Kucinich yesterday

[90-percent]

I forget where - Ed show, Keith or Rachel, but Dennis made a statement that basically said:

Healthcare reform will finally determine whether American government is of, by, and for THE PEOPLE, or is totally controlled by special interests and corporations.

Which is to say, if Health Care Reform fails, then we no longer have a Democracy.

Do you think that we the people may get a little upset when our government is shown absolutely to work against the best interests of we the people, if Health Care Reform strongly favors the predator health insurance companies?

I wish I could remember where I saw this on TV last night?

Does Dennis paraphrased comments resonate with my DU peers? please discuss.

-90% Jimmy

[Greyhound]

1. Look at how many committees he and his colleague, Marcy Kaptur, chair.

The Democratic Party has been the party of corporate interests for at least a century.

[karynnj]

2. There are many things you can point to and have a sensible reason to blame on corporate interests,

this is not one. The chairs go by seniority. Neither have enough on any committee to be chair. Kuchinich does chair a sub-committee. He has been in the House for 12 years.

[Greyhound]

6. Really...

Marcy Kaptur - elected 1982

Here are 10 House committee chairs with less time;

Collin Peterson Agricultural (Chair)- first elected 1990.

Bennie Thompson Homeland Security (Chair) - Elected 1992.

Bob Brady House Administration (Chair) - 1998

Edolphus Towns Oversight and Government Reform (Chair) - 1982

Louise Slaughter Rules (Chair) - 1987.

Bart Gordon Science and Technology (Chair) - 1984.

Nydia Velázquez Small Business (Chair) - 1992.

Silvestre Reyes Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Chair) - 1996.

Bob Filner Veterans' Affairs (Chair) - 1992.

Zoe Lofgren Standards of Official Conduct (Chair) - 1994.

Seniority is but one "consideration", far more important is how well a member toes the line for party leadership and how flexible their values are. Stand up and you will be punished, speak up and they will back a challenger.

[karynnj]

8. Is Marcy the senior person in a committee?

Her committees are Budget(Spratt who also was elected in 1982) and Appropriations (where the chair Obey was elected in 1969)

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. Kucinich is a subcommittee chairman, Kaptur serves on both the Budget and Appropiations committees

[90-percent]

3. link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=395772&mesg_id=395772

this is the interview I was referring to.

the money quote is around 35 seconds in:

Dennis challenge to his Democratic Colleagues:

"If this is the best we can do, then it’s time to ask ourselves, whether the two-party system is truly capable of representing the American people or whether the system has been so compromised by special interests that we can’t even protect the health of our own people."

I would say this frames the Health Care Reform issue quite nicely. Can we, or can't we, protect the health care OF OUR OWN PEOPLE.

Bravo, Dennis!


-90% Jimmy

[Overseas]

4. I caught that on the Ed Show too and thought Dennis was brilliant.

He really expressed the core issue very well. In a couple of sentences, he asked very important questions.

Are our Democratic leaders working on behalf of their corporate sponsors or their constituents and our friends and relatives dying more quickly without insurance?

I was glad to read that Rep. Grayson took some congressional time to elaborate on all those dying more quickly under our current system.

[ThomWV]

7. Representative Kucinich made 1-minute speeches on the floor yesterday and today

That comment may have come from either yesterday or today's comment he made on the House floor. Yesterday he spoke around 10:30 or so but this morning he was the first one to speek. You could go look at either one on C-Span's website from House coverage tapes.