Can anyone explain the Kucinich vote?

[serryjw]

House vote that supports Israel and hold state sponsors 'accountable' He voted 'present' WHY? didn't he vote NAY?
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll391.xml

[nealmhughes]

1. I'm sure that it was in the wording of the resolution.

Part of it mentions Israel's right to self defense and then the part of basicly unconditional support falls into play.

To vote yes is to vote for a blank check with no room to wiggle. To vote nay is to say that continued Hezbollah rockets are OK...

There was no debate, per se. No alternative resolutions were brought out of hiatus by the Speaker/leadership.

Faced with the three choices of yea, nay, or present, Dennis washed his hands.

I am sure that there were dozens of people who were troubled with the language, but what can they do?The House leadership controls everything except for the rare debate and one minute sound bites during morning business...

[blondeatlast]

2. I'm willing to bet DK did the best thing he could given the matter at hand

I think few would question Israel's right to defend itself, but most would be troubled by offering them a blank check.

[serryjw]

4. Thanks..I tend to agree

n/t

[God Almighty]

6. He showed oppostion while gaining support for cease-fire

I understand that people whose votes are needed for the cease-fire resolution were attacking anyone not voting for it. Present is a protest vote. This is the only time Dennis has done this. All the others who voted present are co-sponsors of his cease-fire resolution which he put forth prior to the vote. I think Dennis would have beeen better off voting a straight nay, but that might have cost him votes on the cease-fire. Also, if you add the nays to the presents to the non-votes, you only have a little over a dozen that didn't vote for it - not enough to stop it. I'm sure that if a nay had had any different effect than a present, Dennis would have voted nay instead of present.

[Cocoa]

3. politics

approximately 400 congressmen voted on that resolution based on election politics. Kucinich's voting nay wouldn't have helped anyone in the Middle East, but it could hurt him and other Ohio dems in November.

[scarletwoman]

5. Kucinich introduced a resolution of his own - write your rep to support it

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.CON.RES.450:

H. CON. RES. 450

Calling upon the President to appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence and to commit United States diplomats to multi-party negotiations with no preconditions.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 19, 2006

Mr. KUCINICH (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. LEE, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. FILNER, Mr. STARK, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HONDA, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. WATERS, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. RUSH, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Ms. SOLIS, and Mr. MEEKS of New York) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Calling upon the President to appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence and to commit United States diplomats to multi-party negotiations with no preconditions.

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That Congress--

(1) calls upon the President to--

(A) appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence;

(B) commit United States diplomats to multi-party negotiations with no preconditions; and

(C) send a high-level diplomatic mission to the region to facilitate such multi-party negotiations;

(2) urges such multi-party negotiations to begin as soon as possible, including delegations from the governments of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt; and

(3) supports an international peacekeeping mission to southern Lebanon to prevent cross-border skirmishes during such multi-party negotiations.

Here's a site that has an email form to send to your congresscritters, asking that they support this resolution:

Jewish Voice for Peace

A bill we can support!

Finally, we have a bill in the House of Representatives that we need to support. Brought by Dennis Kucinich and with 23 co-sponsors, H. Con. Res. 450 calls for an immediate cease-fire, multi-party negotiations and an international peacekeeping force.

sw

[saltpoint]

7. Kucinich is a blood-and-bones Democrat and a principled civil servant.

I trust his judgment.

[KoKo]

8. Politics........and he IS Principled....but got the "phone call."

I know...it made me question, too...but look at our "HERO Feingold...and Robert Byrd and Barbara Boxer who inspired so many of us.

It's very hard to deal with this...the simple answer is "those who give the big money." We don't have that YET!!! YET....