Liberal Congressman Kucinich defeated in Ohio

[Justice wanted]

http://news.yahoo.com/liberal-congressman-kucinich-defeated-ohio-053838958.html

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Dennis Kucinich, a liberal gadfly in Congress who tried to have former President George W. Bush impeached over the Iraq war, was defeated by a fellow Democratic incumbent on Tuesday in the first of 11 primary races this year pitting members of the House against each other.

_______________________________________________________________________________

DAMN! Always been a been a fan of Dennis. He's one voice we can't loose.

[MADem]

1. Wasn't this pretty much the expected result, though? nt

[liberal N proud]

2. The districts were designed to take him out

[MADem]

6. That, and the quality of his opponent did him in, I suspect.

Both primary candidates had to plow new territory, but it wasn't even close.

With 84 percent of the district’s precincts reporting early Wednesday, Kaptur had 60 percent of the vote, to 36 percent for Kucinich.

...At the outset of her campaign against Kucinich, Kaptur said she would emphasize her status on the House Appropriations Committee as the second-most senior Democrat. That seniority gives her the ability to deliver federal aid to the district, to help Ohio “modernize our ports, our railways, our airports,’’ Kaptur said in a Dec. 28 interview.

http://bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2012/03/07/county-republican-party-purity-pledge-raises-eyebrows/JMbhYkY4qRnTGp95YZmr2O/story.html



I guess Kucinich didn't go out on a high note...

Kucinich conceded defeat shortly after midnight, accusing Kaptur of running "a campaign lacking integrity, filled with false truths."

http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/06/10596417-kaptur-beats-kucinich-in-ohio-democrats-battle-will-face-joe-the-plumber

I hope Kaptur beats Joe The Plumber like a rented mule...!

[Leopolds Ghost]

8. You hope?

The district was awarded to Kaptur in a deal to get rid of Kucinich and leave one safe seat standing for a single Dem in Ohio - Kaptur.

This is the same way they get the CBC to sign onto gerrymandering in the Deep South even when it actually disenfranchises African American voters entirely.

[MADem]

13. Whatever.

Kucinich didn't make his case. He got his ass handed to him. His very nature and unwillingness to compromise--to say nothing of his bitter concession, there--shows the guy for what he was. A loud-talking martinet who was bigger on the words than the actions. Not a team player. Completely clueless as to the sometimes unsettling need for compromise to advance the overall strategy.


I am in favor of districts that make sense, that cover communities and aren't drawn by assholes and shaped like noodles or crescent moons, but that's just not happening yet and I certainly don't have the power to make it so. I suppose as a priority, it's somewhere behind getting corporate interests out of Congress and creating a decent microwave pizza.

[Eid Ma Clack Shaw]

9. I'm hoping he doesn't go..

all bitter and seek to hurt the Democratic cause under the pretence of 'liberalism'. I'm not saying he should be doing cartwheels but he seems to be a pretty snippy character at times. He can be a productive, useful ally if he wants to be and I hope he does.

[MADem]

19. Maybe MSNBC or CURRENT TV will offer him a one-hour show.

He could do a left-of-the-left-wing daily roundup/POV program. He could do some good in that sort of venue if he didn't get overly wrapped around any one axle and was able to move with the issues. He has a decent speaking style, he can be engaging, his "Q" is good--with a bit of smoothing and seasoning, he could do well on television.

[Puregonzo1188]

21. His opponent also ran a very negative, very dirty campaign against Kucinich.

She also had loads of money with which to run attack ads.

[MADem]

26. Gee, wonder why that was?

He plays the victim, after behaving badly himself, at times.

I cannot muster much sympathy for him. He has never, ever, worked or played well with others.

[OhioChick]

29. 100% agree...

She ran near-constant ads on tv and radio here. Her ads were some of the most negative that I've seen in some time.

I guess the person with the largest "war chest" wins.

[Tarheel_Dem]

11. Let's stop scapegoating everyone except the candidate himself. His supporters have a tendency.....

to do that. The many times he has run & failed for the presidency is always met with tons of excuses and conspiracies that some sinister plot is afoot. Can't you just accept that not everyone's in love with Kooch, and that his attention seeking act is a bit stale. Kucinich is viewed by many, even Democrats, as fringe. The voters made their choice. How 'bout we deal with it? Ohioans still have a solid Democrat in that district.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. "Many"? Two constitutes "many" these days? Let's not get carried away.

How 'bout that?

[Tarheel_Dem]

15. "Carried Away"? Only two? You Sure? It seems like so many more.

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. It was only two.

And stupidity is never funny.

Acknowledging one's mistakes is good practice in influencing people.

[Tarheel_Dem]

20. Your entire post is great advice for Dennis.

And yes, "TWO" is many, if you've damaged yourself beyond repair. I suspect there are many Democrats, myself included, who have absolutely no use for Dennis.

GO MARCY!!!!

[ScreamingMeemie]

22. You've yet to influence anyone. I like them both. Misrepresenting the facts is something

Republicans are good at. You might want to take that advice, Tarheel, and not misrepresent them. It never fails to give me pause...how many DUers cannot acknowledge when they are wrong, and will continue to throw poop at the person who attempts to give them the proper info. I am not upset over the loss of Dennis. The only thing I have gained from this exchange is less of a feeling of respect for you. Unless that's what you're going for? Of course, I will probably forget this, until the next time you post incorrect information somewhere.

[Tarheel_Dem]

27. "You've yet to influence anyone." The same could be said for Dennis.

Are you asking me to acknowledge that "two" is not "many"? If so, YOU WIN! "Two" is a "couple". Is that better? I certainly don't care to get into a battle of semantics with you, and your "respect" or lack thereof, is both immaterial & irrelevant to me. But thanks for playing.

[ScreamingMeemie]

28. It could be said about Dennis, but that wasn't the point. I don't have a problem with

what happened last night. I have a problem with people misrepresenting the facts. I'm saddened to hear that being truthful in posts is irrelevant to you. But there's a few posts like that here and there from people. I guess we have to deal with lies, and people who cannot admit when they make a mistake in their eagerness to bash, even here on DU.

[Tarheel_Dem]

31. "truthful in posts is irrelevant to you". Talk about a lack of truth-i-ness. Re-read my post.

I think you'll find that I called your "respect" for me, irrelevant. Big difference. That's some ego you got there.

[liberal N proud]

14. No scapegoating here

Just stating the facts, when republican led Ohio legislature redrew the districts, they did so in a way that put both Democratic Candiates at a disadvantage with Dennis being worse off.

I live only a few blocks from the district (though I might be for a while), and I probably would have voted for Marcy Kapture had I been given the choice yesterday.

[Tarheel_Dem]

18. If you want to place the blame squarely where it belongs. It's the voters. They did this!

They were "disillusioned"; "disenchanted"; and a whole host of other silly adjectives in 2010. What we're suffering now is the product of the disengagement we saw from some on the left. It's why Alan Grayson, Russ Feingold, and now Dennis Kucinich are sitting at home.

It's not so much that the Democrat party is leaving liberals behind, it looks like most of the country is.

[eridani]

38. This is pure horseshit. The new 9th was created mostly from Kaptur's old district

--and connected to the area where Kucinich lived by a beach that is underwater at high tide. His former constituents overwhelmingly voted for him; her former constituents voted for her.

[Tarheel_Dem]

39. Where's the "horseshit"? We still have one helluva Democrat in that district. One, who by all.....

accounts, actually keeps her head down & delivers for her constituents. Dennis was never content with that, he was much more interested in the national spotlight, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend the people didn't have a choice.

[eridani]

40. Kucinich managed to keep local hospitals in business, and helped re-open a local steel mill

--and kept key rail lines in use. Kaptur's constituent service is equally good, of course, and there were a hell of a lot more of her old constituents in the new 9th than his.

Kaptur has advocated that people being foreclosed on stay in their homes and demand paperwork, which is what a public advocate should do. She has gotten jackshit passed on robosigning, but this does not make her advocacy irrelevant.

Kucinich has advocated that oil speculation be regulated and that we should have single payer health care, which is what a public advocate should do. He has had no more luck passing really major preogressive legislation than Kaptur, for the same reason--namely that our system has been totally hijacked by money.

Why don't you just stop cheerleading for Boehner? Apparently you think that linking Kaptur's old district to a small number of Kucinich's old precincts by a strip of beach that is underwater at high tide is a truly marvelous accomplishment. This isn't helpful.

[Fumesucker]

3. Heh, lots of these around today..

[Leopolds Ghost]

7. Reference??

I came on DU this morning expecting to find a huge thread lamenting the loss of Kucinich, and this is all I find.

[countryjake]

37. There is one...

but there's lots of whooping it up on that one, too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002394905

[bigwillq]

41. Did you start one?

You're free to. You know this, right?!

[Leopolds Ghost]

42. Eh... my posts tend to sink.

Always have.

[bigwillq]

43. I always tend to be proactive.

If I am not satisfied with something, I try to change it. Even if it's not met with great acclaim.

[DCKit]

4. "... a liberal gadfly in Congress..."

Watch out fuckers, that gadfly will sting you outside the tent more than he ever could while inside.

Go get 'em Dennis. You've been unleashed.

[MuseRider]

10. My thoughts exactly

but you said it better than I ever could.

[exboyfil]

5. Kucinich for U.S. Trade Representative

Lets push for it.

[MADem]

17. And who makes that appointment and how likely do you think his name will come to the fore?

When you shit on people, they tend not to reward you. Kucinich has been less than kind to President Obama in the past, so I wouldn't be shocked if Obama doesn't leap through his own asshole to appoint Kucinich to anything.

[got root]

24. He never got much respect from the status quo

Nothing new about that.

The important thing is to keep on agitating the elite so the people's concerns are given some airtime, too.

Something he has been very good at, to the eternal frustration of the status quo.

[MADem]

25. Well, he's unlikely to get a Presidential appointment as a trade rep, either.

That was my only point. You don't shit on the President and then expect to get something from him...IMO.

I think Al Gore should hire him and give him a daily show.

[frylock]

35. you don't shit on the President and then expect to get something from him..

unless your name is clinton, right?

[MADem]

36. ?

http://www.eurweb.com/2011/03/earl-ofari-hutchinson-impeach-obama-over-libya-youve-got-to-be-kidding/
Clinton and Obama played hardball, but they never did anything completely stupid. Can't say the same for Dennis "Barack, Gimme a Bridge" Kucinich...

[got root]

23. One of the ones I have a lot of respect for. Always out in front on the big issues.

But, I suspect he will continue to be a rep for the people in one form or another.

[Taverner]

30. Fuck

[Gemini Cat]

32. Yep.

That was my first word when I heard he lost. This just sucks.

[Taverner]

33. Yes. Dennis was the last man standing

[countryjake]

34. Your misspelling of the word...

seems oddly appropriate as a description of the end of Dennis Kucinich's stint in the halls of Congress. As the Republicans, the moderates, the don't-upset-the-apple-cart compromisers, shout down the liberals in our country, Mr. Kucinich has always stood up for age-old Democratic principle, defended the working-class against corporate domination, and fought to uphold our rights that are inhererent to the Constitution.

His is a voice that our acquiescent leaders have always sought to hush-up, telling us to move along, nothing of importance to listen to here, pay no attention to that little guy. Mocking the words of a man who spoke loudly to those of us with democratic values, silencing his spirit of dissent in their moves to ignore blatant outrages and attacks on our freedoms, effectively blocking out any calls for justice. Dennis Kucinich's voice was, indeed, a voice that our government could never dare to "loose" on the citizens of this nation. That is using the word "loose" in the correct sense.

Yesterday was a sad sad day for Cleveland, for Ohio, our Congress, the entire nation. We did lose a vital liberal voice in the House of Representatives.

But we will see. Now, maybe people will finally be able hear what he has been saying, all along.

[white_wolf]

44. I'm not too surprised he's gone.

Dennis was a social-democrat in an increasingly neo-liberal party, he had the nerve to oppose the neo-liberal agenda and he removed for it.