Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: October 31, 2007, 8:56 am

Should I start or end with the UFO business? Then he repeatedly called for Bush’s impeachment. Once was enough, but he sounds like a wounded puppy on a deserted road. His Department of Peace idea is almost 50 years old. All of his claims about what he will do the first day he is in office ignore his major charge about others ignoring the Constitution. Most of what he wants to do requires Congressional approval, or has he forgotten that.

This notion of “empowering” the people is quaint. It sounds good, but in my lifetime I haven’t seen it work. Candidates who run on “You, the people.” don’t seem to get very far. The problem is leadership and character and accountability.

As far as addressing the “root” issues as you say, Dodd and Biden hit the nail on the head numerous times and did so without any of Kucinich’s sophomorisms.

You can’t serious think HE won the debate?!

There ought to be a threshhold of public support for a candidate to participate in debates. After a certain period of time if a candidate doesn’t reach 10 percent in a national poll, then he or she should not be allow to take up more serious candidates’ oxygen.

Comment from Blackdogred
Time: October 31, 2007, 9:09 am

Of course I don’t think he won the debate, and of course I don’t think he’s a chance in hell to win the nomination.

But his analysis of the current American foreign policy, bloodlust, unilateralism, and hegemonic instincts is spot on.

It’s a measure of how little true difference there is between the Dems and the Reps that when he makes those points they DO seem outrageously quaint.

As for the UFOs, how’s THAT any different than pols who claim to have a personal relationship with a dead brown person from Nazareth?

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: October 31, 2007, 9:50 am

Biden has forgotten more about what is wrong with American foreign policy and how to fix it than Kucinich will ever learn. Dodd was sharper last night on foreign policy than he has been before, and I was impressed. Both Biden and Dodd were right to point out that Iran is not the problem that Pakistan is and your man was no where near that one. Everyone got the oil question right, so I don’t know what he said that was so “spot on”?

I can’t think of a president elected on “You the people” or “Power to the people” platforms. The last one to try to get the nomination on that “quaint” idea was Howard Dean.

To my knowledge, Kucinich is first candidate of either party to admit to seeing UPOs and be comfortable with the idea. He could have laughed it off and made a joke of it, but he seemed into it. If he were a serious candidate, or I should say, taken seriously, everyone would have a field-day with this one.

Comment from Blackdogred
Time: October 31, 2007, 10:31 am

I apologize - sincerely and without snark - if I am not making myself clear.

My contention with Kucinich is that he, and he alone on that stage, was critiquing the American hegemonic/imperialist foreign policy.

If you buy into that project - that America IS the hegemon - and that what is needed is simply a more competent, less nasty hegemony, then Biden IS preferable to Cheney.

Perhaps (and probably) Kucinich is advocating a less nasty hegemony than Biden’s less nasty hegemony. But it is not moronic for him to say the current US posture is counter-productive at best, and certain to guarantee its own demise.

As for the people: his point was that this either is or isn’t representational government, and if it IS, and the current policies are what the people want, then we are well and more truly screwed than if Bush was acting directly AGAINST the will of the electorate.

And I will not back down on this one: belief in UFOs is neither more or less ludicrous than believing a brown man with messianic delusions died for your sins, ascended to heaven, and was transformed into a blue-eyed white boy who listens to your every prayer.

Comment from timr
Time: October 31, 2007, 12:18 pm

I would note that the dem candidates saying that Pakistan is a much bigger danger than Iran is only repeating the Newsweek cover story from last weeks issue. None the less, it is very true that Pakistan is a much bigger danger, if only because of the islamic fundamentalists and the fact that they already have “THE BOMB”!!, In fact their stash numbers anywhere from 6 to 20. The fact that they(at least right now) are more likely to use them against India than against the US does not lessen the danger. The number of years before Iran can get the bomb varies between 3-10 years for 2 bombs. To add to the comment about gwb when he made his statement about WWIII, he said that we would not allow Iran to have the “knowledge of how to make the bomb”. I think that that particular genie has been out of the bottle for many years now. In point of fact, it was Pakistan that had the black market on both bomb making and bomb materials, not Iran.

Comment from Wise Merlin
Time: November 1, 2007, 7:29 pm

Josh;

Maybe you are too young to remember John Kennedy who stated; “Ask Not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” Bobby Kennedy had a similar philosophy and if one really digs down deep for the truth, so did President James Carter.

The military/Industrial Complex Eisenhower warned us about has chewed up and swallowed any semblence of truth, honesty, integrity, and honor our leadership might muster to bring this government back to serving the people of this country.