Kucinich: fervently unconventional

[NNN0LHI]

I am still undecided, but I really like this guy. Don

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0102/p01s03-uspo.html

By Harry Bruinius | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

HOPKINTON, N.H. – Dressed in a long black overcoat, looking a little like a wizened wizard from the snowy New Hampshire woods, Dennis Kucinich strides confidently into a chilly toolshed at Derek Owen's 200-acre organic farm. As he stops to survey the 30 or so locals who have come to hear him speak, he grins: These are his people.

There's Mr. Owen - his gray mutton-chop beard still flecked with snow - holding dirty yellow work gloves as he extends his greeting. His green cap, stuck with a feather, reads, "Farm Here to Eternity." Over there, in the corner, is Mark Lathrop, the burly proprietor of the Monadnock Hemporium, wearing a broad-brimmed leather cowboy hat. He's a fierce advocate for the decriminalization of marijuana. Opposite him, near the door, stands Elizabeth Obelenus, smiling. She's the tall office manager for the Northeast Organic Farming Association, the informal sponsor of the talk tonight, and she's most worried about the unknown dangers of genetically modified organisms.

They're all applauding. "Good job last night!" says one of an older couple near the pegboard on the wall. "You were our hero!" the other adds. As the diminutive Cleveland congressman shakes their hands and nods, he tells them he's been hearing the same all day. He'd created a bit of a buzz the night before after lashing out at Ted Koppel, the moderator of the debate in nearby Concord, and scolding him for focusing on polls and endorsements rather than important issues.

Like his nonconformist audience this evening, Mr. Kucinich is a candidate with quirks. A strict vegan, he would hardly be the type to throw a Crawford, Texas, barbecue. A skilled ventriloquist, he keeps a dummy in his office to entertain school kids who visit him on field trips. Twice divorced, he recently went on an early-morning blind date with a woman who had beaten out 79 others in a "Who Wants to Be a First Lady" contest, put on by the website PoliticsNH.com.

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[maddezmom]

1. nice article

need to read the whole piece. :)

[MuseRider]

2. Very nice article.

Thanks for posting this one. "Wizened wizard" cracked me up.

[sandnsea]

3. He IS great!

Very good article about Dennis. About time!

[LWolf]

4. Dennis is

a strong champion of independent farms and a healthy food supply. The number of authors he reads and discusses continuously amazes me, too. I really like this particular quote.


One of his top priorities as president, he explains, would be to break up the big corporations that control the food supply and threaten the small farmers who have long been the foundation of American democracy. In the same 19th-century vein, Kucinich often urges his audiences to read Emerson's "Self-Reliance," an essay he says he's read at least once a year since he was a boy. "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string," he often quotes. "To believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius."

[diamondsoul]

5. Not to be pushy, Don, but

if you realy like Kucinich, now is the time to show it. Honestly, I don't know if he'll win the nomination or not, and it's been a hard battle to get the word out about him. Here's the thing, though, even if he does much better than expected in the Primaries and surprises people, it sends a message to the Party and to Washington that politics as usual is not going to continue to work.

We need to send that message NOW whaile we have the chance because after the Primaries it will be too late. I've come to figure out and to accept that I fear lesser-evilism and voting against Bush again much more than I fear losing. Why? Because lesser-evilism and voting just to vote against the worst of the worst says it's all hopeless. We "can't" do any better, and I don't believe that. With Dennis Kucinich we CAN do better, but only if we all step up and do it NOW.

[NNN0LHI]

6. I have said many times over that DK's policies are closer to my ideals...

...than any other candidate. I am only one voter though. I will support who the majority of Dem's decide who has the best chance of beating Bush during the primary process. It has become too important to do otherwise with Bush in office. I may be one of the original ABB's?

Don