Kucinich Bests Koppel
Originally published in the Progressive
I watched the Democratic Presidential debate on Tuesday night, and there was a clear winner.
No, it wasn't Howard Dean. He has yet to win a debate, at least not any of the half dozen I've watched.
It was Dennis Kucinich.
But you wouldn't have known it reading the newspaper account in The New York Times the next day, or watching the wrap-ups on TV. That coverage was devoted to the Al Gore endorsement of Dean, and to how Joe Lieberman and John Kerry and Dick Gephardt responded to it.
First, Kucinich started with a good joke, which showed a human side that often appeared lacking in his earlier performances.
Asked by moderator Ted Koppel about any sour grapes the other candidates may have had over not getting Gore's nod, Kucinich deadpanned, "Well, I can't say I was really counting on it."
He then took on Koppel for "trivializing the debate" by dwelling on the endorsement rather than on substantive issues like the war on Iraq.
Kucinich got another good shot off at Koppel, whose next question to Kucinich was this: "You're not doing terribly well with money; you're doing even worse in the polls. When do you pull out?"
Kucinich responded by saying, "I want the American people to see where the media takes politics in this country. We started talking about endorsements, now we're talking about polls, and then we're talking about money. Well, you know, when you do that, you don't have to talk about what's important to the American people." He added, "I may be inconvenient for some of those in the media, but you know, I'm sorry about that."
That riposte got some of the most sustained applause of the night.
And on the issues of importance to the American people, Kucinich was strong, especially on the Iraq War.
Here, he pointedly took on the frontrunner: "You can't say, as Dr. Dean has, that you're against the war but you're for the occupation, because by keeping our troops in Iraq for years, you're essentially keeping the war going. . . . The tactics that this Administration is having our men and women use are intensifying the war. There's going to be greater casualties."
Kucinich came out loud and clear: "We need to get the U.N. in, and the U.S. out. End the occupation."
-- Matthew Rothschild
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