Why I will not Vote for Dennis Kucinich

While I was on my way home today (Thursday) some little cell phone talking jerk in a Fiat cut me off. He switched lanes so close in front of me that I could not see his back window or the "Impeach Cheney", "Greenpeace", "P.E.T.A.", rainbow, peace sign and up side down U.S. flag stickers that kept him from seeing thru it. I locked my brakes and managed to not run over his tinker toy of a car.

For my thanks, he gave me the one finger salute. My heart rate shot up. I was upset to say the least. Thoughts of using the pit maneuver to push this ass hat off the road, then using my tire tool to open his driver side window so I could politely ask him for $3.89 to pay for the Starbucks coffee that he had just made me spill raced thru my head. MY parents raised me better than that. Lucky for him huh? I mean wouldn't my dad be mad to find out I had got blue paint all over my red truck. So, I decided to channel my anger in a better way.

Well, after I got home, I sat down and started writing. No, not this blog post but a letter to Santa asking for a brush guard so that the next time some short new age jerk tries to force his will on me I could put him into the wall without messing up my truck's paint job.

Speaking of short new age jerks … tonight's topic is why I will not vote for Dennis Kucinich. (Or as I like to call him "Dennis the menace Ku-Ku-cinich".)

Ok, everyone grab you tin-foil hats and lets go.

Dennis Kucinich is a very scrappy little (5'7") guy with a tough background. As a kid, his parents moved 21 times, cramming 7 kids into 2 bedroom apartments or even, at times, a car parked outside the steel mill where his dad worked. He was elected as the nation's youngest mayor (of Cleveland … and yes, Jerry Springer was also a Mayor of Cleveland) in 1977, and was known mostly for scrapping with established politicians, banks and just about everybody else. After he fired his police chief (live, on the 6 O'Clock news) he was so unpopular that he wore a bulletproof vest when he threw out the first pitch at an Indian's baseball game, and had police sharpshooters lined up all along the roof of the building.

Mayor "Dennis the Menace" Ku-ku-cinich quickly led Cleveland into bankruptcy. His administration was certainly a messy one. The book "Best and Worst of the Big-City Leaders, 1820–1993" names Kucinich as the 7th worst mayor of American history. (Not for reasons of corruption or scandal, but due to his abrasive, intemperate, and chaotic administration.) He barely survived a recall vote after only ten months in office (by 231 votes out of 120,000 less votes than Al Gore lost Florida by in the 2000 election). He was voted out after one term by Republican George Voinovich, even through Democrats outnumbered Republicans 8 to 1 in Cleveland.

After he was unceremoniously booted from the mayors office in 1979 he lived for a while in his "dear friend" Shirley MacLaine's house, and began what he calls ""a journey into the poetry of my own life."Shirley Maclaine has an interesting story about him in her book, "Sage-ing While Age-ing." (Yeah, I know.) Shirley says he had a close encounter with a UFO at her house in Washington state that he found very moving. According to Maclaine "The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him. It hovered, soundless, for 10 minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend. He said he felt a connection in his heart and heard directions in his mind." (Sorry I tired but I can't make that one any weirder or funnier, either. You are wearing your tin-foil hat right?)

Kucinich likes to portray himself as a progressive, but for him that takes a turn not seen in mainstream politics since Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown ran for president. While his website tries to paint him as a down to earth mid-westerner with a page titled "Polka, Bowling and Kielbasa", Kucinich is certainly the only admitted Vegan in the race (that is, a vegetarian who won't consume any animal products at all, including milk and honey.) The only kielbasa he'll be eating is made of tofurkey. The blue collar kid from Cleveland now supports creating a "Department of Peace." "I have a holistic view of the world," Kucinich explains. "I see the world as interconnected and interdependent and that leaves no room for war." As I mentioned earlier, he is also friends with Shirley MacLaine, who is the godmother of his daughter and attended his third wedding in 2005. Other policy positions of his get a bit "out there" as well.

In 2001, he introduced a bill to ban space-based and other exotic weapons, including "radiation, electromagnetic, psychotronic, sonic, laser, or other energies . . . for the purpose of information war, mood management, or mind control of such populations." (If you'll recall I told ya to grab your tin foil hat earlier.) Included in the ban were "chemtrails," supposed airplane emissions that change the weather or cause rashes in school kids, if you listen to the Art Bell radio show anyway. Chemtrails were removed in a revised draft of the bill. "I'm not into that," Kucinich told The Cleveland Plain Dealer. (Really? Ku-ku-cinich was the legislation's sole author.)

As snide as I like to be, I don't know if I can improve on Kucinich's own nutty mysticism. But I will try.

Like so many New Age devotees desperately searching for universal love, Kucinich lacked a steady love partner. The twice-divorced dad, however, not only admits it but went public with his search for a love connection during a 2004 debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, announcing his criteria for a first lady: "As a bachelor, I get a chance to fantasize about my first lady. And you know maybe Fox will want to sponsor it as a national contest or something. But in any event I would want definitely want someone who would not just be there by my side, but be a working partner because I think we're in a day in age when partnerships are imperative to making anything happening in the world. And I certainly want a dynamic, out-spoken woman who was fearless in her desire for peace in the world and for universal single-payer health care and a full employment economy. If you are out there call me."

To help me out, the PoliticsNH website started a personals area for Kucinich women wannabees. Well, something must have worked, because in 2005, Dennis married his third wife, Elizabeth Harper of London England. She's an attractive, 6 foot tall woman 31 years younger than him. If he's elected, she will be the first First Lady with a tongue piercing.

OK ... OK... some of you will point out that my wife has a tongue piercing as well. She is my lady… not a potential First Lady of the United States. We dated for two years before getting married. They met when she visited his congressional office; he proposed on the second date, and they married 30 days later. I'd love to tell you exactly what Kucinich's true stance is on some of the issues but I can't seem to find my flip-flops.

While most politicians change their positions from time to time, (in fact, all good ones do, because they are learning and open to change) Kucinich has made a dizzying switch on most topics with no apparent principle to back it up other than, "I want to win me some Democratic primaries."

As a Congressman, he amassed one of the most anti-abortion voting records in Congress. (Unusual for a Democrat. Fair enough, Kucinich was raised Catholic.) He voted to criminalize partial birth abortions, to deny American servicewoman the right even to pay for their own abortions overseas, to prevent Washington, D.C. from funding abortions for poor women with nonfederal dollars, against research on RU-486, even against health coverage of basic contraception for federal employees. In 1996 he told Planned Parenthood that he did not support the substance of Roe v. Wade. He received a 95 percent position rating from the National Right to Life Committee, versus 10 percent from Planned Parenthood and 0 percent from NARAL. Now that he wants to run as a progressive Democrat though, he is waffling all over that stance. He told The Nation magazine that "I believe life begins at conception and that it doesn't end at birth." (Huh?) He said he was not in favor of either a Human Life Amendment that would constitutionally protect "life" from the moment of conception, nor the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and presented his votes as votes not against abortion per se but against federal funding of the procedure. (That's not consistent with his votes on the servicewomen and Washington DC issues I mentioned above.)

And whilehe told The Nation he was not in favor of "criminalizing" abortion, he voted for a partial-birth-abortion ban that included fines and up to two years in jail for doctors who performed them, except to save the woman's life. When pressed, Kucinich said "I haven't been a leader on this. These are issues I would not have chosen to bring up." Well, he has been at least a devoted follower of the pro-life position, until it became politically inconvenient. (And if he's not a leader, why should anyone elect him as president?)

Another example?

OK here's another flip-flop.

He voted for the resolution calling for an investigation into President Bill Clinton's role in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, while most of his party opposed this resolution. But then he voted against the impeachment of President Clinton.

Because his voting record is not always in line with that of the Democratic Party and it seems his stances on almost everything jump back and forth with out any real rhyme or reason it is hard to figure out where he stands on the issues but here is what I can best figure out.

Domestic policy:

Health Care: Ku-ku-cinich is one of 75 cosponsors in the House of Representatives of the United States National Health Insurance Act or HR 676. (Clinton style health care)

Homeland Security: Ku-ku-cinich voted against the USA PATRIOT Act. His voting record is not always in line with that of the Democratic Party. Kucinich also criticized the flag-burning amendment. Kucinich is the only congressional representative to vote against the symbolic "9/11 Commemoration" resolution.

Abortion: His congressional voting record has leaned toward a pro-life stance, although he noted that he has never supported a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion altogether. In 2003, however, he began describing himself as pro-choice and said he had shifted away from his earlier position on the issue. Press releases have indicated that he is pro-choice and supports ending the "abstinence-only" policy of sex education and increasing the use of contraception to make abortion "less necessary" over time. (Flipity Flip Flop.)

Election Reform: He was one of the 31 who voted in the House to not count the electoral votes from Ohio in the United States presidential election, 2004. (Every vote counts except for the ones from his home state?)

Immigration: Even his website doesn't mention were he stands on immigration. He has spent more time during the debates talking about UFO's than the southern border. (My guess is because it is more concerned with aliens from outer space than illegal aliens.)

Foreign policy:

Iraq: Ku-ku-cinich is the only Democratic presidential candidate who voted against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He has since voted against funding it 100% of the time. In a visit to the rest of the Middle East in September 2007, Kucinich said he did not visit Iraq because "I feel the United States is engaging in an illegal occupation." Kucinich was criticized for his visit to Syria and praise of the President Bashar al-Assad on Syria's national TV. He praised Syria for taking in Iraqi refugees. "What most people are not aware of is that Syria has taken in more than 1.5 million Iraqi refugees," Kucinich said. "The Syrian government has actually shown a lot of compassion in keeping its doors open, and being a host for so many refugees."

Iran: In 2005, Ku-ku-cinich voted against the Iran Freedom and Support Act. Kucinich is also in favor of increased dialog with Iran in order to avoid a militaristic confrontation at ALL COSTS. Kucinich is one of only two congressional representatives who voted against the Rothman-Kirk Resolution, which calls on the United Nations to charge Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with violating the genocide convention of the United Nations Charter.

Venezeuela: The Ku-Ku-Cinich signed a letter of solidarity with Hugo Chávez in Venezuela in 2004.

My take?

Those of you that know me, know that I am a big fan of Ronald Reagan. One of Reagan's big catch phrases was Peace thru Strength. In fact, that is the USS Ronald Reagan's motto. Ku-ku-cinich is the exact opposite of Ronald Reagan. Reagan built up our military so that we won the cold war with out having to get into war with the USSR. Reagan pushed for the SDI program to ensure we would be protected. Reagan made sure we saw peace because we were strong.

It was not lost on me that Ku-ku-cinich's campaign slogan is the exact opposite Strength thru Peace. He advocates the abolition of all nuclear weapons calling on the United States to be the first to dismantle. Kucinich has also been a strong opponent of space based weapons.

So, if we lay down our swords and cast away our shields we will live peacefully? Well, at least until our enemies all ram their spears thru our rib cages.

This is not his 1st time running for the White House. Kucinich was unable to carry any states in the 2004 Democratic Primaries. I hate to agree with Ted Koppel, Kucinich's 2004 run was merely a "vanity campaign" as is his 2008 run in my opinion.

I'm not going to vote for this nut job.

That is unless an alien abducts me and I get some kind of mind control device implanted into my brain.

I'll leave you with a couple of quotes:

"Dennis Kucinich has spent his life fighting for the little guy -- and that little guy is Dennis." -- David Martin, the Cleveland Scene

"The energy of the stars becomes us. We become the energy of the stars. Stardust and spirit unite and we begin: one with the universe, whole and holy. From one source, endless creative energy, bursting forth, kinetic, elemental; we, the earth, air, water and fire-source of nearly fifteen billion years of cosmic spiraling." -- Kucinich, in the "Journal of Concious Evolution".

OK, I think it's safe to take off your tin-foil hats now.