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Has Dennis Kucinich voted to fund the war?

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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:11 AM
Original message
Has Dennis Kucinich voted to fund the war?
He seems to have been the most consistent in opposing the war of the nominees.
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Occam Bandage Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:13 AM
Response to Original message
1. Is opposition to the war a quality you look for in a Democratic candidate?
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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:19 AM
Response to Reply #1
8. obviously its not a top priority, as I don't support the only candidate that actually does. nt.
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Occam Bandage Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:20 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. You seem to be showing an awful lot of concern about this topic.
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mac2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:24 AM
Response to Reply #1
15. Yes..it is bankrupting this country plus it is immoral and
internationally illegal.
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subsuelo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 07:33 AM
Response to Reply #1
27. of course it is
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flvegan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:14 AM
Response to Original message
2. War of the nominees?
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CaliforniaPeggy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:14 AM
Response to Original message
3. I believe that he has never voted to fund the war...
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mac2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:21 AM
Response to Reply #3
11. Kucinich gave speeches against the Iraq war and funding
ever since the subject has reared it's ugly head in Congress.
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FrenchieCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:14 AM
Response to Original message
4. Which is why Kucinich directed his supporters to vote for Obama
in Iowa....cause Kucinich knows very well that Obama's position was much closer to his own, than Hillary could ever possibly dream up in a fairytale!

So, unless you aren't wearing an Hillary Avatar, you are asking the wrong question. You should be asking yourself why you don't support Kucinich.

-------------------------



Delivered on 26 October 2002 at an anti-war rally

I don’t oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.

Now let me be clear – I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity.

He’s a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.

But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.

So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the president today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s finish the fight with Bin Laden and al-Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells.

You want a fight, President Bush? Let’s fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn’t simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil.

Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.

The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not – we will not – travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech




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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:18 AM
Response to Reply #4
7. see post #6. nt.
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jackson_dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:22 AM
Response to Reply #4
12. Kucinich directed his voters to someone who voted for the war in 2004
Edited on Thu Jan-24-08 12:24 AM by jackson_dem
He has also taken Obama to task for his hypocrisy on saying he opposed the war and then voting to fund it (until he launched his presidential campaign).

While running for Senate in 2003, Sen. Obama acknowledged that he took his anti-war speech off his campaign website, calling it 'dated.' Specifically, State Senator Obama maintains that an October 2002 anti-war speech was removed from his campaign web site because - the speech was dated once the formal phase of the war was over, and my staff's desire to continually provide fresh news clips."

In 2004, Sen. Obama said he didn’t know how he would have voted on the Iraq War resolution. When asked about Senators Kerry and Edwards' votes on the Iraq war, Obama said, "I'm not privy to Senate intelligence reports,’ Mr. Obama said. ‘What would I have done? I don't know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.’ -- Note: No one disputes that Sen. Obama opposed the war from his "vantage point" as a part-time state senator in Illinois. The point we are making is that Sen. Obama acknowledged that he did not know how he would have voted had his vantage point been from the U.S. Senate.

In 2004, Sen. Obama also said there was little difference between his position and George Bush’s position on Iraq. In a meeting with Chicago Tribune reporters at the Democratic National Convention, Obama said, "On Iraq, on paper, there's not as much difference, I think, between the Bush administration and a Kerry administration as there would have been a year ago. <...> There's not much of a difference between my position and George Bush's position at this stage."

Until he ran for president, Sen. Obama supported every funding bill for Iraq, some $300 billion. <2005 Vote # 117, HR1268, 5/10/05; 2005 Vote # 326, S1042, 11/15/05; 2006 Vote # 112, HR4939, 5/4/06; 2006 Vote # 239; 2006 Vote # 186, S2766, 6/22/06, HR5631, 9/7/06>

Sen. Obama waited 18 months to give his first speech on the Senate floor devoted to Iraq, in which he opposed a timeline for withdrawal. Obama said "I'm also acutely aware that a precipitous withdrawal of our troops, driven by Congressional edict rather than the realities on the ground, will not undo the mistakes made by this Administration. It could compound them."

Sen. Obama didn't introduce legislation to end the Iraq war until he started running for president.
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FrenchieCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:37 AM
Response to Reply #12
20. The same person you are talking about Kucinich directed his votes to in '04
is now DU's favorite saint, and yes, Edwards even co-sponsored the damn Iraq War Bill.

So unless you are supporting Dennis, you should STFU.

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jackson_dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:37 AM
Response to Reply #20
22. Kucinich doesn't direct supporters based on the war. He does what is best for Kucinich
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mac2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:23 AM
Response to Reply #4
13. Obama close to Kucinich?
I think not. Obama gave his fear speech against the "terrorists" and Iraq on CSPAN. I believe he voted to fund the war also.
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FrenchieCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #13
19. Close enough based on what's being offered in contrast.....
and so, I'll just vote for the one that can actually get in there, and maybe do something.

Personal preference.
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Fresh_Start Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:14 AM
Response to Original message
5. Vote Smart is your friend
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mac2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:20 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. I agree
that Vote Smart if is good web site to check out the record of candidates. A women was running in my district saying she was against the war. But she refused to fill out their forms. I asked her to and she said, it wasn't needed or important. I told her it was important to me since she is running for Congress. She does not get my vote unless she does. She is running on one issue and that is not all I want to know.

Because of the corrupt Congress we can't get good candidates to run for public office.
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AlCzervik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:16 AM
Response to Original message
6. "Every time you vote to fund the war it's just like voting for the war again"
and he's right imo.
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FrenchieCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:23 AM
Response to Reply #6
14. You would........
But that doesn't help Hillary Clinton, does it?
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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:24 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. kind of a damning indictment of Obama as well. nt.
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FrenchieCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:33 AM
Response to Reply #16
17. Only in your fairytales......

"That's why I supported the Iraq thing." Bill Clinton, June 23, 2004 (CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/19/clinton.iraq/index.html

"I opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning." Bill Clinton, 11/27/2007, (NYT)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/28/us/politics/28clinton.html?ex=1353906000&en=cf3f18a5f01db61b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss


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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:34 AM
Response to Reply #17
18. ""Every time you vote to fund the war it's just like voting for the war again"
from the only Democratic nominee actually opposed to the war.
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FrenchieCat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:37 AM
Response to Reply #18
21. Go on with your HIllary avatar!
:rofl:
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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:38 AM
Response to Reply #21
23. I don't claim to have an anti-war candidate....you certainly have no leg to stand on. nt.
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jackson_dem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:38 AM
Response to Reply #18
24. Hillary is honest about her war record. Obama isn't
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IndianaJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 12:39 AM
Response to Reply #24
25. bingo. Obama is much closer to HRC on the war than he is to Kucinich. nt.
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mac2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-24-08 04:59 AM
Response to Reply #25
26. That's a fact
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