[Peace-discuss] Congressional Quarterly Interview with Kucinich

Sun Dec 17 12:10:24 CST 2006

The CQPolitics Interview: Dennis Kucinich 

        By Marie HorriganFri Dec 15, 6:14 PM ET 

  Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio this week became the second officeholder to announce a bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. And since the other candidate is retiring Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Kucinich is the first member of Congress to officially enter the Democrats’ presidential sweepstakes.

  He also is the first repeat candidate for the party’s 2004 White House field. Kucinich did not gain serious political traction that year — earning less than 4 percent of the overall primary vote — and his candidacy was largely seen as a symbolic effort to represent the liberal activist wing of the party.

  In an interview Thursday with Marie Horrigan of CQPolitics.com, Kucinich made it clear that he again will emphasize the trademark issue of his 2004 campaign: his fervent opposition to the Iraq war, which he described as “a Hydra-headed disaster.”

  Kucinich contends he is the only current or likely candidate in the 2008 Democratic field to reject the war from the beginning and also to vote against funding the war. He touts this as a credential that will make him a much stronger contender in his second run than in his first.

  “I’m in a position to save the presidency for the Democratic Party and to be elected the next president because people will know not only is there someone who has had the foresight on this and a plan, but people will know that my leadership can implement the plan,” he said.

  The 60-year-old Kucinich has a political career notable for its iconoclasm and its ups and 
  downs. He took a seat on the Cleveland City Council in 1969 at age 22; his election as mayor in 1977 drew him national notice as a political “boy wonder.” But his stormy tenure lasted only two years, during which he had to weather a recall election.

  Kucinich returned briefly to the city council in the early 1980s. The loser of U.S. House bids in 1972 and 1974, he ran for that office again and lost in 1988 and 1992.

  Yet in one of the strongest second acts in recent American politics, Kucinich won a state Senate seat in 1994 and then in 1996 won the Cleveland-based 10th District seat that he has held since. Popular on his home turf, which has a strongly Democratic lean, Kucinich won re-election Nov. 7 with 66 percent of the vote.

  The following are excerpts from the interview.

  CQ: The war was also a large issue in 2004, but the national sentiment appeared to be in a different place. Do you feel you have more of a foothold this time around?

  Kucinich: I can feel it already, just the response that we’ve had here just in a campaign that’s two days old. We are getting calls not just from individuals around the country, but from people who represent groups within their community. And what I’m trying to do is encourage the Democrats to realize that the people entrusted us with the power to take a new direction. . . .

  People aren’t looking for the Democrats to be better managers of the war, they want the Democrats to end the war and to bring our troops home. And so my candidacy responds to the will of the people that’s already been expressed in November. And I think the resolve of the American people is strengthened when they know that they have a candidate who’s been right on Iraq from the very beginning, and I’ve been consistent on this.

  People want leaders not just with hindsight, but with foresight. And I had the foresight to challenge the administration on every single assertion that they made as a cause for war.

  CQ: On your Web site there’s a document that outlines a plan for getting out of the war, a 60-day withdrawal plan.

  Kucinich: Well, absolutely. The main point about this, Marie, is that if you go back to Oct. 1 when the appropriation of $70 billion began, the money’s in the pipeline right now to bring the troops home. Not only is it in the pipeline to bring the troops home, but to simultaneously provide for the security of the Iraqi people through supporting an effort by the international community and through inviting the international community and helping to sustain it. ... So why would we leave the troops in the field if we have the money to bring them home? Why would we continue the war by supporting another appropriation?

  I mean, the danger in all of this — and this is, I’ve expressed concern about this right from the start — is that our Democratic Party is about to buy President Bush’s war. Because if we go along with the up to, based on news reports, up to $160 billion in supplemental funding, we’re going to give the president the money that he needs to carry the war through the end of his term. ...

  The people are depending on the Democrats to seize the moment and to claim the constitutional mantle of power that comes with being the co-equal branch of government, and to tell the president “no” to any more funds, and to use the funds that are in the pipeline to bring the troops home.

  CQ: Could that lead to an argument that one would remain in the House to help flex that muscle of appropriations and, as you said, cut off the funding?      Kucinich: Well, I am in the House. My term runs through to the time that I’d be taking office [as president].      CQ: And the high-profile panel report on Iraq came out recently. Does that change any of your positions about the war?      Kucinich: No, it makes it more urgent, because the Iraq Study Group made it clear there’s no military solution. And if there’s not a military solution, then why’s our military there? It’s ecumenic that if there’s not a military solution, that you take your military out. ...      We really have to ask what it is we want. Do we want more violence and destruction? Or do we want reconciliation and reconstruction? You know, there’s no military solution. So you win the hearts and minds of people by providing and standing for their social stability and peace, not by destroying families. ...
      What our Democratic leaders are talking about right now ignores the reality on the ground, it ignores the will of the people, and it ignores the fact that President Bush has no intention of pulling our troops out. And so how is it that we can’t confirm the power of the people expressed in the November election if Democrats simply continue to support President Bush’s war and in effect buy the president’s war?      CQ: This is your second consecutive shot for the presidency. How do you feel 2008 will be different from 2004 for you?      Kucinich: Well, it’s already different in the sense that I was right. I go into the 2008 election as the one person who campaigned continually on opposition to the war, who from inside the Congress challenged the war. And everything I said was right, so people can now look to me and say, “Well, there’s a leader. There’s somebody who had the foresight to challenge the war from the beginning.”      But there’s something else that’s
 happened. And the other thing that’s different is that the American people have given the Democrats the power of the government. We are now the majority, and we are a co-equal branch of government. The people gave that to us on one issue and one issue alone: Iraq.      So I’m in a singular position of encouraging my party to rise to the occasion, to accept the mantle of responsibility, to confirm the will of the people, and to take steps to bring our troops home. ... People are waiting for Democrats to take this direction so my position is to protect the ability of the Democratic Party to have a Democratic president in 2008, and to take the nation in a new direction that’s consistent with the aspirations of Democrats.      But everything that we care about —health care, education, housing, job creation, the environment — all of those issues are going to be swept aside by war, by the fiscal drain of the war. ... If Democrats go through with their plan to put the war on
 budget, that means cutting the very programs that we care about.      We shouldn’t be in this kind of Hobbesian choice. We should be having a clear position that accepts the verdict of the people in November. The people said we want the Democrats to take over, the issue is Iraq, we want the Democrats to give us a new direction, that direction obviously is out.      CQ: Some pundits may argue that this is a one-issue candidacy. Do you feel that’s a fair assessment of this candidacy, and do you feel you have a real shot of winning the presidency?      Kucinich: Well, no, well, of course I do.      Well, let’s start here, and will all due respect — and this is not meant in offense to you —the media was wrong about the war. The media missed what was happening. The media swallowed this war whole. I mean, I’m expecting the media to come to me and ask me why did I know that.      So I was right and somebody’s got to say that ... I was right from the start on this. In terms of the
 issue of funding, I’m the only member of Congress who was a candidate for president or who has talked about running for president who has consistently voted against funding the war. ...      Now, do I think I can win? Absolutely. We’ve seen that in 1968 and in 1972, the Democrats responded powerfully to candidates who challenged the war. ... [But] this isn’t about one issue. This is about America’s position in the world. This is about the end of unilateralism and pre-emption. It’s about reconnecting with the world community. It’s about abiding by international law. It’s about using the resources we have not only for war and military build-ups but for peace and for a domestic agenda that includes universal health care. ...      My stand for peace is about linking peace to a strong economy. Peace equals prosperity. You focus on prosperity and peace lets us focus on repairing the environment, on alternative energy policies, clean energy. My campaign is mindful of the
 undeniable imperative of human unity. We are one world, the world is interconnected. It’s interdependent. ...      So my stand is not simply about this war — it’s to challenge the idea of all war. It’s to raise the imperative of not just human unity, but human security through economic development, through seeking prosperity. ...      I’m prepared not just to go into this campaign, but I’m running because I’m prepared to be president and I’m prepared by virtue of my total involvement as a member of Congress, I’m prepared because I’ve been right on these issues, I’m prepared because of my insight and my action. So I’m ready. I’m ready right now.      CQ: And just one final question, in terms of the nitty-gritty of campaigning, a number of potential candidates who have not even thrown their hats in the ring yet have astronomical amounts of money — one person who comes to mind is [New York] Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Do you feel that you will be able to compete in terms of
 campaign fundraising to run a competitive campaign?      Kucinich: I think it’s possible to be elected president of the United States without outspending other people, and I’ll tell you why: because this election is not going to be about money, it’s going to be about truth, and it’s going to be about integrity. And I’m on a quest for integrity, and people respond to that and they’re looking for a candidate not just who’s gifted of tremendous financial resources, but who’s gifted of integrity, gifted of truth, gifted of foresight, gifted of leadership. And so I think that as people look at our campaign they’re going to support it. ...      But you know what? I can’t say that I had planned to run this time. I knew after the Democrats came back and we had our caucuses returning from the Thanksgiving break, I knew when I heard our leaders start to talk about continuing funding for our war, I knew that I had to step forward.      I knew I had to step forward for the young men
 and women whose lives are on the line while leaders in Washington temporize, I have to step forward for their families who are worried about whether their loved ones are ever going to return. I have to step forward for the people of Iraq who are left in unimaginable violence. ...      I want to change this. I have to. As I said in my announcement, my conscience calls me to action here, and because I’ve been consistent and because I understand exactly what’s going on and because I’m in a singular position right now, I expect that I’m on my way to being elected president of the United States.

Before you call 9/11 conspiracy nuts crazy, explain what happened to 7 World Trade Center (WTC7) and how it was accomplished. (Never heard of WTC7 before, have you? – that’s not surprising, it’s the camel in the tent that everybody ignores.)

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