As announced last week, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, candidate for President, will be guest blogging this week. He’ll be posting his first post in about an hour, but in a bit of a change from the last presidential visit, he’d be eager to see questions from you that he can frame his posts around. He’d like to address at least (1) copyright policy, (2) media consolidation, (3) privacy, and (4) electronic voting, so please post questions to this entry about those issues, or any other issues you’d like to see discussed.
Thank you to the Congressman for continuting this experiment. Thanks to you for making it worthwhile for him and you.
Thank you for participating.
I began providing technical support for your campaign in Maine, but ceased to do so after conducting one mailing, due to differences over whether HTML content, including, but not limited to “tracking gifs”, should appear in campaign mailings. There are two issues — HTML mail itself, and marketing tools concealed in HTML — tracking gifs. Additionally, I require total control over the message envelope-headers, and your volunteers require that mailings appear to come from a kucinich.us address, and that the reply-to field is set to the same address. As a data point, that mailing had a 10% bounce ratio. The from and reply-to addresses I used were “[email protected]”, consistent with how I operate the triballaw mailing list — triballaw – at – abenaki – dot – wabanaki – dot net.
So, with that preface, here is my question. At what point will your campaign in any primary or caucus (Maine has a modified open caucus) transition local campaign management from local ideological volunteers, who may have little or no prior campaign experience, to the local Party and Labor activists, who work every cycle?
An alternate question is will you work to make the US an “opt-in” jurisdiction?
I hope your Manchester Campaign Office opening today comes off smoothly.
Eric Brunner-Williams
old: kucinich2004.poliblog.com
new: goredelegate.org
Congressman Kucinich,
I am a tremendous fan of yours and have begun campaigning for you in the St. Louis area. The work you’re doing on the foreign policy front, as well as on trade and civil rights excite many of the people I’ve talked to about your campaign.
The question I have for you centers around the recent bevy of lawsuits threatened or filed by the RIAA against people — particularly college students — who use file sharing software to freely and voluntarily exchange music and software. In an article in today’s Wall St. Journal entitled “Two Colleges May Keep Data From Record Industry,” the paper reports “a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that two Boston-area universities don’t have to comply with subpoenas from the recording industry seeking information about students who may illicitly share music online.”
I wonder if you could talk about your position with regard to this specific lawsuit, the rights of individuals (and particularly university students) vis-a-vis their forced compliance with the RIAA, and some proposed solutions to the whole litany of disputes between the RIAA and those who feel that culture should, at some level, be available for free exchange and discussion. I think that a progressive stance on this issue (and others like it) could play a major role in generating support for your candidacy among a very important constituent group who may otherwise support another candidate.
Keep up the great work.
Best,
Shawn Redden
For years our government has supported public libraries, places where any citizen can read or listen to copyrighted works without paying. The Internet provides the ability to extend the library into the homes of all Americans, and file trading programs like Kazaa and Napster have made this a reality.
Unfortunately, the entertainment industry is trying to retard this progress by suing file traders and locking up their works with “DRM”. The DMCA even makes it possible for the entertainment industry to prevent even plain-old libraries from loaning their music and movies.
How do you propose we balance the wants of the entertainment industry with those of the public?
Hello Congressman,
First, I would like to alert all interested in your campaign to go to the interview you just had on CNN (http://tinyurl.com/jmc0). Secondly, I would like to know how we can begin to make FAIRNESS an important issue to the American public. The rhetoric on the right has been so poisonous that we spend too much time responding and not enough, I think, outlining what a compassionate, rational, fair agenda you are offering. What are you doing to get that message into the heart of your campaign and what can we, your supporters, do to proliferate it??
Thanks,
Amy Tauchman
Congressman Kucinich,
I’ve been spreading your name and platform around like mad for several months now. Recently a question has surfaced concerning your vote to amend the Constitution to ban flag-burning. A number of people are curious how you reconcile a ban such as that and a dedication to civil liberties. Could you please explain your motivation for supporting that ban? I’d like to have your own words to respond to those who ask about this.
Thank you Congressman Kucinich for your protests against the inappropriately named “Patriot Act”. When elected president in 2004, what will you be able to do to overcome the effects of this act?
Another important issue is the use of fear to currently run the country. To install fear, one needs scapegoats. Terrorists and Eastern looking people have been added to prisoners. Have you had any thoughts on how to heal fear and division in America after your inauguration? freespirit in TX
Congressman Kucinich,
Thanks for blogging! Privacy is becoming one of the biggest issues of our time. How will privacy feature in your presidential administration? Who is in charge of protecting it? The people? The Congress? The Supreme Court? Individuals?
Do you believe in a fundamental right to privacy? And what role should the government play in protecting people’s privacy rights against corporations?
Thank you.
Thank you, Congressman Kucinich, for taking our questions. I know I’m not alone in being greatly concerned about the horrible state of our elections systems. Like Greg Palast, I, too get a little nervous when George Bush, of all people, wants to “help us vote” by signing the “Help America Vote Act” (HAVA). I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but from what Palast and others are saying, HAVA and similar state laws “mandate the system that was at the heart of the Florida d�b�cle: computer-aided purging of centralized voter files.”
Also, Thom Hartmann, from AlterNet.org, wrote an amazing article documenting numerous errors and flaws in elections systems across our country: “>http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16474
So, my questions for you are:
Thank you, and I really do hope you become our president in 2004!
Congressman Kucinich, I would be interested in hearing what part you think the government can play in balancing the interests of big business with those of a nacent technological culture… that is, how do we simultaneously ensure that tech. culture flourishes and deal with things like creative destruction of old business models which are being fought for tooth and nail?
Congressman Kucinich:
What do you consider an appropriate duration for copyright, and how much control should copyright holders be legally permitted to exert?
I would argue that individual copyright should, in all cases, terminate on the death of the creator. Corporate, work-for-hire, and other non-individual copyrights should have a term no longer than that to be expected by an individual (50 years would be a good round number there). I would prefer a shorter term more in keeping with the original Copyright Act, but having works enter the public domain on the death of their creator would be a considerable victory at this point.
Copyright holders’ legal rights should be limited to those issues in which they can prove damages, generally financial (in the case of, for example, major commercial bootleg operations, such as those that put movies out on DVD before they’ve left the theatres). If, as in the case of the current actions by the RIAA, the damages are highly speculative, legal action should be refused until the damages can be proven.
Even before you opened your campaign I had heard that you wanted to have a Department of Peace. This launched me as an active supporter. However, one of my friends who is also politically active saw that such a Department could be used in a negative manner in that in the name of peace, the Department could be used against “radical groups” within the U.S. How would citizens be protected against such a misuse of a Department of Peace? (BTW he supports you too save for this one question.)
Dear Mr. Kucinich,
Hi, I live in Santa Cruz and I am currently doing all I can to see that you’re the next president of the United States. I think you’re a wonderful person and I support you completely. I do have a couple questions for you. Where do you stand on instant voter run off? This system of voting allows you to rate the people you want to vote for and once a person is shown to have lost all the people who voted for them will have there vote count to their second choice and so on. I think its an important issue and needs to be addressed by any person seeking the presidency. Second you voted for military conflict in Afghanistan and I was wondering why? Often when I speak about you to other people they ask questions about what you stand for and I like to have answers instead of saying what I think you would say.
Thank you for you’re public service,
Michael Jarred
Relating to Margaret’s response, after reading Greg Palast, and wanting to understand the direction the Federal Law will take us to “reform” (sure it is…)our voting machines, I looked into our states laws. It’s posted on-line. What I found was the onous lies within the state to verify that the system is working. My very own concern emailed to my county councilman referred me to the issues on-line , with articles relating to the voting sysems. It showed that a non-biased, Johns Hopkins group verified there are problems in the software for one, but the email which was sent to me from the council member was attempting to demonstrate that Maryland is doing its job. However, what I found was the State Administrator of Elections wrote a media response to the discoveries stating that our system is flawless.
So, I’ve started a one person, hope to turn into a grassroots organization, campaign to understand the exact nature of our states research that scientifically demonstrates that we are following law, not just using character assasination of evidence to those who find otherwise. No response as of yet. My only feeling is that I can get active on local level, and build from there. I’m sending in application to become voting judge, and I hope everyone here will research their local and state practices to make it possible to vote, and have your vote counted.
I have asked for the evidence to prove my vote was counted, since the new Deibold system has no paper trail, and the system the Administrator deamed flawless kicked my disc out of the system before I finished. I was not aware of the issues of voting systems at the time, so I did get help at the poll, but what kind of help I don’t know.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=222&row=1
Dennis, I’m looking to make sure I can vote for you before the all systems are rigged. Sounds outrageous, but that’s why I am working for clarification and real proof, since nothing seems right in politics anymore.
Julie
Dear Mr. Kucinich,
First, let me say what an honor it is to be able to communiate with you. I have been doing all I can to spread the word about you and your vision for our future her in the United States and around the world. I’ve been working with your campaign from Utah.
I recently met a woman who came to the last meetup here in Salt Lake City, Kathy Dopp. She has been researching the electronic voting problems and has come up with a workable solution which doesn’t involve paper trails which wouldn’t solve the potential problems. Please take the time to see what she’s come up with here:
http://tinyurl.com/jf2v
My thanks to you. I look forward to reading what you have to say.
Dennis in 2004!
-Clarity Sanderson
Good afternoon, Congressman Kucinich, and thank you for joining us. I am campaigning for you in California. My question has to do with public education.
I am so encouraged by your education platform; you are determined to find solutions to the source, instead of the symptoms, and I applaud you for that.
My question today is, what will you do about HR 1, “No Child Left Behind?” I’m a teacher. I know there are some parts of this legislation that sound great, but in action the high-stakes tests are destroying us. Will you work to repeal HR 1?
Thank you for your time, and for all of the work you have done to lift up all Americans, children and adults alike.
Congressman Kucinich:
Thanks for Fighting for both us and the USA. I’m volunteering for your campaign in the NH and MA primaries (1 day a wk, each). Establishment tries to ignore your campaign, but we will fight to help you become The “44”. The eponymous host of the “Charley Rose Show” said, on the show tonite – “when we discuss Howard Dean, we get calls asking why we don’t interview Dennis Kuchinich”. I ask also. The answer is – Dean can be presented as “opponent” of BushJr because he claims to oppose Iraq2, but has also stated that he will INCREASE the Military Budget. Thus the Imperialistic Controllers in the media will get their wish regardless of a win by BushJr, of “metoo”Dean.
After having read your 10 key issues, here are my questions:
1) It is almost certain that you will be working with a Republican-controlled Congress at least initially during your tenure. Given that, do you believe it likely that you will be able to get the Congress to pass bills authorizing programs for national health care, withdrawal from NAFTA and WTO, reversal of the Bush tax cuts (which will probably be permanent by then), and dealing with other hot-button issues that the Republicans have been so steadfastly against? You can’t just declare these things by executive order; and I don’t see how you can get such “radical liberal” programs passed. That makes many of your 10 key issues non-starters.
2) You state that one of your first acts as President will be to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA and the WTO and institute a regime of “fair trade agreements.” Do you believe that our global trade partners will be receptive to such a regime, given that almost by definition those agreements will be fairer to us than to them? Or will we instead see a return to the bad old days of preferential tariffs and trade wars, which the WTO was created to try to prevent? Or even worse, would withdrawal merely accelerate the migration of trade from our country to other countries with more open trade practices? Would we not then be hoist by our own petard?
3) With regard to your proposal to spend $500 billion on education and infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy: Then-governor Clinton proposed the creation of the Americorps as a kind of modern-day CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps, a New Deal jobs program) to help bring a living wage to needy Americans. While a qualified success it was far from a panacea; it was America’s technological leadership and the emergence of the Internet as a communications medium that lead to the great period of prosperity that followed the recession of the early 90’s. I believe that prosperity was largely based on productivity gains through technological replacements for manual processes, which reduced the need for blue-collar workers and the union wages and benefits that went with them. Why do you believe that championing unionization and the Big Labor movement will restore prosperity today? More to the point: what is left to unionize? White-collar jobs are not conducive to unionization, since there is a never-ending flow of educated workers coming out of our fine educational system and a ready pool of skilled workers available overseas. Will not threats to encourage unionization of white-collar jobs merely accelerate the movement of those jobs overseas, as has already happened in the manufacturing industry and is beginning to occur in information services? How will that help the economy?
(This one hits close to home. I’d rather have a job that paid barely enough to pay the bills, than have that job go to someone over in India who gets paid less than half what I get and me be out on the street.)
Dennis, I too am concerned the erosion of democracy, and freedom of speech.
My concerns lie with the ease that electronic voting machines can fraudulently manipulate elections with Help America Vote Act of 2002 funding.
Representative Rush Holt�s proposed amendment HR2239 will not stop electronic voting machine fraud.
The minimum requirements for ensuring Fair Electronic Voting Programs are: 1. Open source or public programming instructions. 2. A backup paper ballot in case of electronic failure, and 3. A pre-election certification and post-election verification of the programming instructions.
The third condition is necessary because no court order can make the machine language programs humanly readable after an election. The verification test must be set up prior to the election.
There are also ways to make electronic voting machines tamper proof. Please contact me, [email protected], for a more detailed explanation. I have been working with the professor who runs the Center for Scientific Computing at the U of Utah and other technicians on this issue since May.
Here is a web site page with information that I believe is urgent for Congress to understand:
http://www.truthisbetter.org/database/ObjSubPg.php?article_id=38&info_category=SOLUTION
or go directly to http://USTogether.org then �Solutions� then �How to Make Electronic Voting Programs Fair� then �Read More�
Dennis,
Congratulations on the labor caucus in Philly. It was amazing to watch and listen to the supposed longshots (You, Rev. Sharpton, and Ambassador Braun) speak with clarity, force and conviction on the issues, while some “front-runners” based their arguments on presidents past. Rev. Sharpton’s religious wit, I thought, provided many highlights of the evening’s discussions.
A California question: Will a reduction in (free) trade reduce the traffic and hence jobs of long-shoreman and other port employees? If so, couldn’t Homeland Security funding finally be used to implement a stronger cargo screening process, to include retraining of extant dock workers thus not losing jobs in this nich? Toward integral community strength, local workers could be “targeted” for new jobs, including Latino immigrants, in port states such as CA and FL.
As president will you continue to use the internat personnally?
Hello Congressman Kucinich,
Thank you for participating in this blog. I also hope to see you co-sponsor the Public Domain Enhancement Act (HR 2601) and I’d like to know what you think of the idea of either working on not extending the term of copyright again and/or repealing the previous CTEA.
Finally, I hope you’ll consider reading EFF’s summary of unintended consequences of the DMCA. I favor repealing the DMCA and compelling the public to work with industry to work on a more balanced approach to copyright enforcement (which may mean no additional laws required), but I would like to get your reaction on the DMCA and the weight you give to (what I think anyone would reasonably call) its misuse.
Dear Dennis,
Your comments and thoughts are thoughtful, insightful as usual. Your campaign has attracted many of us who truly believe a new paradigm in America is possible and that you are articulating and embodying the changes needed. Some of us also feel you, the campaign, needs to take a big leap, Dean is on the cover of magazines and many of us know that he is not what he is made out to be. Perhaps you need to do something extrordinary. Many issues that are so important are not discussed, such a global warming. It is obvious the weather is changing, you are the only canidate that can lead us from this brink of extinction. How about discussing how the white house just had the science changed about Global Warming on the most recent document published by the EPA, you can tie this in with new forms of energy already available. Speak to people about their children and grandchildren and their right to life. I have copied another concern below from one of our yahoo discussion groups.
Use your great compassion, humor, practicality and truthfullness to the utmost. Speak the truth of what is possible as you do, but what it also entails from us. Find unity with as many politicians as possible who are now agreeing with your views. (Which are the ones that will lead us back to sanity)
Thanks,
Suzanne Keehn
Quote from Yahoo below.
We are seeing SO much now on the misery of the troops in Iraq – and deservedly so. I think it is very important for Kucinich to make some strong statements about supporting our troops and supporting their families and that the cuts in the military budget that he would make would not cut benefits to the troops but that he would find a way to reinstate some of the cuts that have been made to these people. Perhaps he has made these statements, but all I’ve heard is how much he wants to cut the military budget. Failed weapons programs are one things. Military personnel are another. My two cents
Dear Mr. Kucinich,
I am writing to discuss the plank of your platform that will be your energy policy.
While I am not an expert by profession, I have spent a great deal of time studying alternative fuels and energy in general. My interest peaked in 1999 upon learning of President Clinton’s Executive Order 13134: “Developing and Promoting Biobased Products and Bioenergy,” and I have invested a great deal of time and resources into learning all I could about these topics.
I have examined The Kucinich Platform Ten Key Issues carefully and you have my full support on every one of these important issues, with the exception of three critical things.
1) Hydrogen is NOT a renewable energy source, and as an ‘alternative’ energy carrier a very strong argument can be readily made that it is not a viable choice neither for near or long-term. The problems range from the energy balance (amount of energy required to make it are greater or near what one can get out of it), the lack of infrastructure (natural gas system is unlikely able to safely and efficiently transport hydrogen due to higher pressures, metal embrittlement, leakage and capacity), lack of vehicles and equipment that is developed technology and the controversial methods of manufacturing it (Nuclear, Hydro, Coal). At best the science is decades away from fully mature technologies and infrastructure. I feel it is important we are realistic about the technologies that will transport us and provide electricity and heat for the next 20 years or so, and those will be the internal combustion engine, coal and natural gas. Fuel cells will come into the picture, but gradually as manufacturers re-tool and extract the life cycle profits they need to justify investments that have already been made or committed to. Do you support an investment into this technology with so many valid arguments against it? I have accumulated a good number of articles regarding the proposed “New Apollo Project” and the concept of a “Hydrogen Economy” that make a very strong case to not pursue it as the answer to our energy needs. (www.drive55.org) Are you in favor of building more nuclear power production plants? Will you veto an energy bill that includes nuclear power plant development?
2) This leads us to my second problem with Key Issue # 10 on the Platform: the lack of emphasis on conservation. Americans are so used to individual freedom and a lifestyle of over-consumption that it is not an easy sell to talk about conservation. Folks are used to being able to speed around town at 70 or 80 MPH, air conditioned buildings, cheap electricity and inexpensive travel. These consumption habits will all need to change in the coming years for a myriad of reasons, but chief among them are Pollution and our unhealthy Dependence on imported oil and gas. As you know, Congress has already begun seriously discussing nuclear energy as a real option and we are at war in the Middle East over energy. In most major cities there are days when the air is unfit to breathe and we are spending $1 or more for a gallon of clean drinking water. The crisis is real, it is now, and it can be solved. The answer is not MORE energy derived from fossil fuels — the real answer is a combination of many things, including alternative fuels, clean coal technology, and, most importantly, more efficient use of the energy we have. While your 10th Key Item does mention incentives for businesses that conserve energy, nothing is said about conservation by individuals, and the issue gets scant attention in an overall sense. It is my strong opinion that the Conversation must include Conservation in a much more significant manner. Will you support the Drive 55 Conservation Project? (www.drive55.org)
3) I have studied candidate Kerry’s energy plank and frankly it is far more detailed than yours at this point. Please look over his “New Manhattan Project” speech as a point of reference. (http://www.johnkerry.com/news/speeches/spc_2003_0613.html).
In your platform, I see little mention of bio-fuels and want to point out that ethanol and biodiesel are both carbon neutral, renewable fuels that can be used in the existing infrastructure with little to no modifications. For example, my research has revealed a little known NREL project that demonstrated a method to make biodiesel at the rate of 8000 gallons per acre, and that system could be located with a power production facility to sequester C02. Cellulosic ethanol can be made from yard wastes, forest thinnings and dedicated energy crops using enzymes that already exist for about $1.35 per gallon. How will you support a transition from the current fossil fuel based hydrocarbon economy to a sustainable carbohydrate economy?
I realize this is a rather large chunk to take on, I have hardly given the topic the attention it deserves in this wordy missive. From my perspective, with war raging worldwide over oil, and air and water that is often unfit to breathe due to pollution from fossil fuels, ENERGY should be our primary topic of discussion. I hope you will give it the attention it deserves soon because I really do like what I have heard from you so far and want to continue to work for your campaign.
Congressman Kucinich:
I have seen you on C-Span several times and am impressed with your passion and intelligence. You address the issues that concern all the people of the United States and you have solid and clear plans for addressing those issues.
We have formed a Baltimore Metro chapter to campaign for you in Maryland. We will work hard to get your message out and put you in the White House. Best wishes to you and your family.
Peggy
Congressman Kucinich:
I have seen you on C-Span several times and am impressed with your passion and intelligence. You address the issues that concern all the people of the United States and you have solid and clear plans for addressing those issues.
We have formed a Baltimore Metro chapter to campaign for you in Maryland. We will work hard to get your message out and put you in the White House. Best wishes to you and your family.
Peggy
The two issues on your record of greatest concern to me are you radical change in abortion law and your support for 1999 and 2001 initiatives to criminalize flag desecration.
Although it will always be suspect, I can accept your claim that your switch from being a Right-To-Life poster boy to promoting women’s rights has been a long time coming. It is plausible to me that as women in your life come of age and expose you to different scenarios, you would re-evaluate your accepted thinking. It might even be considered a political asset to be able to make such a dramatic switch in policy based on the input you receive from others, reconciling divergent issues into a common belief system. And the conclusion you seem to have drawn is that abortion is bad, but it can be addressed is ways that do not restrict freedom for women to choose a path.
That brings us to Issue #2, for which I have yet to hear a rationalization. First in 1999 (as a law) and then 2001 (as a Constitutional amendment), you supported legislation to prohibit desecration of the U.S. Flag. In my opinion, there is no justification for deifying an object. We have fire codes and criminal laws to protect against free speech endangering others, so the only threat here is diverse opinion of what that flag represents. For some, it is the enduring drive for individual freedom and moral benevolence beamed to the rest of the world. For others, it symbolizes hypocrisy, greed and disconnection with the disadvantaged. Especially given your bent toward holistic politics — and in light of the reasons you give for your 180-degree turn on criminalizing abortion — I am very interested in hearing how you can fit this stance into your greater vision.
Kevin, just wanted to let you know that Congressman Kucinich has already offered an answer to the question you pose about his position on abortion. It�s on his website at:
Kucinich on the Issues: Reproductive Rights
http://www.kucinich.us/issues/issue_rightsreproductive.htm
Hope that helps.
As far as his reasoning for the flag desecration votes, though, I have no clue. It’s something I’ve wondered about, too.
Thank you so much for offering this chance to speak with you about the things that concern us. There are 2 things I’d like to ask about:
1. Do you think that you might come out against spanking in schools? I feel that most people probably don’t even know that it goes on, but kids are being spanked in public schools in 23 states as of 2002. In the 1997-98 school year, 360,000 kids were spanked in U.S. public schools a Dept of Ed survey reports.
This is from USA Today 8/22/2002: “In some cases, children are forced to grab their ankles and then are struck three or more times on their backsides with a half-inch-thick board 21/2 feet long”
Dept of Ed statistics show African-American students are twice as likely to be spanked as kids of other races. Poor children also are struck more often.
How long has it been since spanking was determined to be “cruel and unusual punishment” for adults who have been convicted of crimes against society? Why are we still allowing this atrocity to be visited upon our most helpless and voiceless citizens? I realize that schools are under local control, but an individual in the national limelight who brings the attention of the public to this could be greatly influential in diminishing the number of little kids bending over to accept a humiliating beating each day.
2. I know that you would like to help labor unions, but I wonder if you might address labor issues for everyone, regardless of the type of work they do. What I am talking about is the way we have moved away from 9 to 5 work days to 8 to 5. With all of the new technology we have to aid our work, why has this happened? My dad worked 9 to 5 until his retirement, why does my husband work 8 to 5? Whatever happened to the dream of a 4-day work week? Why is it that in Europe entry-level jobs come with at least a 4-week vacation, and my husband is still only getting 2 weeks off every year? What the Republicans have to offer Americans, is some money back from the tax man, even if that money is inequitably distributed and has bad long-term consequences. What has a Democrat offered to change in Washington that will reward pretty much every American? I think you would have Republicans changing parties if they thought, instead of $400 in their pockets, they could look forward to legislation that would lead toward a return to 9 to 5 and more vacation time for all.
–Catherine
PS I’m hoping we will soon be seeing you karaoke and polka at Polka Parties and Oktoberfests.
Sharpton is definitely the best black candidate in the race, but this is why you should vote for bush even if you are a democrat. if a democratic candidate wins in ’04 then Hillary Clinton cannot run in ’08 unless the democratic president that wins fails miserably in some way. i think i would much rather have a historic event that has had no precedent like a women president to happen, which is why even democrats should vote for george bush in ’04, so that hillary clinton can run and win in ’08. if there is anyone who should be the first women president in the history of the united states it should be hillary clinton. imagine all the women in this country who could vicariously live through that achievement, especially those who have had unfaithful husbands. i would bet that if george bush were to win in ’04 and knowing that hillary would probably run and win in ’08, he would have the country and the rest of the world running excellently and even spit-shined as any good cowboy would for a lady.
-(~)
BUT, I just don’t see how Prof Lessig can win it. Jackie is well respected, has a long history of representing this area well, and by all measures is an incredibly effective legislator. She’s a progressive, grassroots-supported candidate who really has really earned the trust and support of the community here. A primary challenge to her would seem to be counterproductive I think. I’m also still not convinced its the *best* position from which to advocate Change Congress. Much better I think would be to have her be the first to sign the Change Congress pledge – despite past behavior, I would imagine this sort of pressure could be applied and would be warmly welcomed by her grassroots supporters like the members of San Mateo County Democracy For America (the Dem Club I am an active member of). It would be an effective ally to apply pressure to get a public statement of agreement to the principles.