Kucinich Is The Candidate You Are Not Suppose To Talk About.

Wow!

I am speechless at the banning of Kucinich from NBC Debate tonite by the Nevada Supreme Court a few minutes ago. An outrage and a real loss for democracy.

It is another example of corrupt, corporate control of politics that makes Democrats and Republicans sound and act so alike. Any dissenting candidate that can threaten the corporate bottom line will be marginalized and muzzled.

The existing candidates should welcome Kucinich onto the stage. That would show real courage.

Kucinich would make it a real Democratic Debate about change and different ideas.

Kucinich argued that without the inclusion of all "credible candidates," the debate would be "effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by NBC." He quoted the public interest provisions of the Federal Communications Act of 1934.

The ruling tonight shows how right he is.

The New York Times reported that it will likely be described as a First Amendment victory by NBC --- The news organization?

WHAT TWISTED THINKING? How can you talk about free speech when you are silencing someone else's voice.

Kucinich is the candidate you are not suppose to talk about. The invisable Man.

I studied the positions of the candidates at the New York Time's Election Guide 2008.

Then I took the test at http://www.dehp.net/candidate/.

And the candidate whose positions I most agreed with was Dennis Kucinich.

I know....I know...we are not allowed to talk about Kucinich because he is not a serious candidate, not electable...it would be a wasted vote.

And I understand the argument that Ralph Nader's miniscule percentage in Florida denied the 2000 election from Al Gore. I would not vote for an independent in the general election.

But these are the primaries and in the primaries you should vote your conscience based on the issues. It's the American Way.

Dennis Kucinich is the only Democrat running for President who has voted against authorizing the war in Iraq and against funding its continuation and who wants to remove all the troops immediately.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate for President with a plan for a Universal, Single-Payer, Not-for-Profit health care system. Health care in the US is too expensive and leaves 46 million Americans without insurance and millions more under-insured, causing thousands to die needlessly.

Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate who is not beholden to the corporate interests, who has taken no monies from corporate lobbyists.

Kucinich is the only candidate who voted against the Patriot Act, and wants to restore basic constitutional rights.

Kucinich is the only candidate who supports gay marriage.

This isn't far left stuff. They are simply moderate Democratic positions. This is what the Democratic Party is all about. So why won't the Democrats vote like Democrats?

The reason is that they fear that if they support Democratic positions, they will give the election to the Republicans. They want to settle for the "good" rather than the "perfect."

What is outrageous is that Kucinich is being marginalized and excluded from the debates and media attention .... right at the beginning.

MSNBC invited Rep. Dennis Kucinich to tonight's debate in Las Vegas. Then, less than 48 hours later network brass decided to change their qualification criteria and to limit the debate to the top three candidates. They informed Kucinich he wasn't welcome after all.

Shame on Tim Russert and Brian Williams - the scheduled moderators. And shame on NBC.

A Nevada judge said Monday that Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich must be included in the Nevada debate. But this was overruled a few minutes ago.

.

It's not that Kucinich hasn't demonstrated considerable popular support. The first ABC debate gave Kucinich very little face time, yet he was the winner of the ABC online poll asking who won the debate. Kucinich has also won or done well in most of the major online polls by large margins: DFA and National Progressive Democrats of America.

So what am I to do?

These primaries are a participatory farce, but will lead to the eventual nominee. The electorate -- and thre Democratic Candidate -- must not be terrified of real New Deal style change, which Kucinich represents.

Kucinich is not running to win the nomination. He knows he is not going to succeed... He is running to influence the political discourse within the Democratic party --- which is critically important. He is running to show the frontrunners what the full spectrum of Democratic opinions might be...in a real debate.

We cannot elect the really "perfect" until we see it. Which is why Kucinich and his Democratic positions are so important. I know that history is on his side and his positions are the right direction for democracy. I can only hope that Hillary and Obama see it too.

One day we will have universal medical care, we will ban corporate control and corrupt financing of the political process, we will legalize gay marriage, we will get rid of the Patriot Act, and we will stop fighting stupid wars.

So thank you Dennis, for speaking truth to power. And you will have my vote in the primaries.

[e-mail]

Comments

[thevoicereason]

I strongly recommend the book by Noam Chomsky titled "Manufacturing Consent." It describes in detail the system that is in place which marginalized democratic voices. The problem is pervasive and not limited to MSNBC. Dennis has been marginalized for over 30 years. I was a citizen of Cleveland when he stood up for the city against big corporate robber barons who were attempting to steal the power company owned by the people of Cleveland. The internet informs more of us to the problems inherent in our democracy. The solution doesn't lie in the lambasting of MSNBC. They are just doing as they were designed. We get our news from G.E. and then complain when it is controlled?

This land is your land, grant yourself ownership of it. Reshape the design of things so in the future voices like Dennis' are not marginalized. Create your own media. Inform yourselves. Invite him to your debate watched online by millions.

[huffnpuffn]

Electability, such a useless thing to base a vote on.

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/anything-but-the-e-word/

[CarolLee]

General Electric, parent company of NBC, is a military contractor and war profiteer. Dennis Kucinich has been steadfast in his call for an immediate end to the war, which would mean a financial loss of billions to General Electric. Why do you think they fought so hard, all the way to the Supreme Court, to keep his voice from being heard?

A military contractor owns the media. A military contractor has set the agenda and told the American sheeple who their candidates will and will not be. It is not coincidental that Dennis Kucinich is unknown -- he threatens the powers that be with views on war, big business in government and healthcare.

A military contractor owns the media. Big business is keeping us in this war. Welcome to America.

For more information on General Electric:
http://www.warprofiteers.com/article.php?list=type&type=16

[JohnFromCensornati]

Kucinich is the candidate that you are not *supposed* to talk about.

[uscitizen]

If you don't vote your conscience and instead vote for the person deemed most electable, then you get what you deserve.

This country has flushed its ideals and principles down the drain because of voter stupidity and irresponsibility.

[TUCANOFULANO]

Four Absentee Ballots with votes for Mr. Kucinich were mailed this evening from this California household, voters' ages range from 18 to 70, indicating support is not limited to a narrow age range. It's no wonder "the networks" are bleeding investor's money as they continue to lose market share, as "the networks" do NOT have a clue about Americans.

[drkazmd65]

Thank you Blake,... I can't think of a single thing to add,...

And that is a rare one for me.

Thanks for your post.

[TLV]

Funny, isn't it? If the majority of the media finds the candidate unsaleable, he's out. And I thought it wasn't supposed to looks or connections or past criminal behavior that get someone elected because those are the big no-nos. Turns out the good guys really don't ever win in this country.

[irishgawdess]

I was pretty bummed about the decision to allow NBC (pat-ooey!) to ban DK from the debate tonight. Add them to my reject pile along with ABC and the NYT.

I don't think DK's positions are so far left either. The whole political spectrum has shifted to the right because of the neocons. Anybody notice how the far right is now referred to as "radical?" Thirty+ years ago, it was the "radical left?"

I took the same candidate poll Blake, and Kucinich most matched my values by a large margin... the first two times I took it. I think whoever runs that site has tweaked it a bit, because the other day, my top candidate match was a three-way tie: Hillary, Dodd, and DK, all at 84%. Hmmm? Alphabetically listed, I'm sure.

I plan to vote for DK in the primary here in Oregon. I hope he sticks around until May. We're a pretty independent and democratic bunch here; Oregon has been ranked the greenest state as well. However, I don't think the Green Party candidate has a chance in Oregon. I do hope they take votes away from the "five degrees to the right" centrists Hillary, Barack, and John.

My mother told me a vote for DK is a wasted vote. I laughed, and reminded her that she voted for Ralph Nader in the last two primary elections. America cannot withstand another Republican administration, or Congress. I hope to see as many Republicans swept from Washington D.C. as possible.

It's too bad the "top 3" democratic candidates have all co-opted DK's rally cry for change. They've made it seem like campaign rhetoric. DK talks about how he would change things, while the others just chant, "Change, change, change." How trite. And how sad for Americans.

[heavyrunner]

This ruling is beyond Orwellian.

MSNBC cannot be required to allow all Presidential candidates on their program because it would infringe on the First Amendment rights of the NBC corporation? If someone put that in one of their novels the publisher would suggest editing it because it was not believable.

[rwoodsathome]

If DK is so popular, why does he poll in the single digits? Why, do people not vote for him?

It's not because they haven't heard about him. Everyone knows DK is the guy who wants to impeach every republican in the country. He's the guy with all the wild conspiracy theories about stolen elections and such.

No, the problem is that he is not a viable candidate. He has no practical solutions to anything - he gets press coverage because of his non-conformity.

Take a look at his public service as mayor of Cleveland and his time in the house. Wacky would be a polite description of his politics.

No one supports his campaign with their wallet - not even his supporters.

[StephieL]

The reason why Dennis Kucinich is the "invisible man" in this flock of allegedly "Democratic" Presidential pre-candidate is as glaringly obvious as it is tragic ... Dennis Kucinich has the potential to become a genuine American patriotic Presidential candidate in the same vein as Franklin D. Roosevelt, if he was able to get the same kind of press coverage which the Wall Street-owned "Democratic" Presidential candidates (Clinton, Obama and Edwards) are getting.

Even though many of our fellow Americans say that they want an American President who will be like FDR, the one man who has the potential to become a President in the spirit of FDR doesn't get the time of day from most Americans who are locked into the mindset which the corporate-owned MSM insists on creating for them, even though Kucinich has done more on behalf of the American people -- such as demand the impeachment of Dick Cheney -- than the top three "Democratic" Presidential candidate combined.

This not only says a lot about the hideous state of the corporate-owned MSM, but it also speaks volumes about the chronic political illiteracy which afflicts many of our fellow citizens.

[Gabrielle]

THE EMPIRE HAS SPOKEN AGAIN....
WE ARE DOOMED FOR THE SAME OLD BULLSHIT....YEAR AFTER YEAR

KUCINICH THE ONLY ELECTABLE CANDIDATE
THEY'RE SCARED TO HEAR THE TRUTH...
BOYCOTT THIS BS
ALL VOTE FOR KUCINICH..,

WAKE UP PEOPLE

[MTGradwell]

"This isn't far left stuff. They are simply moderate Democratic positions."

- that used to be the case, maybe. But, as you point out, Kucinich stands alone among the candidates in supporting these positions. None of the "front-runners" will back away from an unending series of wars and the destruction of liberty. The House "Democrats", elected to stop the rot, act as enablers for it. The "Democratic" hierarchy collude in the marginalization and exclusion of anyone such as Dennis who might conceivably set the country on a proper course, or who might represent the true aspirations of the majority of the public. The "frontrunners" also collude. Nobody is forcing them to take part in debates from which key Democrats are exluded. They might, for instance, refuse to participate until the debate host ensures a level playing field. And pigs might fly.

Given all this, why should anyone suppose that the Democratic party is anything other than "neocon-lite"? Or even "neocon-heavy"?

[thedirtman]

As of today, a vote for Kucinich is a vote against the MSM. He has my vote.