Dennis Kucinich Doesn't Take Media's Stuff

Raw Story has a video clip up of Dennis Kucinich being interviewed by CBS's Henry Smith on his resolution to impeach Dick Cheney. What this clip shows is how Kucinich doesn't take the crap handed out by the national news media. (Video clip is at the bottom of the Raw Story article.)

Smith told Kucinich that the Republicans had "basically called is bluff" by voting to debate the Cheney resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives last Thursday, November 8, 2007. Kucinich shot back with ""They didn't call my bluff. I was fully prepared for debate -- with a three-inch thick binder annotating the violations of law and the violations of the Constitution committed by the vice president which would justify an impeachment."

One thing that is often overlooked about Kucinich is his background in communications. He has taught communications at Case-Western Reserve University. He has worked as a political commentator for Cleveland television stations. He understands that a politician doesn't get an opportunity to be on network news every day, and if you get the opportunity, you need to talk about what you want to talk about, not what they want to talk about.

Of course, not taking their stuff and standing up to them doesn't endear Kucinich to the media and reporters like Harry Smith. They are used to having politicians kiss their well-clothed behinds. You can bet your last dollar that Smith wasn't prepared for Kucinich's answer to his opening shot. Kucinich dominated the interview, which probably will result in his not being invited back on Smith's "Early Show" for the foreseeable future. Speaking truth to power doesn't always win you friends.

Glenn Beck is an Idiot & Jealous of Dennis Kucinich

According to this PD article, Glenn Beck recently attacked Congressman Dennis Kucinich and his wife. Being a true radical right-winger, Beck didn't base his attack on political philosophy. Instead he launched an ad hominem attack on Kucinich by comparing him to Gollum from Lord of the Rings and suggested that he must have given his wife a "date-rape drug" to find him attractive. (By the way, this kind of juvenile talk passes for wit among the radical right-wingers who make up Beck's fourth in his time slot cable tv ratings.)

Now, here is a question: have you ever noticed how Democrats' sex lives are a source of fascination to radical right-wingers? Think about how Ken Starr focused on Bill Clinton getting oral sex from Monica Lewinsky, or about how radical right-wingers like to talk about whether Bill and Hillary Clinton sleep with each other. Now we have Beck talking about "date rape drugs" and Kucinich. What is going on with these people?

Here's our suggestion for Beck: take a couple of Viagra pills and see if that helps improve your obvious intimacy issues.

MCDAC Advice for Sutton, Kucinich, Ryan, & Brown on Framing the War

Okay, here's some free advice for Congresswoman Betty Sutton, Congressmen Kucinich and Ryan, and Senator Sherrod Brown: start pointing out that a vote against a timetable is a vote for a never-ending war in Iraq. The Bush adminstration and its supporters need to be asked this question over and over: how long is the United States going to have military forces in Iraq? The alternative to timetables isn't victory, it is a limitless war.

The Republicans have been allowed to get away with attacking the Democratic plan without coming up with one of their own. Well, that has to stop. Democrats have to start demanding that the Republicans address the issue of how long they are prepared to keep pouring American lives and money into Iraq.

If the American people had been told in 2002 that American forces would be tied up in Iraq for over four years, that we would lose over 3,000 American soldiers, and that the cost for a war in Iraq would be over 500 billion, they would not have supported going into Iraq. The administration got the American public to support this war by hyping the threat of imaginary weapons of mass destruction and by telling the American people that a war with Iraq would be short and relatively painless.

The reason why the American public was prone to believe that a war with Iraq would be short was that we had the experience of a very short war with Iraq in 1991. Most Americans didn't understand that defeating Iraq's Army would be the easy part, that the hard part would be what happened after Saddam was removed from power. Which is why, of course, that Americans have soured on Bush and his war. Not only were there not weapons of mass destruction, but the short war that Americans expected has become an never-ending war of attrition.

Yet, Democrats who oppose this war aren't stressing that the absence of a plan for withdrawal is a prescription for an endless Iraqi occupation. The American public doesn't want a never-ending war, but that is exactly what they are going to get if they listen to Bush and his supporters.

Voinovich on Iraq: "Everybody got conned."

On May 1, we ran an entry about how George Voinovich likes to criticize Bush but when the chips are down, he is going to back the President. We argued then that one reason why he does this is so he will appear to be a "moderate" Republican. His so-called "moderation" serves him well with the media, as can be seen in this column in Sunday's Columbus Dispatch.

Joe Hallett reveals how Voinovich visited Colin Powell about two weeks ago to urge him to run for President in 2008. Apparently Voinovich believes that handing the American government over to a man who appeared in the United Nations and talked about non-existent weapons of mass destruction will somehow restore America's credibility with the world.

Hallett goes on to say "We all got conned -- everybody," Voinovich said, not blaming Powell or anyone else in particular, but lamenting that the right questions were not asked of the right people in the run-up to war."

Of course, "everybody" didn't get "conned". Sherrod Brown didn't. Dennis Kucinich didn't. A lot of commentators didn't. The "everybody" that Voinovich is referring to does include a lot of Democrats, but to try and pass this disaster off as something that was unforeseen is wrong, and more than wrong. it is dishonest.

Here's why Republicans like Voinovich want to claim that "everybody" got "conned." If everybody was wrong then Republicans can't be fairly blamed for getting us in a war that didn't do one thing to advance American security and has done so much to undermine American security. Claiming "everybody" was wrong is a way of making sure that in 2008, and beyond, Americans don't just blame the Grand Old Party for this Great Big Mess.

The real question isn't why Voinovich is claiming that "everybody" was wrong. The real question is whether the media will let him and other Republicans get away with it. One reason why the "right" questions weren't asked by the "right" people is that the Republicans controlled the Congress and weren't about to let anyone question Bubble-Boy's rationale for taking us into war in Iraq.

Democrats have to be vigilant in making sure that variations of "everybody got conned" don't go unchallenged in 2008. The media, which was complicit in the run up to the Iraqi War, and the Republicans, who wanted this war, each have a vested interest in pushing this narrative. Democrats have a vested interest in making sure this narrative doesn't go unchallenged.

Great Feagler Article on Kucinich in Today's PD

Click on the link in this entry's title to read a great column on Congressman Dennis Kucinich by Dick Feagler that ran in the February 14th, 2007 edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Kucinch to Chair Domestic Policy Subcommittee, Attempt to Reinstate Fairness Doctrine

The Center for Public Integrity reports on a speech given by Dennis Kucinich where he announces that as chair of Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, he is going to open the issue of re-establishing the "Fairness Doctrine". Until its demise in the 1980s, the Doctrine assured that opposing viewpoints were heard on electronic media such as radio and television. Since its demise, we have seen the rise of virulent talk radio represented by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Laura Ingram, etc. The reason why these shows predominate on the public's airwaves is because the owners don't have to give opposing viewpoints an opportunity to respond.

The article also reports that Kucinich wants to conduct hearings on the concentration of media into fewer and fewer corporations and on the role of the Federal Communications Commission in regulating the media. Kucinich also said that he supported a Federal shield law for both bloggers and journalists.

Kucinich gave his remarks at the National Conference for Media Reform. He made his remarks in an unannounced speech to about 2,000 delegates. You can read the Center for Public Integrity's report on Kucinich's speech by clicking on the link in this entry's title.