My Interviews with Elizabeth and Dennis Kucinich--Now on The BRAD BLOG!

[emlev]

I had the incredible opportunity on Sunday to interview both Elizabeth and Dennis Kucinich in person in San Mateo, California.

Here's my official report!

BLOGGED BY Emily Levy ON 10/24/2007 5:35AM

EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Kucinich Says Political System 'Rigged, Fake, Undemocratic'

The BRAD BLOG Speaks with Dennis and His Wife About Voting Rights, Election Reform, Impeachment, and the Need for an Outcry from the American People

Rep. Kucinich Vows to Use 'Privileged Resolution' to Force Vote on Impeachment of Cheney in U.S. House...

Guest Blogged by Emily Levy
ED NOTE: The BRAD BLOG's Emily Levy sat down with Dennis Kucinich on Sunday, just before serving as a hand-counter for votes in the first Democratic San Mateo County Presidential Straw Poll. Results of that poll are below. Kucinich spoke about his plans to force a vote in the U.S. House on the Impeachment of Dick Cheney; on having officially removed his name as co-sponsor of Rep. Rush Holt's flawed Election Reform Bill; his interest in hand-counted paper ballots; and concerns about e-voting systems. As it turns out, however, his wife Elizabeth may have stolen the show with an impassioned speech on what America must do to restore "a rigged and a fake political system," which, she told Levy, is "very, very undemocratic."

===

Candidate Kucinich was surrounded by supporters after his speech to Democrats in San Mateo County, just south of San Francisco, over the weekend. One asked the U.S. House Rep (D-OH) about the failures of the current Congress to protect the Constitution. "If Congress did the right thing," he answered, "they would be talking … about impeachment."

At that point, I broke in with a question:
EMILY LEVY: What do you think it'll take for more of your colleagues to do the right thing?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: The American people: an outcry. That's what we ought to be talking about.

EL: What do they hear? What do they hear? I mean, I hear the American people screaming. How come they can't hear?

DK: They aren't. You're exactly right. You know, I introduced House Resolution 333 because I heard from the American people and they said they wanted some response to make Dick Cheney accountable for the statements that he made that took us into a war based on lies. And the statements he made that would take us into a conflict against Iran. Again, more lies.

The President is now openly invoking the specter of World War III with respect to Iran. He ought to be held accountable also. I'm the only member of Congress who stepped forward on the issue of making Dick Cheney accountable. And now we have 21 members who've joined me. That's a step in the right direction. But I'm going to go beyond that. I'm going to call a privileged resolution, at which point, would force a vote --- at least if it's only on a procedural motion --- members are going to have to confront this issue of impeachment. They're not going to escape it. This is a question of defending our Constitution. It really is.

(In a follow up phone call with the Congressman last night, I asked when he intended to introduce the privileged resolution in the House. He said it would happen in "the next few weeks," but couldn't be more specific. Now back to San Mateo...)

Kucinich burst into laughter when I showed him the teabag tag hanging from my shirt pocket. I praised his ingeniously deadpan appearance on The Colbert Report. He searched around in his jacket pocket for his mini-Colbert but was unable to produce the little guy.

More...