Dennis Kucinich lost his battle against Marcy Kaptur earlier this week, and with that the end of his time in Congress is drawing near.
A liberal sweetheart, boisterous and outspoken, a champion of Cleveland, a vocal opponent of war, owner of a pocket-sized Constitution — there seemed so much that he stood for.
But as The New Yorker points out, things that actually get done actually matter, and in that realm, Kucinich’s resume was paltry.
When Kucinich lost a primary fight against his fellow Ohio Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur on Tuesday (the two incumbents were pitted against each other due to redistricting), liberals lost one of their favorite elected officials, and the press lost one of its favorite sources of comic relief. But Congress did not lose a leader.
I made this same basic point about Kucinich in March of 2010. At the time, he’d only succeeded in passing three of the bills he sponsored. Those three were, in chronological order:
A bill “to make available to the Ukranian Museum and Archives the USIA television program ‘Window on America,’ ” a bill “to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 14500 Lorain Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio as the ‘John P. Gallagher Post Office Building” and a bill “proclaiming Casimir Pulaski to be an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously.”
In the two years since then, Kucinich has gotten one more bill passed. It named another post-office building in Cleveland.
There’s still time for Kucinich to do something else. That, however, does not seem likely.
This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2012.
No one will realize for quite a number of months just how important Cleveland, Ohio is to the Planet Earth. Nor will it sink in for even longer that it is The Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie, that will contribute so much to the saving of planet Earth. Sound like a bunch of shit and a result of the Bud-Ice and the commercial Mexican fat-boy I’m smoking, but I’m on the level. Cleveland is one of the hopes and saviors of the 21st Century.
But I know it will take more than the rambles of an old man to convince you, and that scientific proof needs to be brought forward and evaluated by the governor and the Ohio House of representatives and his appointed members of the Governor’s Think Tank. I have gone up against that group and I don’t know if I am the right guy to push the envelope in that liberal of a direction. These guys are all Norquist Pledgers and that makes them my enemy and the perceived enemy of the people of the USA. Perceived by who? Perceived by reason and logic and humanity, and by a majority of Americans.
Dennis Kucinich by leading Congress and the nation againsr our unjustified invasions and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, accomplished more on that, than most Congressman achieve by them passing some mediocre or bad legislation. He was THE anti-war leader,helping to persuade Obama and Congress to end these two wars, which is much more important than passing typical legislation. Some idiots dump on Kucinich, ignoring what he did to end these wars we wrongfully started. And he was a big watchdog and protector of the environment, and pushed to investigate and reform (or eliminate) the Federal Rsserve, which basically takes our money and gives it to wealthy international bankers. Kaptur beat him because she is sold-out to big business, and becuase the Plain Dealer slants its reporting and editorials to beat Kucinich, since it it a wealthy newspaper that hates him for standing up for average people and the poor. Plain Dealer editorial director Brent Larkin wanted him gone for years. The city defaulted when Kucinich was mayor because Cleveland Trust bank was run by top executives of CEI which wanted then-mayor Kucinich to eliminate Cleveland Public Power (0wned by Cleveland.) Kucinich refused, so Cleveland Trust bank caused the default by demanding that Cleveland pay all of its loans due to Cleveland Trust immediately, rather than giving Cleveland extended tim to do so, as it always allowed before. It was indeed a conspiracy of the wealthy rulling class of Cleveland, and Plain Dealer, and aristocratic Brent Larkin, to remove Kucinich from office, so sold-out wealthy people like Republican George Voinovich could be mayor.
What is the Norquist Pledge and who signed it?
He’s a good guy, will land on his feet and goes out a class act, not in handcuffs.
This was one glorius week, 1st the defeat of Dennis and then the conviction of Dimora. How sweet it is.
Kaptur – much more effective than Dennis
Dimora – a classic example of one party rule.
Eric: take off your rose colored glasses.
1st) The Ameritrust issue: Yes, Dennis opposed the sale of Muny Light. But he went about it in the wrong way. Just like today, he has never learned to negotiate or compromise. The following Mayor, Voinovich, also opposed the sale of Muny Light. But….he negotiated and accomplished two things, saving Muny Light and getting Cleveland out of default. THAT was something Dennis couldn’t do and he still hasn’t learned to do it.
2) Dennis accomplished NOTHING regarding the two wars. Dennis was invisible to the national Democrat party and the Republicans. Dennis got about 1% of the Democrat party vote each of the two times he ran for president…1%!!!. In August of 2008, the US government, during Bush’s last year in office, signed an agreement with the Iraqi government and set a date for the first troop withdrawal from Iraq beginning in 2010 and ending in 2011. Obama wasn’t president for 5 more months. The withdrawal rate of the fighting troops actually lagged, because Obama listened to the military advisors, nearly the same advisors under Bush in his 2nd term. Then Obama ramped up the troops in Afganistan, just like Bush did with the surge in Iraq. No, no, no, both presidents ignored Dennis. The only time Obama paid any attention to Dennis was when Obama wanted Dennis to change his vote on the Healtcare Bill. One ride on Air Force 1 and Dennis changed his vote. I just wish I knew what Obama promised him in return for the vote change.
Kaptur has accomplished much more than Dennis ever did.
3) During Dennis’ tenure starting in what? 1996 or 1998? The population of the Cleveland area has continued to decrease and business continued to leave. He had about 16 years to come up with a plan to save the jobs and businesses. The biggest private business save? Hugo Boss. How as it accomplished? By getting the workers to take a pay cut from $14/hr to just under $10/hr. That a $4/hr pay cut or a 35% decrease in wages!!! Thats an accomplishment for the worker? That company got what they always wanted. Hell, if the GM & Chrysler union and salary workers had taken a 35% pay cut, no bailout would have been necessary in the auto industry, saving us taxpayers billions.
I have to say, after reading this I am SHOCKED at what Dennis accomplished during all his years in office. I mean, here I was under the impression he was totally worthless and did absolutely nothing except sit around, nap during debates, and then gurgle out a noise every once in a while. But I admit I was wrong. Dennis courageously fought for the people of Cleveland and really worked hard to pass these three major earth-shaking pieces of legislation. I hear the city of Cleveland is already planning to make a statue in honor of Dennis. It will be titled “Dennis During the Debate” and will feature Dennis asleep on a toilet with a newspaper across his lap.
Yes it’s true that Dennis didn’t embezzle a ton of money or accept bribes from anyone, but when that’s the only good thing you can say about someone that tells you some pretty sad things about our expectations. It’s like being proud of a “Participant” ribbon in a competition.