Dean Misrepresenting Kucinich's Record

[dpbrown]

CONCORD MONITOR NOTES DEAN'S CLAIM

On Saturday, Dec. 27, the Concord Monitor in Concord, NH, noted: "Dean recently mailed brochures to homes in New Hampshire with a headline stating that Dean is the only candidate who 'opposed the war from the start.'"

Here is an image taken from the brochure, which the Dean campaign has mailed to people in New Hampshire and other states:



It's hard to believe that Dean supporters would stand for this kind of misrepresentation. We won't stand for it.


WHAT THE FACTS ARE:

As you all know so well, Dennis Kucinich led the effort against the war in the House of Representatives, is the only candidate who voted against the war, is the only candidate who consistently opposed the war from the beginning and continues to oppose it now, and is the only candidate with an exit strategy. His "Prayer for America" speech against the buildup to war in February 2002 catalyzed this campaign. Rev. Al Sharpton and Ambassador Carol Mosley-Braun also opposed the war.

The war is not over. Soldiers are dying every day. And Dean would like to continue the military occupation of Iraq for "a few years," as he said in the debate on December 9th. Dennis is campaigning on his record of opposition to the war and his plan to end it in 90 days.

Dean's flyer and mass mailing effectively calls Dennis a liar. People have begun asking Dennis whether he really opposed the war. Dean knows the truth. After we complained in October about his similar misrepresentations in TV ads in New Hampshire, he acknowledged Dennis' leadership against the war at an AFL-CIO forum and stopped running the ads. He later acknowledged Dennis' courage on this issue during a national debate. And yet he continues to use a flyer that says "Only Dean Opposed the War from the Start."

If Dr. Dean chooses to gloss over the inconsistencies of the positions he took during the first stage of this war, that's his business. But when he denies Dennis's record, that becomes our business, and it ought to be the business of the media. Dean is misrepresenting a material fact, and doing so despite his demonstrated knowledge of the truth. It is the media's responsibility to find out why he is doing this. The public has a right to know.

Here is information on who opposed the war when:
http://www.kucinich.us/antiwar.php

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https://www.kucinich.us/contribute.php

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[Desertrose]

1. This is too important to ignore

thanks, Dan for posting this.....

If Dean uses these tactics to get the nomination...makes me wonder what can we expect if he should be president??

Dennis Kucinich has spotless intergrity...He uses the truth to accomplish things...never partial truths or misleading statements.

Wasn't impressed with Dean from the beginning and am way less impressed as the campaign wears on.....

supports the war -against the war
taking matching funds by golly- no wait, I think I changed my mind
I am the only candidate blah blah blah...oops, I didn't mean you , Dennis...and here is the same damn "misrepresentation" again...

I agree...he certainly can say what he wants for his own campaign...but to lie about another, well, Howard, that just ain't right!

Peace
DR

[boxster]

2. I don't think that Dean takes Dennis seriously.

I don't think that Dean sees Dennis as a "serious" contender for the nomination, so he basically just ignores him.

Usually, Dean gets around including Dennis by saying that he (Dean) is the only "major" candidate who opposed the war (he's done that several times). I didn't read the full brochure, but apparently he's dropped the "major" from that claim.

Obviously, you're right - and it is a misrepresentation; I'm not sure how anyone could believe otherwise.

[Desertrose]

4. yeah, I agree, but he really should

I think they should all take DK VERY seriously....

but they will in a few weeks....

They do the same thing the media does...try to ignore him...too bad IMHO...he's the only one speaking truth among the lot of em :)

Peace
DR

[boxster]

15. Yes, he should, if for no other reason than common courtesy.

Dean is going to need all the help he can get if he wins the nomination. I would suggest that alienating the other candidates by considering them irrelevant is not the best way to garner that support!

[TeacherCreature]

3. Dean has talked to DK about this

and has corrected the record. Dean said he is the only major candidate to oppose the war. It could be taken as an insult but it isn't inaccurate unfortunately, at least at this point DK is not a major candidate. I wish he were.
This is a smear piece and I thought DK supporters were smarter than to fall for this kind of divisive tactic. We will all be fighting on the same side soon.

[Desertrose]

5. excuse me, but how do you turn this around to DK supporters?

You are blaming us because Dean lied..not once but twice...on the same identical matter??

If Dean spoke to Dennis about this...then why has this happened again?

Maybe cause Dean thought he could sneak it by for a few more NH votes before he got called on it? That is not the kind of candidate I want to vote for....

Does anyone else see the humor here??
Dean supporters are telling us we are falling for a divisive tactic set in motion by their candidate? This gets better and better ....wow....


Peace
DR


edit- shoulda used spellcheck

[windansea]

7. obviously Dean supporters don't care about lies

move along...nothing to see here

[no name no slogan]

8. Thanks for setting me straight DR

All this time I thought that it was DEAN's (and his campaign's) FAULT for lying about Kucinich's record, when it turns out it was MY FAULT.

Wow, glad you could set me straight on this. Next thing you know I'll start believing that the emperor has no clothes on! :D

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. It just goes to show you

that Dean walks on water, can do no wrong, is the almighty Democrat who will save our country and can do ANYTHING and his supporters will blame it on someone else. I find this whole thing slimey. Dean is now trying to get out of this by saying Kucinich isn't a MAJOR candidate so therefore he can LIE about him? My word. I can't wait to see what he does next. Dean's arrogance is going to catch up with him...very soon, I hope. Dennis is a GREAT guy and didn't deserve this. :(

[redqueen]

6. LOL... this is a 'smear piece'?

Dean's campaign sends out the same exact lie he got called on before, but if we dare question your messiah's methods, we're 'smearing'?

Oh, this is getting good!

And please don't count your chickens... we're not all going to be on the same side. Wait until the gloves come off and Rove is the one attacking Dean, not our guys just pointing out Dean's many faults.

Then we'll really have our work cut out for us. Defending Dean is easy now. I know there's lots of bitching and whining about how hard it is to fend off 'attacks' but this is nothing... nothing at all. This is the practice fights. The real deal comes next year, and if people think this is bad... well I just can't wait to see how they deal with the main event.

[dpbrown]

11. Rove's already attacking - see "secret energy meetings"

Frankly, I don't want to have a candidate forced on me who has to distinguish his secret energy meetings from Cheney's, and his secret governor records from Bush's.

To say nothing of a candidate so obtuse to the needs of the rest of the party that he was able to take a 74% re-elect in 1992 and drive it down to a 54% re-elect in 1998 and a 50.4% re-elect in 2000 before deciding to "run for President" instead of getting beat in 2002.

The same guy who alienated progressives, helping them to drive exponential growth of the progressive party, and fueled a rebirth of Republican power in Vermont as they laughed at his turning the Democratic Party into a tiny "centrist" conservative niche party - all Dean's former elected positions are held by non-Democrats today.

The guy's got no coattails, nothing to offer the rebuilding of the Democratic Party, and the same kind of secrets that Bush and Cheney have already shown us don't work in government.

Is it any coincidence that Dean's early backers were the Vermont power companies?

Duh.

Fear Ends.
Hope Begins.
Kucinich 2004.

Dan Brown
Saint Paul, Minnesota

[no name no slogan]

10. No votes have been cast yet, no delegates selected

so at this point they are ALL major candidates.

Dean is just playing the political game he's learned well from Trippi. Trippi used these same kind of scare tactics and half-truths back in '88 when he worked for Gephardt. As a matter of fact, Geph's campaign was well known for being one of the most negative and falsifying campaigns that year-- damn near as bad as Bush I's lying about Bob Dole's WWII record.

The nomination is still a long way off, and there's a lot of undecided voters between now and the convention. Dean will be in for a rude suprise if he thinks he can keep pulling this crap on primary voters.

[Desertrose]

13. does Dean think we are all as stupid as * thinks we are...

he must if he keeps pulling the same stunts...

I mean for crying out loud...we went through this already about Dean being the only candidate against the war.

Crap- the man didn't vote on it! Dennis record proves the truth...
Why can't people see through the lies? we've sure had enough practice lately!!

Go Dennis and thank you!!!!!

Peace
DR

typo

[Dover]

12. Can you imagine Kucinich pulling crap like this? NEVER!

It tells me something about Dean's integrity...or lack thereof.

[wtmusic]

14. OK, try this on for size

From Kucinich's website:

February 19, 2003 DEAN -- Unilateral Action Is...Unavoidable Choice

Salon's Jake Tapper summarizes Dean's oft-repeated position on attacking Iraq: "Saddam must be disarmed, but with a multilateral force under the auspices of the United Nations. If the U.N. in the end chooses not to enforce its own resolutions, then the U.S. should give Saddam 30 to 60 days to disarm, and if he doesn't, unilateral action is a regrettable, but unavoidable, choice."

The headline implies that Dean believes unilateral action is an unavoidable choice. Oh wait...it says 'if the UN in the end chooses not to enforce its own resolutions'. Dennis conveniently forgets that little last part... :eyes:

[revcarol]

16. So on no evidence that Iraq had WMD's, if there are no allies,

Dean said we should pre-emptively strike and invade Iraq. Glad you made that clear.

[wtmusic]

20. No UNSC resolution authorizes an attack on Iraq

without evidence of WMD's.

Clearer?

[redqueen]

25. We attack unilaterally

If the UN doesn't give us the resolution we want (to attack with permission) within 30-60 days, then we attack unilaterally.

Very clear.

[Terwilliger]

18. I think that's a way for Dean to play fast and loose

Saying "if" the UN this and that, but for all practicality, Dean favors the same sort of unilateral action that Bush did, UN be damned. And we all know that Iraq posed no threat, making our treatment of the UN even more shameful.

If Dean was somebody I'd vote for, he'd respect the authority of the UN and call for all international obligations to be carried out (treaties, laws, etc.) by the US.

[no name no slogan]

24. Just like how he was for/against the $87 million

Kucinich called Dean on his support of the $87 Iraq package during the debate, and Dean equivocated/bloviated about how he supported it if so-and-so and such-and-such happened.

By the next debate, Dean was opposed to it.

I don't mind if a candidate changes his mind on an issue, but to do so in such a brazen fashion after the polls have shown it to be politically expedient reeks of pandering in the best, and dishonesty at worst.

[Melinda]

17. Dupe thread still on first page of GD 2004

And debunked - There is no "again".

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=39573

Now we'll see if this is locked according to the "rules"

[revcarol]

22. AGAIN is brochures gotten just a week or so ago.

This is NOT the TV ads that Dean had to say were lying about DK and CMB and Sharpton. This is NOT the brochures that lied about
DK in Iowa. This is a new AGAIN, in NH.And proof will be when that brochure reaches someone who has a scanner and can post it on the web.

[no name no slogan]

19. Here's the text of an email one of our supporters got....

Here's the text of an email a local Dean organizer sent to one of our supporters, after our supporter asked him about his piece of literature. I have changed the names to protect the guilty.

xxxx,

I don't think Dennis should take umbrage. He's not running for
president. Sharpton has 10 times the likelihood of being the nominee
that Dennis has...sorry.

Kucinich is misrepresenting himself if he thinks he's running for
president. Senator or Governor would be terrific, but he's not going
to be anywhere close to winning anything presidential, as you well
know.

Kucinich has spent $2 million for every % in the national polls.
That is a waste of money - he's going to have a squeaker running for
his congressional seat, and he should be concentrating on that!

Dean has spent $350,000 / % . That's the economy of having a
resonant message.

xxxxx




:wtf:

The sheer arrogance of these twits is unbelievable. How DARE he say that DK, who was DRAFTED to run for President, is not in fact running for President, and should not take offense at Dean's false message?

If this Dean organizer is indicative of his campaign, I certainly hope the apple falls VERY FAR AWAY from the branch.

[HFishbine]

21. DUPE

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=39573&mesg_id=39573

[LWolf]

23. Be confident that we will be

addressing this falsehood.

AGAIN.

[Moderator]

26. Locking as a dupe

Please continue in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=39573&mesg_id=39573

Thanks,
DU Moderator