Dennis Kucinich - The Mainstream Democrat

[Sapphire Blue]

Get to Know Dennis Kucinich

Commonwealth Club of California San Francisco, CA

Get to Know the Candidate: 2008 U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich in a conversation with Joseph Epstein hosted by The Commonwealth Club of California.

Ohio Congressman Kucinich engages in a wide-ranging conversation about his political views and background.


Video: http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=1467 (Play a program excerpt or watch the entire program)

[Desertrose]

1. a kick for Dennis....

Yeah...he is more mainstream considering how far right the dems have moved.

[Clintonista2]

2. Glad he's mainstream. He should have an easy victory then. nt.

[rAVES]

3. kick and rec

the absolute only decent dem running. IMO

[Zandor]

4. In the 2% mainstream? n/t

[Sapphire Blue]

5. Perhaps you should watch the video, then post a more informed comment.

http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=1467

Or you could stick w/thoughtless ridicule.

[Zandor]

7. Silly to call him mainstream

He is too far left to generate serious support in the Democratic party.

[Sapphire Blue]

9. It would appear that you've opted for thoughtless ridicule.

[Zandor]

10. What ridicule?

The assumption in the OP is absurd, given Dennis' lack of stature.

[ProudDad]

22. So you're also one of the

thimble-brains who think he's too short, eh???


How height-ist of you... :eyes:

[frylock]

12. i think what you meant to say was that the party has moved too far to the right

[RufusTFirefly]

6. Helps if the pollsters actually list his name when they call

Some DUer from NH mentioned receiving not one but two opinion poll calls that asked him to choose whom he preferred out the list of prospective presidential candidates. One problem: Kucinich wasn't a choice.

[kenfrequed]

19. Which I found amazing

After all they listed Dodd, Biden, and Richardson all of whom have begun polling under Kucinich recently. Combine this with ABC's photo cropping and poll scrubbing and we have an interesting view of democracy.

[kenfrequed]

18. Well

What are the issues and what is "too far to the left"?

Who decided and why was it decided that Kucinich is too far to the left?

What are mainstream values? Is it a mainstream value to generate the fudns to cover more Americans healthcare, and then to turn around and jsut sign over half of that money to insurance companies, HMO's, and pharmeceutical companies? Or is it mainstream to look at getting out of Iraq in 3 months versus getting out in 20 years and just setting the bar halfway inbetween at 10 years?

I have to ask if this kind of thinking is an aid to a rational discourse on the issues or is it compromise without principal or reason.

[RufusTFirefly]

8. The "What's the Matter with Kansas" syndrome

We are blindly voting against our best interests.

Americans agree with DK on the majority of issues, way more than they agree with the policies of any of the front runners. Yet Dennis is in single digits in the polls.

Oh yeah, I forgot. He's not electable. My bad.

[superkia]

11. It is a strange practice many are taking part in.

He stands for what most of us stand for and he is consistently standing up and being very direct in his stands, unlike most of the other candidates. It really baffles me why Americans complain about the way the government is run and when given a chance to change it, they don't? Its an uphill battle with no national television coverage like the ones that lead the polls(weird coincidence)but if we continue to pass the word, maybe enough Americans will open their eyes and ears to Dennis Kucinich.

[MGKrebs]

15. Because we are not electing a policy statement.

If that were the case, they could just mail it in and we vote on the notebook. However, we have chosen to have an extended process that allows to see how each candidate functions under various types of pressure, how well they can organize a team, how effectively they manage that team, how well they articulate (or 'sell") their message, how they respond to competing interests, and how effectively they get people to trust them by sending them money.

DK may be good at a lot of things, but he is pretty clearly not so good at some of the things that most Americans are looking for in a President. And don't give me the "media ignores him" excuse. DK ran for President last time and actually got delegates. His name is known, he's essentially been running ever since, and he has been unable to parlay that into anything resembling widespread support. He has no one to blame but himself. Almost every candidate faces the same hurdles. Many of them are just more successful than he is in overcoming them. If DK had been able to generate any money early or any significant poll results early, he would have had the opportunity to be on all the morning news shows and Sunday talkies to explain the surprising results. But he didn't. He apparently didn't build any state party organizations as a base, perhaps because he can't get enough money out of his own district to launch something like that. And for all I know, he HAS had the opportunity to be on the morning shows and he would rather sleep in. Biden's on all the time. Go figure.

[superkia]

16. Why is it that if he is so known, I dont know one person that knew...

of him before I spoke of him? I also had no idea about him until I stumbled on to this website, this year? Why did ABC pull the polls down that he was so far ahead in? Why did ABC crop ONLY him out of the picture from the debates? Your thinking is exactly what the media wants, they did a good job with you.

I hope Americans don't judge a candidate by how much dirty money they can get or how much help and support in their campaigns they get because of their ways? If thats the case you deserve the corruptness you get in this country, I don't. You continue with your way of thinking and I bet you will continue with the same type of politics we have now. As long as Americans think like you, our country will continue in its downward spiral. Its a shame that your type of thinking will have an effect on me and my family's rights.

[redqueen]

14. Oh well...

*sigh*

[slipslidingaway]

13. K&R thanks n/t

[nofurylike]

17. great!! people would be surprised, i think. thank you!! k&r eom

[robcon]

20. Mainstream? Department of Peace?

Those two phrases cannot be combined, IMO.

[ProudDad]

23. We all know

about your love of the "War Department"...

I guess Peace just isn't comprehensible to you, eh neo-robcon?


Keeerist -- another anonymous poster...no profile at all!

[robcon]

25. Peace is very comprehensible, ProudDad

What's incomprehensible is that an intelligent man would make the proposal he did.

Kucinich's plan for a Dept of Peace is the stupidest political proposal I have ever heard. Have you read it on Kucinich's site? Can you imagine anything stupider?

It's not peace I have trouble with, it's Kucinich's laughably ignorant proposal.

[ProudDad]

27. You mean MLK was stupid

Gandhi was stupid...

Kucinich is proposing a cabinet level Secretary of Peace to counter balance the secretaries of war and conflict that now populate the discussions in the White House.

Stupid, eh?

"Peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of creative alternatives for responding to conflict -- alternatives to passive or aggressive responses, alternatives to violence."

http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_peace.html

Peace takes work. It takes thought and action. Kucinich knows this and knows that only a high-level, highly visible search for Peace will eventually work.


I'm sorry you find it hard to be part of the solution but the only thing "laughably ignorant" would be your last post...if it weren't so goddamned sad...

[ProudDad]

21. K&R for the ONLY democrat running... (n/t)

[Steve_in_California]

24. A "bleeding-heart" liberal has no chance of getting elected

yet, Kucinich tells his supporters that he will win the election. The guy is a bald-faced liar!

[ProudDad]

28. Hell, he's going to get MY VOTE

twice!

By your illogic, unless you can PROVE HE WON'T WIN, you're the bald faced liar!!!

[LWolf]

26. Getting to know DK is the best use of poliltical time

a Democrat might spend at this point, imo.

Thanks for the link.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: