Who here knew that Dennis Kucinich used to be pro-life/anti-abortion

[jillan]

It was in the latest addition of Mother Jones magazine.

They gave him a pair of flip-flops for this.

I just googled it - and it's true -

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Was_Dennis_Kucinich_Pro_Life

[EFerrari]

1. The man made a positive change. Let's jump him! n/t

[jillan]

4. I'm not jumping on him. I honestly never knew this.

It surprised me.

[EFerrari]

15. It's akin to Wellstone and gay marriage.

I have a lot of respect for these men, men of conscience. receptive, self-correcting statesmen. We're not used to those. :)

[LakeSamish706]

2. And hey, what the hell Dennis is so up the scale of electables... So we should...

give a shit about this because?

[lvx35]

22. Isn't Dennis a vegan anyway? Of course a vegan is pro-life.

If he's doing it for moral reasons. Can you imagine being unwilling to eat eggs, lest chickens be killed in utero, but willing to allow the termination of human fetuses in utero? It would be a moral contradiction.

[frazzled]

3. I've known it for many years: he had the worst record imaginable

on abortion rights for more than 8 years--zero ratings from NARAL and PP, perfect scores from anti-abortion groups. It was on the eve of his announcing his candidacy in 2003 that he suddenly said he'd changed his mind. Kind of like Mitt Romney, you know, only in reverse.

Kucinich's record on a woman's right to choose made me rule him out entirely in 2004, and I wouldn't change my mind about it now, either. Not that he is really in contention ... but just for the record.

Everybody has something nasty to say about everybody else's candidate, while theirs is a saint. Well, DK is not a saint. None of them are saints. Some can forgive x or y but not z ... others can forgive a or b, but not c. Pick your poison.

[MADem]

5. It's one of those "electability" issues. That's why he switched.

Of course, he's gotten over the Catholicism, apparently--he's been married three times, too.

Romney used to be pro-choice and not TOO uncomfortable with "gay rights"--that baastid deserves a shoe-rack full!!!

[PeaceNikki]

6. Before he decided to run for president, his voting record was not women-friendly

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2250290&mesg_id=2258126

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/PeaceNikki/1

Because Representative Kucinich had openly enjoyed restricting women's own rights to their own bodies until there was a possibility he could be the Democratic presidential nominee, I can never take him seriously as the 'progressive' candidate.

I could never support a voting record like his at the polls.

[saltpoint]

7. My guess is that could not have been an easy, drive-through experience

for Kucinich.

He was raised Catholic and Choice is usually a third-rail issue for a lot of Catholic voters anyplace, including his NE Ohio district.

I kind of respect the process of a public servant re-examining his instincts and notions and ideas in adulthood. There's the Willard Romney model, which is a liquid, fractal, shape-shifting glob of contradictions, and there's the Kucinich model, which appears to involve introspection and self-growth.

[scarletwoman]

8. This was old news in 2004, you apparently weren't paying attention then.

I didn't have any problem with it in 2004, and I don't have any problem with it now. I heard him speak about how he came to change his thinking on the issue, and it was logical and genuine.

Shame on Mother Jones for pushing a right wing meme ("flip-flop").

[jillan]

12. Mother Jones did an article on all the leading candidates. On both sides.

They said their position on a certain issue and the candidate got a steak(red meat for the base), flip-flops, radio-active, testosterone factor, pander alert.

It was actually pretty well done.

They also did a section on follow the money.
And how many tons of C02 emmissions each candidate caused going to campaign events.

But what pissed me off was that on the Dem side they only did this for Hillary, Barack and John.
On the Repug side they did it for all of the candidates.

[sniffa]

9. i knew

thanks to teh DU.

[TygrBright]

10. He's a religiously observant Roman Catholic. Of course he's anti-abortion.

His support for women's choice has always been a struggle with his conscience and always will be. Take it for what it's worth. Considering the man's character, I'm not inclined to wax cynical about it. I think he sincerely struggles with the issue and always will, and whatever position he takes will have some level of integrity with his beliefs.

I doubt he would ever counsel a woman to have an abortion, I imagine he would attemp to talk a daughter or sister out of such a decision and help her find an alternative; probably his arguments would have a basis in his faith. If he has also recognized that his faith cannot be the basis for controlling women's lives legally or politically, it doubtless remains a spiritual struggle for him.

indifferently,
Bright

[MonkeyFunk]

18. He's been divorced twice

I don't buy the "religiously observant catholic" bit. Nor is it even a good excuse.

John Kerry, Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Barbara Mikulski, Tom Harkin - all Catholics with better records on choice than Kucinich.

[TygrBright]

24. A great many religiously observant Catholics have been divorced...

...sometimes more than once. A great many also practice birth control. My point was not that being a religiously observant Catholic "excuses" anyone for a position you dislike on any particular issue. Rather, I was making the point that in the case of Kucinich, given the man's overal character based on his words AND actions, he takes positions from a sincere belief shaped by his religious faith.

It doesn't mean I like his positions on choice and women's rights, either. I simply decline to be cynical about it.

diffidently,
Bright

[CyberPieHole]

26. Cafeteria Catholics: Choose some of this...pass on some of that...

makes following religious dogma a lot easier doesn't it? When you can have IT bend to what ONE wants (or finds expedient). I dismiss organized religion.

[MonkeyFunk]

28. So personally

he could violate church doctrine, but when it came to deciding whether women could do so, he voted to repeatedly to prevent them, using the power of law.

I don't find that a highly consistent moral position.

[Extend a Hand]

11. I did

but I believe he is now committed to protecting a woman's right to control her own body and make her own choices.

[Radical Activist]

13. Yep

I think it was a combination of being raised Catholic, representing a heavily Catholic district in Congress, and his spiritual beliefs about the value of all life which also leads him to be a vegan. I think it was a difficult issue for him for many years.

[Extend a Hand]

14. Here is Dennis addressing his change of policy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiVKtwS-UvM

[comradebillyboy]

16. Yes I recall that he used to hold

those positions. he change his position a while back, so what. Do you still hold all the views you held long ago? its kind of like what Clobert said about Bush "he believes on Thursday the same thing he believed on Tuesday no matter what happed on Wednesday". I used to be a member of the RCC, now I am an atheist, so what?

No I am not a fan of Kucincih, but I certainly would not hold this against him.

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. So what.

[MonkeyFunk]

19. It puts the lie to the notion

that DK is the only "consistent" candidate, or that he only ever votes his conscience.

Very few men in their 50's make such a tremendous switch on such a core issue - especially one in politics who has to publicly face the issue repeatedly.

He wanted to run for President, and pandered to do so. I'm glad he changed his position, but it shows he's just another politician.

[The_Casual_Observer]

20. I suppose then that anyone who changes their mind as time goes by

is just a dirty rotten politician.

[MonkeyFunk]

21. No

but as I said, it's very unusual for a man in his 50s to change such a core position. Considering the change occurred just before he ran for President, one can reasonably suspect he was pandering.

That's OK - all politicians do it. But Kucinich seems to have supporters who think he's above that.

[mmonk]

32. Is anyone capable of changing their position

through conclusion rather than planning? I know people who changed on this once they thought it through. Mostly they changed their mind by coming to the conclusion that banning abortions doesn't stop abortion, but merely makes it illegal.

[mmonk]

23. Old news. He changed on the issue quite awhile ago.

If that's all you've got, it's weak.

[Ichingcarpenter]

25. I'm glad you learned ' the google' on the internets

now, we can talk about his hot wife and her hot

Work


In 1996 she went to Agra, India, to volunteer at one of Mother Teresa's homes for India's poorest children. Upon earning her bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Kent, she spent 16 months in a rural Tanzanian village and worked as an advocate for regional development.

After leaving Tanzania, she volunteered with a British Red Cross refugee unit; earned a certificate in Peace Studies from Coventry University; and got a job as a fund-raiser for a seafarer's charity in London.< Her volunteer work often brought her to the House of Lords> At that time she heard financial analyst Stephen Zarlenga speak about monetary reform. She was impressed and soon was hired to become Zarlenga's assistant at the Chicago-based American Monetary Institute. That work took her and Zarlenga to Dennis Kucinich's office.

She married Dennis Kucinich in 2005, in Congressman Kucinich's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Kucinich

[RiverStone]

27. Yes, check out this article from Common Dreams

Regarding his "transition" - back in 2003.

<snip>

But Kucinich also possesses one of the most anti-abortion voting records of any Democrat in Congress.

During his eight years in the House, Kucinich voted with abortion-rights advocates barely 10 percent of the time. Twice in the past three years, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, now known as NARAL Pro-Choice America, gave him a rating of "zero."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0223-05.htm



No one is the perfect candidate...and his change does suggest some plain ol political opportunism. Yep, even Dennis is not above posturing himself.

At one time and for quite a time, he was against reproductive freedom for women. I still hold Dennis in high regard for his anti-war stance and generally very progressive views.

[Tejanocrat]

29. Who here knew Biden used to be anti-Roe v. Wade, STILL opposes all abortion right for women who need

publicly funded health care, STILL says life begins at conception, and STILL opposes third-term abortions even when the fetus develops fatal defects that will cause the fetus to die shortly after birth.

Here's Biden on Meet the Press on April 29, 2007.

Here's a video clip.

[eridani]

33. Biden is the only Dem candidate with a current NARAL grade of less than A

All the other Dem presidential candidates have A ratings, including Kucinich.

[maxanne]

30. ah poor Dennis

turns out to be teachable - turns out to be able to reconsider his position on an issue - and he gets pilloried by people who claim to be left leaning. Many of the same people, in fact, who have been ragging on Bush for his inability to change for the last 7 years.

All of you pious hypocrites will accept a "I was wrong about the war" in 2 seconds flat, with no discussion.

The charge of pandering shows how little you know about DK. He is not someone who ever changes his stance in the name of political expediency, even if it hurts him.

[blondeatlast]

31. Me. Since he's the ONLY candidate EVER to change his mind for political

expediency, the hell with him...

:sarcasm: