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Dennis Kucinich reads TPM!

By John Patterson - June 9, 2008, 11:25PM

His entire impeachment speech sounds like one of Josh's weekly updates at Muckraker!

Comments (14)

This is why he was my first or second choice amongst the early candidates.

Is he all alone in there?

Posted by TM
June 9, 2008 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink

Well this is why he'd be my last. He's a lovely man but he's also too often a political disaster just waiting too happen.

As witness today.

As I posted in a previous blog on this, all the people thinking this is heroic should rethink.

This is so damned stupid of Kucinich it's mind boggling

Bush's ratings are already rock bottom. All this does is rally the conservatives, when that's the last thing we need.

Haven't we learned anything since the Clinton years when the Republicans used to go for overkill?

We need the focus to be on Obama and this election - not activating the conservative Republican base who so far have been lukewarm about this election.

Hopefully Pelosi and the others who DO have some political nous will reject all this as the destructive distraction it is.

Obama's already said he'll put the lawyers onto it once he's elected to see if there are any grounds for impeachment.

This is political lunacy.

Posted by Fran
June 10, 2008 12:26 AM | Reply | Permalink

There is one problem with this line of thinking. When does it cease to be political lunacy and becoming upholding justice? Is it all political expedience? Are we cynical to the point that we'll take no risk in defending our values?

Posted by DF
June 10, 2008 4:03 AM | Reply | Permalink

If it's about upholding justice, where was Kucinich two or three years ago? And keep in mind that in politics, it's always about expedience.

The problem with impeaching Bush now is that it's too late for it to have any meaningful effect, but it can still backfire spectacularly. How is that smart?

Posted by codegen86
June 10, 2008 5:16 AM | Reply | Permalink

Smart. I'm smart. You're smart. Everyone's smart.

Kucinich has been as vocal about all of this as any politician has. He already introduced articles against Cheney. That's where he was. Check the record.

I like Obama, but I still don't feel comfortable with leaving this stinking shitpile unchecked as we go forward. It's the wrong thing to do.

Do our principles matter or don't they? Is the Constitution just a suggestion? Only to be considered when it's convenient? Expedient?

Can you tell me that anything Kucinich said tonight wasn't true?

Posted by DF
June 10, 2008 8:54 AM | Reply | Permalink

I definitely understand where you're coming from DF, but I think it's time for my favorite quote from Voltaire: the best is the enemy of the good. If we tried to elect a candidate most aligned with our worldview (Kucinich came up the closest match for me at various candidate matching sites), then we'd likely end up electing a Republican instead.

That doesn't mean we abandon all of our ideals, merely that we make some compromises. The point of the Voltaire quote isn't to settle for the bad or even the adequate, but to find the good that can be realized.

Posted by Ben Hocking
June 10, 2008 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink

Kucinich is not just another nader, he is still out there on the floor of Cngress, stirring the bottom, Muckraking for all the world to see.

Even while I was an Edwards supporter, I have always called Kucinich one of my Heroes of Democracy, for this very kind of courage.

Include Russ Feingold for his own persistence in getting the truth into the public record, and Barbara Boxer for standing up to the good old boys in the Senate after the election thievery in Ohio in 2004.

Add Cindy Sheehan to that list, and you have my personal Fantastic Four.

So why would I support someone other than one of my bona fide heroes for President, and not get passionately behind someone I hold in the very highest regard???

...because I am also a political pragmatist, which is why I now support Obama.

Hopefully one day he will join that hero's list, but for now, I support him 100% because I am convinced he has caught the populist wave that started for me when Dean gave his Sacramento speech in March of 2003.

And that wave is still rolling, right into the White House. I figured either surf it with the Hawaiian dude, or flounder around wishing my own candidate had been "the one."

And since I'm of Highlander extraction (my great great garamma was Mary St. Cair), I have learned more than once, "There can be only one."

Posted by JEP07
June 10, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink

I understand how important it is to win this election, but I have a huge problem with the logic that's trapped inside this conventional wisdom. The tacit idea at play here is that we fix things by electing a Democrat. The trouble is not which party is or isn't in office, though I know that the partisans here will balk at this assertion. All Democrats are not good and all Republicans are not evil. Ron Paul has done more than most Dems to oppose these transgressions. Interesting as well that we have someone in this thread calling Dennis "Kookcinich", but they don't have a damned thing to offer in rebuttal to but a one of his 35 charges. See, it's not that he's wrong. He's absolutely right.

The Constitution doesn't mandate a Democratic or Republican party. It mandates the highest laws in our nation. You fix transgressions against the Constitution by upholding these laws, not by electing the other party. I know that many here are faithful that the Dems will fix these things, but I remain skeptical.

Posted by DF
June 11, 2008 1:41 AM | Reply | Permalink

Thank you.

Posted by workerbee
June 10, 2008 8:50 PM | Reply | Permalink

Kucinich is looking to history. He is also broadcasting to the rest of the world (who is actually reporting on this, unlike our corporate media).

Posted by ScooterLiddy
June 10, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink

Kucinich is a kook who will be heard by no one. Even Obama disagrees with Kookcinich plan to impeach Cheney and/or Bush.

Posted by truthseeker77
June 10, 2008 1:04 AM | Reply | Permalink

"There is one problem with this line of thinking. When does it cease to be political lunacy and becoming upholding justice? Is it all political expedience? Are we cynical to the point that we'll take no risk in defending our values?"

Please. We're in a general election where the only thing that matters is winning it and that means gaining as many votes as possible for Obama, and not doing anything to activate the Bush conservatives for McCain.

Justice? Please read `Six of Nine` posted here by Yalin.

The Supreme Court is what matters. Not this sort of melodramatic wank.

(Sorry if I sound curt. I'm fed up with what Kucininich has done here - not with you.)

Posted by Fran
June 10, 2008 8:10 AM | Reply | Permalink

So why isn't Josh LEADING with this story today?

Reuters actually does have a writeup here.

Please go there and recommend the story so that it does not get completely buried!

Posted by BalRog
June 10, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink

It's so appalling to see these comments which talk about POLITICS.

No one seemed to listen to Dennis' speech. He is talking about INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES and upholding the United States Constitution.

And to be a Big Stern Mama, you should be doing it too !! Obama/Tony Rezko/Zbig is too busy courting AIPAC to be leading his country - that's just so obvious. And a trained lawyer? Give me a break !

The only "kook" is someone who refuses to see how important it is that international law is upheld. The WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.

As is pointed out repeatedly by "testing", America is a FAILED NATION if it cannot police itself - and folks, while men and woman and CHILDREN are languishing in black sites and TORTURED as we type, people STILL being rendered on the basis of bounty, then America is losing the right to police itself. Italy is already holding WAR CRIMES hearings. More war crimes charges will be filed in other nations.

Think/feel, too, for those languishing in prison for unfair drug laws, waiting for CHANGE - oh, that list is ENDLESS.

More pressure must be exerted to replace Nancy Pelosi - otherwise we go the way of Nazi Germany. Look up the Nuremberg Trials.

I am just very glad that Dennis did such a masterful recitation of legal violations for everyone to hear.

It is NEVER TOO LATE to DO THE RIGHT THING - and impeachment is the right thing now that we have the absolute information to do it.

BRAVO, DENNIS KUCINICH ! You are trying to save our children's future, and bless you.

Instead of making excuses for ongoing US human rights abuses, how about signing a petition for the removal of Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker and passing it along. I had NO PROBLEM getting young people to sign it; they know that they need our help if they are to survive .. (She THINKS she is going to stick in that skunk Hoyer .. RIGHT .. )

This came as posse comitus is being broken in Indianapolis ! Think! Think! Think! and let your hearts feel the pain of those detainees and the suffering of those who are homeless after Katrina. Why should they wait ??

http://www.petitiononline.com/everyman/petition.html

- Please circulate widely -

We DO have the right to petition our government. That right cannot be taken away from us - don't let the infowarfare deceive YOU.

Posted by ladybroadoak
June 10, 2008 8:56 PM | Reply | Permalink

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Dennis Kucinich reads TPM!

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