Response from a Current Kucinich "Staffer" Ceil

[Annces]

This was a post added to William Pitt thread where he talks about working for Dennis Kucinich and being put in a position he was not qualified for. I thought it was very telling about Kucinich, so I am posting it as its own post.


"excerpt from Pitt thread"
I worked for a litle while as the Kucinich Press Secretary during the '04 run, as some of you might recall. Thanks to a variety of outside and internal circumstances, combined with my own utter lack of experience and what has to be called my rank incompetence in a position I had no grounding for, I am pretty sure you can pen me into The Book as the Worst National Campaign Press Secretary In The History Of All Known Universes. Therefore, I will put this very simply: watch the Kucinich campaign closely. If they start hiring people like me on as main staffers, be very, very, very concerned.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2899813&mesg_id=2899813




Response from a Current Kucinich "Staffer"
Thank you, William Pitt, for your frank and open comments about the campaign.

I have been working for Dennis since February of 2005, as a transcriptionist, transcribing his video appearances, and as an online help developer for his websites. And I must admit, I happen to agree with what you said. Frankly, I have the same concerns, and I have voiced those concerns to Dennis.

And Dennis does listen to our concerns. Whether or not he heeds them is up to him. I think that, with Dennis, it is partly a matter of money - he doesn't have the available cash that many politicians do. I also think that part of it is Dennis's love for and faith in "the grass roots."

Whether that faith is unfounded is not for me to say.

As a transcriptionist and an online help developer, I am most definitely an expert. I have been a professional technical writer of software for 12+ years, and I have won numerous awards for my work and have shown my work and lectured on it at an international conference (Society for Technical Communication).

So I guess I should say that, for me, it is about volunteering for what I know I can do well. I simply will not permit anyone on our team to put me in a position in which I am over my head.

Most of all, though, whether Dennis makes mistakes or not, I work for him, because he stands for the exact country in which I want to live. For me, it is not about the results. As I have told Dennis privately: If you were running for town crier on one street corner of Cleveland, rather than the House or the Oval Office, I will do what I can to help you, according to my own skill sets.

Because for me, it isn't about the results - whether he wins or loses. I suppose that if I want to work on a winning team, I would just look at the polls and pick the politician who is most "ahead" in the polls.

But instead, I work for the person who speaks what is in my heart - to Congress and to the American people. In this way, I can sleep at night.

I am not much of a blogger, but someone on our staff pointed out your message to me, and I signed up and logged in just to say this to you and everyone else here. I probably won't log in here again, unless I get a bit of spare time (LOL...right!)

You are all absolutely right - you, and all of the responders here on this page. But there is more to it than the results. Sometimes, it is about simply living by your own heart; your own values. Dennis's voting record, and the things he wants to do are exactly how I want my country to be run. If no one else takes him seriously, I'm more than happy - and proud - to be part of "the joke."

With love and respect to you, and thank you for being so open and honest, because you are right!
-Ceil

[Morgana LaFey]

1. How utterly unprofessional of her -- did you get permission

to post that here?

Unbelievable.

Nevermind. She posted that in that thread herself.

Again: how utterly unprofessional.

[LittleClarkie]

3. Dennis doesn't strike me as the kind of person

who would mind someone being honest.

[Annces]

4. She posted it in the Pitt thread

Heck, if we are thinking of voting for him for President, shouldn't we have the facts about him?

And also maybe people could get him to hire more qualified people, or find better ways to fund-raise so he can afford to hire qualified people.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Thanks for this information

I agree that we need to look to the person who speaks to our heart.

[Warpy]

5. If you want the support of the grass roots

you have to work at cultivating them.

Dean managed that in 2004 and continues to do it, along with his brother. He also cultivated the netroots and had record fundraising as a result of that.

If Kucinich didn't learn that lesson in 2004, it would seem he's incapable of learning it.

He's the candidate who most closely represents my own viewpoint, but if he is incapable of building an organization from the ground up, I'm afraid he hasn't got a cat in hell's chance.

[eridani]

10. The media made Dean's use of the Internet a "horserace" story--

--which got him valuable publicity which his campaign did a very good job of using. With respect to net organizing, every other campaign was in the position of being the second guy to think of the Pet Rock idea.

[The Blue Flower]

6. A better use of that energy

I think a better use of that energy would be to work to move the Democratic Party in the direction of Dennis' vision so that whoever does well enough in the primaries to win the nomination carries that vision into the White House.

[SoCalDem]

7. Unfortunately ,in America, most people are shallow

even though they would never admit it to themselves..

They overlook small bookish guys..and instinctively move toward the "hunky, fun" guys.

if Dennis was 6'1' , and "beefy" ,people would line up to hear his message./.


sad but true..

The piece below was written abour D vs R, but parts of it hold true within our own party.

We are eager to "be seen" with the "cute" guy (or girl) because to other people it says something about OUR "appearance".. If someone THAT "cute" wants us, then WE must be something special :)
.......................................................................
America...Pick the "boring, geeky" guy

Posted by SoCalDem in General Discussion

Sat Nov 04th 2006, 04:44 PM

The real difference between democrats & some republicans is something that most women understand.

Every girl over 12 or 13 knows how it works..

We ALL want the "cute" guy..the one who's usually dismissive of us..the one who treats us like shit, cheats on us, doesn't call when he says he will, hits on our best friend..

Time after time, we forgive him because he says the words we want to hear, or promises to "be good"..he seems remorseful, and he gives us gifts..

But

he always cheats on us again, and yet.. he's just so darned cute..he's got money, everyone likes him, he drives a great car.. we just want him..dammit..

Lurking at the back of the classroom, there's a guy who is not nearly as attractive as "cute guy".. he's smart, he's thoughtful and he's trying his best to get our attention. he LOVES us, but we won't give him the time of day.

Why?

"he's too serious"
"he's a dork"
"he's not fun"
"he is always studying"
"he wears white socks"
"he's teacher's pet"
"he's not athletic"

and of course, there's always "cute guy" saying what we want to hear, dressing like a million bucks, making us promises..

What eventually happens is that some of us wise up and grow up. We find that "geeky guy" will grow up also, and given some attention and time, will grow into a guy we can finally see as "smart, cute guy"..

or some of us manage to grab onto the original "cute guy" and end up being treated like shit by him for as long as we stay attached to him.

Republicans are "cute guy"..they have all the answers..all the soundbytes we love to hear. They tell us what we want to hear. Their plans are always great on paper. Everyone (media) loves them. they dress well, they speak well, they impress us.

Democrats are "boring, geeky guy".. They actually dig into issues and try to understand them. They tell us things we NEED to know...not things we want to know.

Republicans : "Fire ..pretty.."
Democrats : "Fire...burn you "

Ted Bundy was a "cute guy"


just sayin'


disclaimer: Some democrats (JFK comes to mind) can be BOTH..

Republicans are rarely both

[newsdude]

8. So, Will Pitt and the "truthout" gang

are submarining Kucinich?
Or did I misread this?

Gawd. Let the man run. Let him raise the real liberal issues while Obama and Clinton cow-tow to corporate interests.

The National corporate media (including John Stewart) will ridicule Kucinich.

No need for DU'ers to do it.

[eridani]

11. Not really

Pitt is just talking about his experiences.

[Radicalman]

9. Test