how should kerry repay Dean and Kucinich

[UpsideDownFlag]

for the energy that they've pumped into the DNC? i say that Dean should be either the HHS secretary or DNC chair, and Kucinich should head kerry's department of peace.

any thoughts?

[Kanary]

1. I want DK to be House Speaker, where he can get actions accomplished

But, given your choices, I would much rather DK as HHS Secretary, as he is fully into FDR's policies, and Dean isn't. I know that Dennis would fight tooth and nail for poor folk, and also for Universal Health care. Neither of those things are as big a priority for Dean.

Dean is a fantastic cheerleader, and would be wonderful as DNC chair, I would think. I'm sure there are many positions where Dean would serve admirably.

Kanary

[Hekate]

50. I think our Nancy Pelosi is up for Speaker! nt

[Supply Side Jesus]

2. a big o' wet sloppy kiss!

i'd like to see Dean in a cabinet position. Health Sec. should fit him like a glove.

[benburch]

3. WINNING

Winning would be a great start.

[jonnyblitz]

66. yup

that.

[oldhat]

4. Kucinich

Yeah, that guy totally helped out. He was useful. For all of the important stuff he did.

Department of Peace? Lay off the patchoolie oil.

[clu]

10. hmm

What's wrong with a dept. of peace?

[Rhiannon12866]

44. Welcome to DU, Clu, from a fellow Kucinich supporter!

The prospect of this has long been discussed on DU. Dennis could be a leader in so many areas, but peace is his strongest suit. As someone who has participated in peace groups, I would love to see this. We have had far too much war, IMHO.;(

[Desertrose]

11. get a clue, pal

Kucinich kept a helluva LOT of dems in the party...Kerry ought to get a clue too.

You think this crazy world couldn't use a dept of peace?

:eyes: Its about a LOT more than patchouli oil...have you ever checked it out? Do you even know what its about?

DR

[kiahzero]

14. What would the department of peace do, actually? (n/t)

[Kanary]

17. glad you asked....... ^_^

Read his proposal on his website, then let's talk. :hi:

kucinich.us

There are many facets of it that would be not only beneficial to this country, but strengthen some of our problem areas.

Kanary

[kiahzero]

27. Meh...

http://www.kucinich.us/issues/departmentpeace.php
Is this where he lays out the entire plan, or is there a better source?

I just don't see the need to create a new cabinet level post for what he's describing.

[Kanary]

28. oh well then.... we'll just live with the violence a while longer

couldn't hurt much.

Sorry, I took your interest as sincere.

forgot it was Saturday night.

Kanary

[kiahzero]

30. I was interested

Promoting nonviolent conflict resolution is good. But how exactly does this require a cabinet level position? The simple answer is that it DOESN'T.

[Kanary]

31. You're right, of course. And are much more informed about it than Cronkite

We'll send you to straighten out Walter Cronkite's misinformed position IN SUPPORT OF A DEPT OF PEACE.

And all the other dignitaries who have signed on.

:crazy:

Kanary

[JohnKleeb]

32. he can disagree with us on it

Its not like hes saying conflict resolution is a stupid idea, the bill does have congressional supporters I know, hope it does get passed though. Ive personally always liked the idea.

[Kanary]

35. You're certainly doing a lot of translating here tonight, John.

What's up with that?

Kanary

[JohnKleeb]

37. translating?

Huh? I am just trying to say, he can disagree with us.

[Kanary]

40. twice now, you've told me what someone was saying.

I think most people are able to say that for themselves.

I'm really not getting this... kinda like some sort of checker game....

Kanary

[JohnKleeb]

41. no I am intepreting

on my own free will. I am doing this on my own.

[Rhiannon12866]

45. John is just trying to smooth the waters

Something that's occasionally necessary here on DU. We are all in the same boat and, essentially, agree. The sweat is in the details.:shrug:

[Kanary]

56. shutting people up doeesn't smooth waters

you may have noticed some threads about that.

There's such a thing as diplomacy.

We would do well to practice it among ourselves, rather than engaging in preemptive strikes.

Kanary

[Rhiannon12866]

70. Exactly

There is a rule on DU prohibiting personal attacks. If you have a problem with the message, that's fine. But attacking the messenger will only get you in trouble.

[Ladyhawk]

68. I think it deserves a cabinet position.

My Orwellian comment was just that...a comment.

This nation seems to solve too many problems with war when a peaceful solution would have been so much better. If we have a Secretary of Defense, we should have a Secretary of the Peace or Secretary of Diplomacy, or something.

And a Peace Industrial Complex. :D

[clu]

43. I'm kinda ignorant about all of this but...

From descriptions I've heard, the dept. would work in conjunction w/ the dept. of state and dept. of defense (among others) to achieve peaceful solutions to foriegn policy.

[Rhiannon12866]

46. I think that you summarized this both accurately and succinctly

Dennis's ideas should not be overlooked. Both State, and, especially, Defense, have condoned the warmongering. There are peaceful solutions. Dennis would be the ideal person to tackle this.

[Rhiannon12866]

47. I agree that it does

I wouldn't have thought of this three years ago, but then we were inexplicably saddled with a president who was allowed to launch an an unprovoked attack on a third-world country, based on lies that he told Congress and the American people, and almost 1000 brave Americans have died for his misadventure. Yes, I think that promoting peace should be a major priority in the next administration. For one thing, we have too many fences to mend, among the Arab nations and our traditional allies.:shrug:

[Rhiannon12866]

51. We need much more than conflict resolution

We are now at war, on more than one front, and are in danger from more attacks from a Muslim world that we have inflamed because of the reckless and warmongering policies of this illegal and irresponsible administration. We are even in serious conflict with our traditional allies, who would ordinarily be supporting us. This is serious business, and the future of our nation depends on waging peace, not war, and fence-mending.

This is a favorite Dennis Kucinich video for me and never fails to inspire me. I am voting for Kerry, since he is the nominee, and like very much what he has had to say. I also like Edwards a great deal. But Dennis Kucinich was my first choice, and think the important things that he has had to say shouldn't be forgotten.

http://www.kucinich.us/video/video256.html

[Ladyhawk]

67. Department of Peace: sounds Orwellian (just a thought) n/t

[Kanary]

16. I'm afraid the clue receptor is not functioning, DR

:hi:

As always, you're gracious in your attempts, but........ there's much static in the way.

:toast:

Kanary

[JohnKleeb]

19. Cronkite seems to like the idea, you all read that?

[happynewyear]

26. DK ideas

are being copied now. Hasn't anyone else noticed this? I mean now they are saying all of the things he was saying during his campaign like UN in and US out of Iraq (in a more subdued way granted).

Other plans he has were to stop the off-shoring of jobs, to have Medicare for all.

He said the election would come down to the war and he was absolutely correct.

I will be a Dennis Kucinich supporter for the rest of my life. He is a real man with real ideas.

I was hoping they might give him a prominent cabinet position.

If they can create a Dept. of Homeland Security, why not create a Department of Peace? To me this is something that is desperately needed - not some far fetched idealist plan.

Keep on going Dennis Kucinich because :loveya:

I have not contributed to millionaire Kerry because he has all he needs IMO. My last contribution was to Dennis Kucinich so he could make it to the convention.

:dem: :kick:

[JohnKleeb]

29. Kerry has definely listened to DK

I can tell you I knwo for a fact his stepson respects him a lot. remember the 87 billion vote guys? DK was the first one to take issue about that, and you know what our eventual ticket voted against it, DK brought up the voting troubles, and now Kerry wants to have a team in Florida. He's been an infleunce on Kerry, you may not see it but Kerry has a lot of respect and is incorporating a lot of his stuff in.

[eridani]

72. Very true, and so has Teresa

She's already cribbed one of his lines, with a slight alteration--"We are already paying for medicines, we just aren't getting them."

[Kanary]

39. You've expressed my sentiments exactly, right down the line, baldearg!

And thanks for that cogent thing comparison with "homeland insecurity" (gak,, it makes me ill to even type it) and the Dept of Peace. Certainly the second one is needed much more...... if it was established, it would cut down on the need for the first one (which I don't want to retype!)

Dennis Kucinich is man of high integrity, and a politician who comes along once in a generation. We are so lucky to have him, and it grieves me that we, as a nation, are so adolescent that we don't accept a man of his grace and stature.

Kanary

[Rhiannon12866]

52. Dennis Kucinich has great ideas. I also agree with him

Kudos for you continuing to sponsor him. Making it to the convention gave him some influence on the platform, and we desperately need his sensible voice in this time of confusion and warmongering by the current administration.:-(

[bobthedrummer]

24. Repeal PATRIOT ACT, cancel NAFTA, get out of IRAQ-sounds like a plan

plus he simply called George W. Bush a liar and repeatedly set the record straight countering all those lies, yet the best you can come up with is a criticism of a Department of Peace (a plan calling for a systemic effort aimed at the reduction of violence) when that is needed more than ever?

Develop new technologies to reduce oil dependence, create new jobs, reduce DoD budget by 15%...provide universal health care...revamp our educational system...keep weapons out of space...provide daycare for pre-schoolers...yes, DK did do a lot to raise important issues.



:bounce:

[Rhiannon12866]

48. Just hearing DK's issues and agenda makes me smile. Thanks

We need him in the next administration to remind us all of the priorities.:-)

[kiahzero]

60. A few things

1) You don't just "cancel" treaties.
2) Most of the USA PATRIOT Act has nothing to do with the egregious portions which are rightly attacked - many portions of it are reforms that Clinton had been pushing for since the mid 1990s that the Republican congress had ignored.
3) Why do we need a new cabinet level position for this Department of Peace?
4) Hasn't the War in Iraq demonstrated that we need a more manpower in the military? We're supposed to be able to fight a war on two fronts at a time - we can barely fight one. Even if we could get the public outcry necessary to take action in Sudan, we can't - we don't have the manpower to do it.

[bobthedrummer]

61. George W. Bush cancels treaties and international laws on a regular basis.

Viet Dinh wrote the majority of PATRIOT ACT. Was he a key player in President Clinton's administration?

I totally disagree with your militaristic statements regarding increasing US Armed Forces and war in general, thank you very much.

[kiahzero]

62. I'll see if I can find my POSC department's research on the bill

We discussed it over the course of a few classes, and the conclusion of the department (rather liberal, for the record) was that the majority of the issues with the USA PATRIOT Act were confined to a few portions of the bill, and that a complete repeal was neither necessary nor advisable.

Bush doesn't "cancel treaties and international laws on a regular basis" - He "unsigned" the Kyoto treaty, which was possible because it hadn't been ratified by the Senate yet. And when he does things like approve torture a la Abu Ghraib, it's not "canceling" international law - it's attempting to circumvent it.

You didn't answer my question - why a new cabinet level post?

And, since you disagree with my statement regarding the US military, I assume that you don't think action is warrented in Sudan? How "progressive" of you.

[bobthedrummer]

64. I guess we just disagree on a few things then.

eom

[JohnKleeb]

5. Well I think hes done some

already by incorporating some of what they said in to his speeches, he's used Dean's talk about bringing back the flag and DK's about fearmongreling, I believe he also showed a lot of class by thanking everyone too. So I think he could also maybe incorporate some of DK's ideas but I think he'll find some way to repay everyone for teaching him.

[bahrbearian]

9. Maybe he should give DK a BJ...

[JohnKleeb]

13. I dont think he swings that way

[genius]

6. Kucinich - Speaker of the House

[jpgray]

7. Win, and then steal from Kucinich's platform.

:D It's all I ask.

[JohnKleeb]

8. hah that wuold be sweeeeeeet

I think giving him props was cool too, I saw what he had to say about Dennis on Zomby's sigline and I found it classy, I find Kerry despite these things I hear about him being an arrogant guy to be really classy.

[barb162]

12. DEAN: hhs, DK: not sure

Dean should be in hhs because of his medical background,but more importantly, for pushing/getting national health insurance up and running. I think his proposal for national health insurance has been one of his greatest strengths. Kucinich, something very very high, like maybe Sec. of State...his essential kindness would show through to other nations and maybe, just maybe, we can get the world to stop hating us so much.

[Kanary]

15. that's the difference...... *insurance* vs.

*Universal* care.

HUGE difference.

Agree with you on Dk's strengths for Sec of State.

There's just so much he would be very good at.

Kanary

[barb162]

33. agree; huge diff

I would much prefer UNIVERSAL CARE (fantasy for now; would have to move to Europe for that ) but we will be lucky if we even get some of the millions of uninsured "insured" to some extent. If I had my way, every single person in this country would have full access to medical care tomorrow.

[Kanary]

42. Then, I vote for *you*. ^_^

If you will read my sig line, you'll know where I'm at with the "fantasy". :hi:

What I'm afraid of is that there is such a huge problem with health care in the middle class now, that we'll get some half-baked scheme that does nothing to get rid of the corporations, which is what is causing the mess, so basically nothing will change, but it will be a different scheme, so nothing more will be done,, and we'll just be stuck with one more idiotic scheme for 20 or 30 years until the pain is so intolerable that people shriek again.

No, I think we really need to dig in our heels, go all out for what we KNOW is needed, and throw all our weight behind it until we succeed. It's nothing preposterous, after all. It's simply medical sanity. We need to stop settling for crumbs, and consider ourselves as worth more than that.

Now, read my sig line, pleeez. :hi:

Kanary

[barb162]

63. you are absolutely correct!

I have been for a national system for at least 20 years. As there have been more and more layoffs, the people with the good coverage got a taste of what it was like to have no cover or be on an expensive COBRA plan. But even then, if they are lucky enough to get back in a bigger corp with better benefits than other poeple have, they are still getting nailed with more exclusions, bigger deductibles, higher copays, etc. The whole damned system is so totally BROKEN and needs to be fixed on a macro level. It just has to be national.
Also the biggest problem with the middle class is often the middle class. I know one guy whose wife came down with MS and needs a thousand bucks/mo of meds the last 2 years. He got laid off from Lucent around Thanksgiving/03 and just found another job last week, for a 5 mo. spot as a consultant with no benefits. So he is still on the good Lucent plan re COBRA and hopes to get offered a fulltime spot at the new place. Well if he doesn't he will REALLY be crying. If he does get a spot he will be smiling as he will get a good insurance plan again. Just hope for him there is not a really long waiting period for preexisting conditions re his wife's MS. This kind of crap shouldn't be going on. When there is relatively full employment and all employers have pretty good plans, the system works pretty well, like it did about 30 years ago. when more and more people work 2 part-time jobs with no benefits, the system is very broken. Or you can work fulltime at WalMart and never be able to afford their plan. Don't even get me going on private plans refusing to cover individuals because if you had pneumonia once 20 years ago, they will refuse to write coverage for the person. AAARGGHHH!!!!! (That's my primal scream).

Also with the money that is being wasted in Iraq we could do a huge thrust for a national medical system. Just think the peace of mind it would give people if they knew they were always covered. Another firend of mine just went through her COBRA coverage after being laid off from a large bank after many years. She and her husband are basically panicing and hoping they can make it through a few years without sickness until they can get on Medicare. They fall in the category of too old, no one wants to hire them anymore, and he had a heart problem now fixed, but no insurer will touch them as individuals. They have the money to buy the insurance but noone will sell it to them. They hope they don't go bankrupt if one of them suffers some major in the next few years.

[soothsayer]

18. Clinton as Middle East Envoy, yeah! n/t

[Eric J in MN]

20. Kerry hasn't won yet (nt)

nt

[JohnKleeb]

22. right

Actually I think Kucinich wants to be a governor or senator from Ohio, thats what Ive been hearing. I think Dean will have a party leadership role possibly.

[Kanary]

23. geeeeeeeez, eric..... we can't even talk about cabinet at all now?

anything else you want to censor?

:crazy:

Kanary

[JohnKleeb]

25. hes not trying to censor I dont think

I have to disagree with you guys on wanting a cabinet role honest though, I think he would be happier in the house than running for governor or senator of Ohio, the Ohioans tell me that Bobby Taft is a grade A scum, and that Voinovich and DeWine need to go, how sweet would it be if he beat Vono, you know that is who beat him when he faced that troubled battle for reelection being Mayor some years back.

[chuck555]

21. Vermont teddy bears.

with balloons.

[DemWitch]

34. I don't think DK would do well in a House Leadership position...

you need a real barracuda in those placements, and DK is just to nice. HHS Secretary, yeah. And I think being in a cabinet level position he could be proactive in getting some of his ideas from his Dept. of Peace in the administrations policies. I don't think Dept. of Peace should be cabinet level. Dean... Surgeon General. Wes Clark Secretary of Defense. Secretary of State... pleeeease let Madeline come out of retirement. I just love her. President Clinton... definatly Middle East Ambassador.

[fujiyama]

36. Two things he must do

1.) Win. Nothing else matters more.

2.) Enact progressive policies and govern responsibly.

[Guaranteed]

38. Definitely DNC chair for Dean.

I don't think he'd even accept the HHS Secretary position. It's not going to help him with what he wants to do.

[Rhiannon12866]

49. Both of these ideas sound just great to me

I think that you are right on target and have a clear vision of these worthy candidates' strengths.:-)

[T Town Jake]

53. This reminds me of...

...1960. Adlai Stevenson supporters-who'd seen their candidate through two crushing electoral defeats at the hands of Dwight Eisenhower & the GOP-stormed out of the Los Angeles Democratic Convention "expecting" certain things from that year's nominee, one John Fitzgerald Kennedy, should he win the November election. After he won, President Kennedy made Adlai...the ambassador to the U.N., a token post with little real responsibility. Stevenson really did shine during his encounter with the ambassador from the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crises, much to nearly everyone in the Kennedy White House's surprise. But Kennedy parked him in a minor post in New York for a sound political reason-and he was right to do so. I don't doubt that this generation's "JFK" will have the wisdom to do the same with the fringe candidates of our time when he wins in November-and he'll be just as right to do so as his Democratic predecessor was in 1961.

[Padraig18]

54. What Dep't of Peace?

I wasn't aware Kerry had plans to create one.

:shrug:

[Dr Fate]

59. Well, that is the idea- to create one...

As Liberals, we should all push for this when Kerry is elected.

DK will be glad to help- this needs to be a national campaign to work. The good news is we have a better chance of making it happen w/ DEMS than w/ shrub...

[LWolf]

55. Do you know something I don't?

I don't think a dept of peace is high on Kerry's agenda, although I'm happy to be corrected on that.

The best role for Dennis Kucinich, in my opinion, is as Speaker of the House. He doesn't hesitate to speak out, and to vigorously and passionately support progressive causes and oppose corporate causes. He also knows how to work well with others.

As speaker of the house, his voice will be heard. Let's take back the house!

I don't really have an opinion on Dean's role, other than that I'd like to see him included in some way.

[NewJeffCT]

57. definitelly - Dean for DNC chair

He's good raising money and he is smart & well-informed.

[Dr Fate]

58. Dean for DNC chair, DK for Secretary of the "Dept. of Peace"

n/t

[Mick Knox]

65. There will be no Dept of Peace or Dennis in the Admin

This is not an AntiWar candidate. He is not running on an AntiWar platform.

He is running on a "Better War" platform.

Kucinich not only did nothing that needs to be repaid, but his political philosophy is not in line at all with what this administration's platform for election is.

Kerry has never mentioned a Dept. of Peace, and were he to do so, his fate would be sealed with the moderates.

[kwolf68]

71. I know...

The moderate thinkers would just hate a Department of Peace

Don't you just hate such non-sense? A department that instead of waging wars, prevents them....A department that instead of killing people, saves them....A department that instead of blowing up buildings and communities, builds them...

If the IDEA of Peace is "out of touch" in our America then I want off this fucking parade.

[WilliamPitt]

69. Win.