Kucinich critique turns into push for funds

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: CNN

(CNN)- Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is transforming his critique of President Obama's actions in Libya into a fundraising plea, asking supporters to decide whether they like President Obama or the Constitution more.

After calling the president's decision to act in Libya an "impeachable offense," Kucinich Monday posted a letter on his website asking supporters for help in "putting together a broad fundraising structure to make sure that I'll have the resources to continue to be a voice in the Unites States Congress."

"The Obama administration's decision to attack Libya was made without any Congressional approval," said the seven-term congressman from Ohio. "It's outside the Constitution of the United States. Whether you like President Obama or not is not the question. The question is: if you like the Constitution more."

"We are bombing Libya right now. Congress did not approve this action, according to the Constitution. Such an action lacks legality in the United States and the President should have to answer to that," he continued.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/22/kucinch-critique-turns-into-push-for-funds/

---

I guess he needs to raise money to pay off his campaign's legal fines:

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/02/fec-kucinichs-2.php

[sharp_stick]

1. I guess he didn't

make enough off the olive choking incident.

[Robb]

2. Probably a translation error. (nt)

[hayu_lol]

3. Wonder if Dennis has either alzheimers or senior dementia...

if he has neither, perhaps it is time for him to become a fundy preacher. They send lots of fundraiser letters out immediately following their hairbrained statements.

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. He's only 64 years old

[tpsbmam]

40. Just a FYI: early onset Alzheimer's begins before age 65.

I will never the wonderful young woman we diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's and her three also wonderful late teenage & young adult sons who I had to deliver the diagnosis to along with our unit social worker. Absolutely heartbreaking. It was heartbreaking on two fronts: diagnosing their mom (aged about 46 if memory serves correctly) and knowing that early onset is the "familial" type of Alzheimer's, meaning it's genetic, putting the sons at risk for also developing early onset (they can have genetic testing if they choose to). I had a hard time keeping my own emotions in check during that meeting and had a good cry after they'd left. About 10 years later I can still remember her name and picture her sons sitting in my office as we talked about all of this. It brings tears to my eyes even now.

[Tempest]

43. My brother is 56 and he is in stage four dementia from Alzheimers

My uncle died of it at age 59 and a cousin at age 62 from it.

[No Elephants]

49. My cousin's wife supposedly got it at 40, but citing U.S. constitution is not a symptom.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. okay Kuch, Now this begs me to ask. What are you doing, are you now conspiring with Karl Rove?

[yurbud]

22. no but the OP seems to be borrowing from Rove's hypocritical playbook

politicians fundraise. Grassroots groups fundraise. You need money to be heard, especially if your message isn't the preferred narrative that's blasted 24/7 on the MSM on a continuous loop until it becomes the conventional wisdom.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

37. and what exactly should one call a plea that is more or less saying

'If you support Obama over me, then you don't care about the constitution'?

After all that is more or less the this line suggests: Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is transforming his critique of President Obama's actions in Libya into a fundraising plea, asking supporters to decide whether they like President Obama or the Constitution more.

[No Elephants]

51. Disagree with your paraphrase. Not what his plea says, even "more or less."

If it were, you probably would not have needed to paraphrase it.

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. Threatening to impeach a Democratic President is rather unique fundraising strategy for a Democrat

Even Jim Trafficant didn't stoop that low.

[ReggieVeggie]

45. Threatening to impeach?

When there's no argument you just make shit up?

[No Elephants]

50. When did Rove ever worry about the U.S. Constitution?

[emulatorloo]

6. Fascinating - thanks for posting this.

[JJW]

7. Send support

He hasn't sold out to the corporations yet, like most of DC.

[pberq]

8. Kucinich is the man!

Just becasuse Obama has a D after his name doesn't justify violating the Constitution. Where was the national debate? Where was the vote in Congress?

[TomClash]

9. Also done by . . .

. . . the DNC, DSCC, DCCC, President Obama and virtually every other American politician, as evidenced by the daily policy emails I receive in my inbox.

Rebecca Stewart used to work for . . . you guessed it . . . Fox.

What about the substance of his position?

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. How many Democratic politicians or organizations attack Obama and use that attack to raise money?

[pberq]

15. so just because he has a D after his name, anything goes?

I'm assuming you opposed the illegal wars started by Bush?
Then we have a double standard here. Illegal wars are bad if initiated by Repubs are bad, but o.k. if started by Dems?

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. Can you please cite what law this 'illegal' war is in violation of?

[neoralme]

30. Right now, it's not in violation of any law thanks to the War Powers

Resolution of 1973. If in 60 days Obama has not gotten permission of congress to keep the war going, then he is acting illegally. But, having said that, I still think it was wrong to bomb Libya and feel it was all about oil rather than rebels being slaughtered.

[Freddie Stubbs]

31. 'Wrong' and 'illegal' can be two entirely different things

[neoralme]

32. Yes. I agree. I think this action by Kucinich coupled with his

giving up on the public option and voting for HCR probably has made him somewhat redundant.

[No Elephants]

53. Some would say Obama violated the "Supreme" law, the Constitution, which

trumps any law of Congress, including the War Powers Resolution, and any resolution of the UN.

typo edit

[No Elephants]

56. Here's what candidate Obama said in 2007

2. In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites -- a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?)

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.

As for the specific question about bombing suspected nuclear sites, I recently introduced S.J. Res. 23, which states in part that “any offensive military action taken by the United States against Iran must be explicitly authorized by Congress.” The recent NIE tells us that Iran in 2003 halted its effort to design a nuclear weapon. While this does not mean that Iran is no longer a threat to the United States or its allies, it does give us time to conduct aggressive and principled personal diplomacy aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.



http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/CandidateQA/ObamaQA/

[TomClash]

16. They use policy positions to raise money all the time nt

[Freddie Stubbs]

58. By attacking President Obama?

[No Elephants]

52. Politicians, I have no way of knowing. Don't hear from many. Organizations - a number have.

[Freddie Stubbs]

57. Liberal ones?

[FLPanhandle]

10. I knew this was coming.

The whole "impeachable offense" thing smelled of a pure fund raising tactic from the beginning.

[spooked911]

14. yeah, Obama would never do anything so cynical

right?

[FLPanhandle]

34. This thread isn't about Obama or what he'd hypothetically do or not do.

It's about what Dennis has actually done. (nice diversion try though)

[frylock]

39. this thread is about politicians

[spooked911]

12. I think Kucunich is great

but the impeach Obama thing was a poor political move and makes him look bad. Technically, he's right, but the optics are bad and there are so many better targets to go after.

[Love Bug]

17. I agree.

[meow mix]

13. lol, using ghadaffi as a honey pot

what a piece of crap

[pberq]

18. to those who support this illegal war, what about this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-greenwald/not-worth-it-first-day-of_b_838659.html

Not Worth It: First Day of Libya Strikes Cost More Than $100 Million

President Obama's decision to participate in the strikes in Libya has already cost U.S. taxpayers "well over $100 million," according to the National Journal. The Journal also relayed that, "the initial stages of taking out Libya's air defenses could ultimately cost...coalition forces between $400 million and $800 million." The administration launched this new war (and yes, it is a war) with no official congressional authorization, little public debate and with a vague, possibly even non-existent, endgame in mind. It's as if the lessons of the last decade are completely lost on policymakers in the United States.

(more at link)

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. What law is this 'illegal' war in violation of?

[pberq]

24. check out what the Congressman says - is Obama above the Constitution?

"The Obama administration's decision to attack Libya was made without any Congressional approval," said the seven-term congressman from Ohio. "It's outside the Constitution of the United States. Whether you like President Obama or not is not the question. The question is: if you like the Constitution more."

[Freddie Stubbs]

29. Is he in comlpliance with the War Powers Resolution?

[Tempest]

44. Have you noticed you're getting no replies to your question?

Even after asking it several times.

Face it, they'll never concede that there is nothing illegal about Obama's actions under the War Powers Act or U.N. Charter. Or any other domestic or international document for that matter.

[No Elephants]

55. He has gotten answers now.

[No Elephants]

54. Sorry, Constitution trumps the War Powers Resolution, which many legal scholars say is itself

unconstitutional.


typo edits.

[Freddie Stubbs]

59. And many legal scolars say that it is constitutional. Have any courts declared it unconstitutional?

This has been on the books for 37 years and used by Presidents of both parties.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[forty6]

23. Agreed 1000%! n/t

[pberq]

25. So the Constitution doesn't matter?

As long as it is a Dem doing it, then it's o.k.?
What about Congressional authorization?

[whoneedstickets]

28. Its not unconstitutional...read...

http://www.slate.com/id/2288869

[No Elephants]

48. Legal sholars disagee sharply. Only the SCOTUS can say if it's constitutional or not.

A writer for Slate opining " I do not believe that the military action in Libya is unconstitutional." means diddly.

[mvd]

26. He's one of the few greats left, in my mind

We need to make sure he's not redistricted out. He's saying the right things - Obama should have notified Congress, wanting to de-fund operations there, etc. Another thing - the progressives often need the money! Calling it an impeachable offense may have not been helpful, but he often makes a strong statement to get attention. Because the mainstream media is busy with their corpora-news and corpora-tainment.

[Scurrilous]

27. ROFL

:P

[DeSwiss]

33. I like the Constitution.....

...MORE.

- Way more.

[JDPriestly]

35. Kucinich seems to be the only Democrat with the strength to stand

and fight.

I'm hoping he will challenge Obama in 2011.

To the first few DUers who posted in response to this with criticisms of Kucinich.

Those of us who really want change have caught on to the fact that any person who challenges the status quo from the left will be accused of petty misconduct and outed for the slightest human weakness.

The other day I merely asked about an odd coincidence between the fact that Bill Daley, Obama's new chief of staff, was working at Morgan Stanley at the time that his brother, Richard Daley was the mayor of Chicago and got Chicago involved in a 75-year lease of parking meters that resulted in a huge profit for Morgan Stanley and a very questionable deal for Chicago.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-09/morgan-stanley-group-s-11-billion-from-chicago-meters-makes-taxpayers-cry.html

You should have seen the outrage I got from DUers. Eerily similar to the reaction above.

There is a segment of the Democratic Party -- a very professional segment, I must add -- that resists anyone who so much as suggests that the current administration might be less than perfect in its every action.

Do we have some sort of authoritarian wing in the Democratic Party? I don't remember seeing that since the Chicago riots at the Democratic Convention way back when.

Just asking. Call me the gadfly, but I find this behavior very troubling.

[elleng]

36. Thought thats what it was from the beginning,

however ill-conceived.

[highplainsdem]

38. DK: "I‘m so focused on the constitutional aspect, I really haven‘t thought much about the political

aspects of this."

Last night, on The Ed Show. Transcript:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42214337/ns/msnbc_tv-the_ed_show/

SCHULTZ: So moving forward, President Obama has done this. What are the—what is the political downfall with his base on this? Your take on that?

KUCINICH: You know, I have to tell you, I mean, I‘m so focused on the constitutional aspect, I really haven‘t thought much about the political aspects of this. I don‘t know the answer to that.

But he obviously thought about the fundraising aspects.

I've often agreed with Dennis Kucinich and I usually admire him. But I thought he seemed to be grandstanding last night, and he seemed especially uncomfortable when Ed brought up the political aspects and DK said he hadn't thought about it.

[Zorra]

42. Thanks for posting this! I'll send him some cash right away.

:thumbsup:

[ReggieVeggie]

46. I will also!

Somebody needs to lay out a set of principles and stand by them!

[No Elephants]

47. Oh, please. Does any email or letter from a politician NOT turn into a plea for funds?