He's the co-chair of the House Progressive Caucus, which is the largest caucus in the Democratic Party. The remnants of his organization are also sticking around, too, in a loosely-affiliated group called www.ProgressiveVote.org.

IMHO the reason Dennis was snubbed by much of the partyocracy was because of his supposed "flip-flop" on abortion rights. That kept a lot of the liberal intelligensia from embracing him wholeheartedly, despite the fact that he supported full marriage rights for gays, fully universal, single-payer healthcare, breaking up media and agribusiness monopolies, and a cabinet-level Department of Peace, among many other issues.

I first got involved in politics because of Paul Wellstone, in 1988. He helped out on a campaign that turned out one of MN's worst right-wing idealogues from the state legislature, and his energy, devotion and honesty were infectious. I was on board for Paul's first Senate race (in 1990), starting at the precinct caucus level, and was eventually a delegate to the state convention for Paul. I was on the floor for all seven ballots it took to endorse him, and his acceptance speech was something I'll always remember.

Dennis and Paul are birds of a feather. In fact, Paul was the only Senator who bothered to attend the House Progressive Caucus meetings, just so he knew what was going on! Dennis even came to Minnesota to campaign for Paul in his last campaign in 2002, when he was in a tough race with Norm Coleman.

As much as I loved Paul, Dennis stands higher in my esteem. He has displayed unbelievable courage in the face of adversity, coming up from the poor streets of Cleveland (even living in a car as a boy, sometimes) and serving his country well in many public offices. He is truly a humble politician, with a net worth of approx. $30,000-- compare that to your typical millionaire who serves in the US Government. He not only "talks the talk", but truly "walks the walk".

If Kerry/Edwards don't win this year, expect the "Kucinich '08" draft to start November 3rd. :D

[Kanary]

28. And "Seabicuit" is his theme! ^_^

Is there ANY other candidate who ran a "pay as you go" campaign, and ended with NO debts?

Kanary

[DemBones DemBones]

24. Ann, I am more proud of having voted for Dennis this year than of

any other vote I've ever cast and this is my tenth presidential election as a voter!

You can learn a lot about Dennis from his website

http://www.kucinich.us

I'd suggest starting with his speech "A Prayer for America" because that was my first acquaintance with him. The speech was widely posted on the internet and, after reading it, more than 20,000 people e-mailed him and asked him to run for president.

Something else I read early on was an article by Studs Terkel. I believe it's called "Kucinich is the One" and it may be at Dennis's site, too. I'll have to look. Studs first interviewed Dennis when DK was the "boy mayor" of Cleveland, elected when he was 31.

Here's another URL I have in my bookmarks, an article/ interview by Ruth Conniff of "The Progressive," a great magazine with lots available online:

http://www.progressive.org/april03/conn0403.html

We need more people like Dennis in politics.

[johnnie]

25. Honestly...

Hid bio on his official page has some great information about him. in Cleveland. The Cleveland Power battle was the one that he is remembered by the most. Unfortunately, most people remember it in a bad way.
http://www.kucinich.us/about.php

[DemBones DemBones]

30. The Cleveland media was in league with the corporate types who

wanted to take over the municipal power company, right? So when Mayor Kucinich wouldn't play ball with the special interests, and kept his promise to the voters that he would not sell Muni Light, the media campaigned to defeat him. Really a nasty business, from what I've read.

Is that about right? What do you remember as specifics -- like how the media operated against DK?

[johnnie]

26. Honestly

His bio on his official page has some great information about him. in Cleveland. The Cleveland Power battle was the one that he is remembered by the most. Unfortunately, most people remember it in a bad way.
http://www.kucinich.us/about.php

[info being]

31. Too bad you didn't watch him in the Democratic debates

In my opinion, he won every single one of them, though he had just a small fraction of the time the others had to speak. His speech at the convention actually wasn't that good. I think he tamed it down because he knew that he already had won...John Kerry did his talking for him.

[DemBones DemBones]

33. It bothered me that Dennis had an early slot and

Al Sharpton and Joe Lieberman both got primetime slots. Joe was a previous VP nominee, of course, so I guess he had to be honored that way, but Al has never held office, didn't do well in the primaries, quit campaigning long ago, while Dennis has held office much of his life, did better than Al in the primaries, and stayed the course until the primaries were over, keeping his promise to do so. I always like to hear Al, but think Dennis deserved as good a slot. Dennis wuz robbed!

[genius]

36. Check out this article

http://debateusa.com/featured/hull_richter.htm

[Kanary]

41. *Wonderful* article! Thanks!

Too bad it's written by a 13-year-old, which means most people won't see it. It's quality enough for a editorial in most papers, and that's where it should be.

Sure makes me realize, if I didn't already, just how hard Dennis is working.

Kanary

[rucky]

37. I am very happy to have Kerry as the nominee

thanks to the work of Dennis Kucinich and all of us who supported him in the primary.

[yardwork]

39. I want to thank Dennis Kucinich too.

I joined DU after the primaries and didn't really have a dog in the fight. I was ABB.

The more I learned about Kucinich's stands, the more I saw how similar they are to my own. I admire and appreciate his courage, honesty, and plain hard work to continue getting that message across. Like Dean, Kucinich helped keep the Democratic Party focused on our core beliefs this year.

Also, I have been very impressed by the civility and kindness of Dennis Kucinich supporters on this board. While steadfastly supporting your candidate, you have also been supportive of the Party's nominee. I never saw a post with Kucinich icons that attacked another candidate or complained about anything.

You guys are a class act. It says a lot about the candidate you support, and I'll remember it.

We haven't heard the last of Dennis Kucinich.

[JohnKleeb]

42. they're a tough bunch too

Remind me of lot of the Kerry supporters who stuck by their guy even when it seemed impossible. Well guys, our guy got 2nd place technically at the convention but I am sure will always be first place in your heart. I love both John Kerry and Dennis Kucinich a lot, these two are two great leaders in our times.

[eridani]

40. Thank you for asking be to become a Democrat

I voted Nader in 2000, but all he ever asked of his supporters was to go to the rallies, donate money, and vote. Kucinich asked his supporters to join local Democratic organizations, become PCOs, and canvass their neighborhoods.

This is the first time I've seriously participated in electoral politics since 1968. I've been political, but it has always been single issues like abortion rights, gay rights, single payer health care et al. It's like the other half of politics has never existed for me until now.