[lbo-talk] Re: amy goodman's interview of dennis kucinich

[R]

consider the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the 1964 democratic
convention.  it didn't have the votes to be successful either.  did that
stop MFDP's efforts to unseat the regular mississippi delegation?  did that
stop fanny lou hamer standing up and explaining to a national TV audience
what it was like to be a "legally disenfranchised black" in mississippi?
nope.  to the extent that LBJ had the TV stations cut away from her speech
to the convention so americans would not get to hear the truth.

now we jump ahead a few decades to "liberal" kuspinich's mush.  he's backed
down because he doesn't have the votes for a successful platform fight. so
much for principles. so much for anything. if this contrast doesn't
demonstrate pandemic, institutionalized mediocrity, i don't know what does.

R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jimi ayler" <jimi_ayler at yahoo.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 11:34 AM
Subject: [lbo-talk] Re: amy goodman's interview of dennis kucinich


: ________________________
:
: "AMY GOODMAN: We're joined right now by the democratic
: presidential candidate, Ohio Congressmember Dennis
: Kucinich. Welcome to Democracy Now!.
:
: REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Good morning.
:
: AMY GOODMAN: It's good to have you with us.
:
: REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Thank you.
:
: AMY GOODMAN: Well, what about the charge that your
: delegates-- that you backed down because you didn't
: want to have a platform fight over what many
: considered a key peace plank in the platform that they
: wanted to get in.
:
: REP. DENNIS KUCINICH: Well, I still consider the
: withdrawal from Iraq as being central not only to
: America's security, but to peace in the world.
: However, we didn't have the votes to be successful in
: a platform fight. You know, we barely had enough to
: start the discussion. I've carried this campaign in
: challenging the war for two and a half years. But
: there comes a point where we have to realize, whether
: we have the votes or not, to be able to prevail in
: insisting on our point of view, or if we're going to
: create a rupture that would make it impossible for a
: Democrat to be elected president. You know, I think
: what we were able to do was get some recognition from
: the Party, of the urgency of not maintaining a
: long-term commitment to Iraq, and it's a step in the
: right direction. It is not everything we wanted by any
: means. But it manages to do two things. We carried the
: fight as far as we could in the Platform Committee,
: and we're intending to participate in helping to elect
: a new president, and our efforts are going to continue
: to try to guide the United States to a more
: constructive policy in Iraq.
:
: AMY GOODMAN: Sandy Berger, who negotiated this
: agreement, was quoted saying, "we didn't give up
: anything."
:
: