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.”
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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:
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.
While I waited for my turn to speak with Kucinich alone, I spoke with his wife, Elizabeth, who was “enjoying the last day of my twenties.” (Happy birthday, Elizabeth.) I asked her the question that was really on my mind: Knowing what he knows about the theft of the last two presidential elections, why would her husband run for president?
After she said, “Are you kidding?” several times with increasing alacrity, I asked if I could turn on my voice recorder…
If everybody came out and just voted in their own enlightened self-interest, if everyone who wanted health care voted in the U.S.A., Dennis would get in. If anyone who wanted to get out of Iraq, if just they voted, then Dennis would get in. If everyone who wanted a change in agriculture and our environment and our climate change policies came out and voted, if they voted for their candidate, who is Dennis, Dennis would get in. If everyone who wanted to vote came out to vote for trade, if they wanted a change in NAFTA or the WTO and to rewrite trade agreements based on workers’ rights, human rights, environmental principles, if they came out and voted, Dennis would get in.
It’s time really. We’ve got a courageous person who stands out for a choice and it’s really time for the American people to have the courage to come and stand with him and to vote for him.
EL: And how do you encourage people to vote when they don’t believe that their votes will be counted accurately?
EK: You can’t give up your democracy. If that…if such an overwhelming amount of people come out, they cannot fudge the issue. They cannot fudge the percentage that would come out. And we just have to make sure that so many people come and vote that it would be impossible to rig such an election.
My brief interview with Kucinich revealed a couple of useful nuggets. The full interview is transcribed below. Here are the highlights:
DK: I took my name off.
EL: You did.
DK: Absolutely. I went to the floor of the House and removed my name.
I found myself wondering how many of the other listed co-sponsors may have withdrawn their names. In February 2007, Maxine Waters told me she would remove her name, yet the Thomas site continues to list her as a co-sponsor as well. Other Reps. have also indicated they no longer support the bill. Perhaps that’s why it hasn’t come up for a full house vote, as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer had indicated would happen in early October.
I asked Kucinich what he is doing, as a Congressional representative or as a candidate, to ensure that there won’t be massive disenfranchisement of voters of color, poor and working class voters in the 2008 elections.
“The electronic systems have deprived all voters, whatever their race, color or creed, of the integrity of the election system,” he replied. He called upon the Department of Justice and civil rights groups to provide monitors at polling places in all communities of color.
When I asked Kucinich about what should be done in Georgia, which uses paperless, easily-hackable, Diebold touch-screen voting machines statewide, he stated, “I have a real problem with any state that has all Diebold. Because you can’t guarantee that technology. And I think the only way to stop that is for citizens of that state to file a lawsuit claiming that their right to vote is being undermined by this technology which is unproven.”
Such a lawsuit is underway in Georgia, having been filed by VoterGA in 2006. Atlanta Progressive News updated readers on that suit in August 2007.
Diebold’s touch-screen voting systems have, time and again, been shown by computer scientists and security experts to be exceedingly vulnerable to tampering [PDF], viruses and out-and-out error.
Kucinich remains the only presidential candidate who has called for hand-counted paper ballots. In the last Congress he introduced HR 6200, “The Paper Ballot Act of 2006,” which would have required the use of hand-counted paper ballots in Presidential Elections. In answer to a question by election integrity advocate Jennifer Kidder at Sunday’s San Mateo event, Kucinich said he plans to re-introduce the bill in the current Congress.
The 761 paper ballots used in the San Mateo Democratic Presidential Straw Poll over the weekend were hand-counted in less than an hour by teams of volunteers.
The top two vote-getters in the poll were John Edwards (29%) and Dennis Kucinich (23.6%). Barack Obama received 22.5% of the votes and Hillary Clinton 16.8%. Even as a write-in, Al Gore (3%) placed higher than Richardson, Biden, Dodd or Gravel. Full results with county breakdowns are available at the San Mateo County Presidential Straw Poll 2008 website.
The complete transcript of my interview with Dennis Kucinich follows below…
San Mateo, California, 10/21/07
EMILY LEVY: Last June you announced that you were going to drop your cosponsorship of HR811, the Holt bill. You’re still listed on Thomas’s website, on the House website, as a cosponsor. Are you still a cosponsor?
REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: I took my name off.
EL: You did.
DK: Absolutely. I went to the floor of the House and removed my name.
EL: That’s good to know. And we’ll need to find out why they haven’t updated their website.
DK: I’ll ask about that.
EL: Okay. And I’m wondering what actions you’re taking, either as a Congressional representative or as a candidate, to ensure that there won’t be mass disenfranchisement of voters of color and poor and working class voters in the elections in 2008?
DK: Well, you know, besides making sure we have paper ballots where every vote’s going to count and every vote will be counted, the electronic systems have deprived all voters, whatever their race, color or creed, of the integrity of the election system. Furthermore, I think that we need to insist that the United States Justice Department provide monitors and that all civil rights groups also provide monitors in all communities of color to make sure that there’s no, first of all, in anticipation of the election, to make sure that each and every county election board is adequately staffed, that there’s a sufficient number of polling places, that the hours are guaranteed to be kept open, that the polling places are accessible and well-staffed, I mean these are the mechanics of an election.
EL: Absolutely.
DK: But you have to pay attention to the mechanics of the election in order to make sure that the election’s going to be run right, and then on the day of the election you need officials there to make sure that it’s proceeding the way it was set up, it was supposed to be set up.
EL: And what would you do, what would you suggest, say, for Georgia, where they not only have all electronic voting, it’s all Diebold and no paper trails, where there’s not going to be any evidence of…
DK: I have a real problem with any state that has all Diebold. Because you can’t guarantee that technology. And I think the only way to stop that is for citizens of that state to file a lawsuit claiming that their right to vote is being undermined by this technology which is unproven.
EL: Great. And could you explain for those of our readers who don’t understand why you would take your name off a bill that claims to be a paper ballot bill, which is the Holt bill, HR 811, and speak out in favor of paper ballots?
DK: Well, actually, it’s my legislation to create paper ballots. That came before the Holt bill. And so the Holt bill, after talking to people across the country, they pointed out their concerns and the deficiencies of the bill and asked me to take my name off it and I agreed to do that. And I did.
EL: And do you consider the Holt bill a paper ballot bill? It talks about paper”¦
DK: I wouldn’t describe it as that. I mean, I think that it goes far beyond that, I want a simple bill to make paper ballots the way that elections are, the form of ballot for all presidential and federal elections.
EL: Okay, great. And as the representative from Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, you were, it was your constituents who were among the most cheated in the 2004 — well, we all were, in the whole country, but some of the biggest problems in the country happened right in Cuyahoga County. And I’m wondering how it looks to you like the plans that Jennifer Brunner has as the new SoS…
DK: I would hope that the, that Jennifer Brunner is going to–actually, she won her seat because of the irregularities in the election. People were so upset with the office of Secretary of State that they elected someone who promised reform. She won on a policy of election reform. So I would hope that Ohio, having suffered so grievously from the deficiencies in election system, will, with the new Secretary of State, have an election system that will protect the integrity of the elections. I’m sure it will.
EL: And one more question about voting and I have one separate question. How would you encourage people to vote when they don’t have confidence that their vote will be counted accurately? Why should people still vote?
DK: Because there’s no other way that we’re going to change the system. I mean, the fact of the matter is if people vote in massive numbers, I can win the presidency, if they vote for what they want. And when you have a small number of people voting, then the election’s always going to be in doubt. But if we have a big turnout and people, let’s just say, are going to vote for me because they want health care, it changes the country. If they want peace, it changes the country. People have to vote in their own self-interest.
Dennis has done nothing on the paper ballot issue in his home state, Ohio. Maybe he’s relying on current SoS Brunner, who’s allegedly researching the issue, expanding on CA SoS Bowen’s report. Meanwhile, the November election’s in two weeks with zero to show for it.
America, like Germany before the NAZI’s took over, is too nice to do anything about it.
The congress is too nice to stop the war and hold the war profiteers accountable for starting it.
Yep, too nice to stop the creeping fascism.
And like Germany, they will claim that they did the right thing based upon what they knew at the time.
The current Department of
JusticeJust Us is likewise ‘Rigged, Fake, Undemocratic’ …A republican ex-attorney general said so in a hearing before congress:
(AP Story).
It’s really a shame this brilliant and impassioned man has been so marginalized by our corporate MSM.
The real traitors to this nation are not those in congress who take the bribes and the soft money.
The real traitors to the American people are the Corporate Media who pander to the perpetrators of the power grab, never in pursuit of truth, always in pursuit of favor.
Thanks to Emily Levy, Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich, and the Brad Blog for this reminder that if more people vote, then it will be much more difficult to rig our elections and for the news that John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich received the most votes in the San Mateo straw poll, news that the mainstream media has so far overlooked for some reason.
I hope that you understand that if your vote does not count or you do not even bother to vote, then you have no power to influence your government!!! When you have no power to influence your government, you are no longer free, instead you are just a subject whose wishes, feelings, and life mean nothing to those in power. Please take action today to restore democracy and to prevent your rights from being taken away. For more information on how you can take action to restore election integrity, see: http://www.opednews.com/article...e_action_o.htm
Also, get out and vote in the primary elections and support the candidates who you want to win, not the ones that the mainstream media keep saying are in the lead. For more information about the mainstream media’s failures to cover election fraud and election reform, see me speaking at the FCC Hearing in Tampa at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAni0WoI7LI
Where was Dennis Kuchinich in the fall of 2000 when Bush stole the 2000 election in Florida? Some people stillblame nader for that- when more people voted for the Communist party than voted Nader.
I applaud Dennis for still fighting- but its over.
there will NEVER be another election even remotely fair in this county. The media, the bilderbergers, the commitee of 300, the unilateral commision, the real power behind the throne- have already decided Hillary will be the next president. Vote anyway you want – and it will still happen.
It’s time to accept America is a corporate dictatorship and move on with our lives. Its what the Gipper would want. Morning in America, shining city on
the hill, read my lips no new taxes, we do not torture in America….
Its over. Just accept your slavery and move on. Just be pleased to appease you masters. America the Republic had a good run. But its over. The terrorists won becasue we elected them as president and vice president. Accept it, be glad. Democracy is a hassle. Its better to live your life with someone else telling you what to do. be a good sheep. BAA Baa ! Or you’ll get shorn! God Bless America!
1. This country was supposedly founded as a “Republic” and not as a democracy. Actually it was probably founded to be the new Atlantis. Our constitution, etc have always been bogus, only put there to keep us sheeple asleep.
2. I am from Texas and “the elite” have been stealing the elections long before the “electronic age”. This country has 50 states, 4 time zones, around 300 million people and many illegals, and several thousand miles of land, since the MSM is so biased do you really think that “the elite” would really let your vote count. The only way that Kucinich or Ron Paul would get elected is if they are related to the Queen of England and Rockefeller/Rothschild decides they want them elected. If you are looking for congress to bail you out then you will be waiting for a long time as they have the same boss as Bush/Cheney, Clinton/Gore, etc.
3. We need to quit watching the acts of these people and instead watch them and figure out how to bring them down. As long as we continue to watch their acts they will continue to feed them to us and they will continue to win.
A vote for Kucinich is a vote for Peace.
apologies to Benjamin Franklin
Of course it’s rigged and fake. Does Elizabeth expect our Federal government to straighten this out, or do We The People do it? This is why everyone should look at Ron Paul for President. He’s the thinking man’s Dennis Kucinich.
Ditto.
Americans must exercise fundamental freedoms as envisioned by this nation’s founders. Problem is we are either too lazy, too busy, ill-informed, or disenfranchised to care. The system is corrupt, we all know that. Now the question is what are we going to do about it? Anyone who thinks they’re wasting a vote by casting it for the “unpopular” candidate is dead wrong. Votes must be cast for the candidate who best mirrors the voter’s political agenda. If the candidate legitimately loses, so be it. At least the vote was cast. Ensuring reputable election results is every American’s civic duty. The time to get busy is now.
One thing that DK mentioned was monitoring minority voting sites, because so many voters have been disinfranchised there. Good plan, but we must not forget that in ’04 much of the theft was in the small rural counties, which vote Repub. Out there a small % of the vote was skimmed. When you add all those counties up, you have thousands of votes. There was reporting that the exit polls and the official vote differed in the rural counties by as much as 8% in some places. And, as one lady reported who was an Ohio recount watcher, “We not only had election fraud in the rural counties, we had election recount fraud.” So yes, DK, monitor the minority precincts for disinfranchisement, but monitor the rural sites too, to prevent vote flipping. OK. So monitor all polling places!
shw
This is a singular moment in history that is so critcal and so important to the survival of this Republic. The “Sleeping Giant “, We The People are finally waking up and realizing how perilous our situation has become. Understanding the problem is the first step to solving it. Do not give up. Do not acquiesce. Fight back with all your might. The Elite Masters cannot survive without our complicity. Light Bearers, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul, are now in the fray. They are our greatest hope for change. Support them in any way you can. Something unique is happening. I can feel the energy. Paul’s campaign is on fire and will not be contained. The message transcends the messenger and Paul’s idea of freedom and personal liberty has taken hold and is growing exponentially. Have faith in the people of this Nation for there are Patriots working to dismantle that which afflicts us, both visibly and behind the scene. Do what you can to further the cause. Stay strong.
Mazz
Kucinich saw UFO on Shirley MacLaine’s porch, was deeply moved http://www.dailykos.com/story/2...0/24/12337/314
Jerry Kimbo @ #6: good luck with that……
I think that you’ve got that wrong, Dennis Kucinich is the compasssionate, thinking version of Ron Paul.
If you don’t cast a vote for who you really want to win, then you have to live with the fact that you are partly to blame for not getting your favorite person into office.
If you try, you might not win, but I guarantee that if you give up, you’re going to lose!
VOTE!
Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting evil. Voting is one of their games, we have to quit playing their games and instead focus on them. Until we get our minds off of their acts and onto them they will continue to win. If you are looking for a politician to do it you will probably be waiting a long time.
The reason why Kucinich and Ron Paul never get any mainstream media attention is precisely because the media (and their corporate masters in the establishment) KNOW that they are the only 2 candidates who actually want to CHANGE the system. It’s certainly not because Kucinich doesn’t have good ideas, or rather it’s because he DOES have good ideas that they won’t give him the time of day. The media has already annointed Hillary and Giuliani as getting their respective nominations and even if come election day every single person voting writes on the ballot Dennis Kucinich and votes for him, Giuliani will STILL be the next president. At least Kucinich realizes how massively screwed up the system is; (excepting Ron Paul) all the other candidates pretend it is a fine system that just might need a little tweaking at most. They don’t want to change anything; the status quo is too kind to them to want that. Kucinich is the only one worth voting for. But judging from the last 2 “elections”, it doesn’t matter WHO you vote for, the outcome has already been decided.
And that’s where massive, internet-organized campaigns of civil disobedience come in.
I have been telling people this for years Government is a scam a farse run by a criminal element who live for free and extort the American public by writing so-called laws that serve only government interest, how do you think they make thier money? What do they produce? why do you think they want separation of Church and state? so they can continue to act in thier criminal ways and brainwash the public into thinking we’re the bad guys!!!!!! if it is not put to a stop and soon, they will ruin everyones life….
why do you think they want separation of Church and state?
So the country is not taken over completely by a bunch of Christofascist loons under utterly insane Biblical Law?
The founding fathers knew exactly what they were doing in this respect.
and Lev is correct, basically the 08′ “S-election” was decided 6 years ago.
Dennis Kucinich spoke at Sierra Madre Park the same day I later interviewed him in San Mateo. At the park he described his plans to force a vote on impeachment in more detail. The Video is worth watching.
He asks that we all call our Reps. and tell them to vote NO if there is a motion to table the bill to impeach Cheney. (He said it’s now H.Res. 333 in a way that sounded like maybe the number will be different when it’s introduced. Not sure how that works.)