Dennis Kucinich | 2008 Election Watch

Disclaimer: The following information is what I have taken notes on while watching the debates on tv. Nothing I have written are complete direct quotes, but will give you the general idea of what went on during these debates. Please read on.

In my coverage of the debate, I will only be convering the statements made by who I see as the forerunners of this election, and the issues that I feel are the main issues for the 2008 election.

1) The first question of the night revolved around the Iraq war. Basically, all of the Democrats running are for pulling out of Iraq. But here are some of the responses from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.

Clinton: Congress has voted as of today to end this war. She proposes to fund the troops and limit the number of days that the troops serve in the war. She also mentioned that she wants to start to pull the troops out of Iraq, and to make the Iraqi government take on the sacrifices to get their own government to work. She also has taken responsibility of her own previous vote for the war, and that we should not concentrate on the past, but rather, “what do we do now.”

Obama: Obama feels that all of the troops need to have the proper equipment in order to perform at their best. He mentioned the American people and how “we” have said that it is time to end this war. He referred to a plan he created back in January that would begin to withdraw troops from Iraq, and there will be benchmarks that will need to be met, to slowly pull out of Iraq.

Edwards: Edwards believes that we need to regain our respect around the world, and in order to accomplish this, he feels we need to be a model. From his statements, it seems as if he feels that we have lost a lot of respect by starting this war with Iraq, and that in order to regain it, we will need to put an end to this war.

2) Abortion. Last week, the Supreme Court made a ruling to pass the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. Due to time constraints, Hillary Clinton was not asked her opinion on this issue.

Obama: He thinks that most Americans realize that abortion is a difficult decision, and that we need to trust women to make their right decision for themselves with their doctors, and religious leaders. He feels that we should not be concentrating on what we as Americans should not discuss what we do not agree on (abortion) and that we should start talking about things we do agree on. And one of those issues is to try to lower the teen pregnancy rate.

Edwards: Believes in a women’s right to choose, and also thinks it is important for candidates to realize this is a difficult issue and that they should respect that.

3) In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, the issue of gun control is pushing towards the foreground of these elections. Hillary Clinton was asked if the Government failed the students at VT.

Clinton: “Yes.” Hillary feels that the government did fail the students at VT. She spoke of her memories of Columbine, and how after, the Clinton administration realized that they needed to get guns out of the hands of the wrong people and to limit the access to people who should not have guns. There needs to be a harsher background check and after the VT shootings, it is apparent that our current system does not work.

My own thought: What worries me is the fact that even the democratic candidates do not want to go against the 2nd amendment. I realize that being able to own a gun is supposed to be one of our rights as an American, but look at what owning guns has done recently. How can we determine one person is more sane than another. How do we know if someone who has not been committed to a mental institution, will not harm someone else. Were those kids from the Columbine shootings ever committed to a mental institution?

4) The last issue I will cover is Health-care. Universal Health-care has been a hot phrase among the Democratic candidates. All of them have been forced to come up with their own plans, which all remind me of Hillary Clinton’s plan (please refer to my last blog covering Hillary’s health-care).

Obama: He mentioned 3 steps that I was able to write down in my coverage. 1) that there will be a national pool that people can buy into similar to the way the health-care system is set up for federal employees. 2) The government will subsidize for those who cannot afford health insurance. 3) He will make sure that we will lower the cost of health-care, and provide preventative care. (All very similar to Hillary Clinton’s plan.)

Edwards: He wants to provide health-care with taxes. One of the things he will do, will be to take away the tax cuts for people who make 200 grand or more. He will also require the employer to cover all employees. He will also ban the pre-existing conditions rule that many insurance companies have. That is, if you have a pre existing condition, the new insurance you are on, will not cover that.

Final thoughts: I will have to admit, I have really been focusing all of my attention to Hillary Clinton during my coverage. Since I am the most familiar with her campaign and where she stands on most issues, I was not sure how the other candidates would compare. Barack Obama does have some clear cut ideas for some of the issues, but I do feel that he might be lacking on direct plans. I like how he is always referencing the American people. I believe he can possibly tie us all together. We have been split apart by this Bush Administration, and I believe that we do need to start to stand together. It would be beneficial for America to have a president that can bring us together, instead of pull us apart. I have to go out on a limb here, but I think that Barack Obama does have that quality. I also want to say that Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Congressmen in the U.S House of Representatives, made some very valid points. I think he could be a good president, but he is standing in the shadows of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John Edwards. I am not sure what he would have to do to get noticed. I will end with a statement made by Kucinich “This is not American Idol, we are voting for a President.” Well said Kucinich. Well said.

The firing of eight District Attorneys has caused quite an outrage on Capital Hill and throughout the United States. And for good reason. However, my prediction is that we won’t be (honestly) talking about this much at all come 2008. The reason – whereas the firing of the attorneys in the middle of a presidential term may have been politically motivated, unprecedented, and dishonestly handled, it appears that not president Bush, nor Alberto Gonzales, nor anybody else did anything illegal . The reason is due to a clause in the 2006 Reauthorization of the ironically named Patriot Act, which gives the president power to fire and appoint new attorneys without senate confirmation.

The reauthorization of the Patriot Act was supported by Hillary Clinton, Barack O’Bama, and Joe Biden (as well as John McCain and Chuck Hagel; John Edwards was no longer a Senator at this time). In fact, the only presidential candidate to oppose the reauthorization of the Patriot Act was Congressman Dennis Kucinich from Ohio. Kucinich also opposed the Patriot Act during its first enactment in 2001, whereas Clinton and Edwards both voted ‘Yea’.

By now many people from both parties, including Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Republican Senator John Sununu, (John McCain has not), are calling on Gonzales to resign, but where were they in 2006????