Kucinich takes antiwar message to Islamic center
Originally published in the St. Petersburg Times (not currently available online). Excerpts taken from a CAIR email alert
KUCINICH TAKES ANTIWAR MESSAGE TO ISLAMIC CENTER Adam C. Smith, St. Petersburg Times, 12/31/03 www.stpetetimes.com
TAMPA - Dennis Kucinich barely cracked a smile as he walked into the crowd awaiting him at an east Tampa mosque Tuesday. Instead, it was straight to business, directing the handful of TV cameras to prepare for his remarks.
This is serious stuff, this "illegal" war in Iraq, trampling of civil rights and profit-driven health care system, and the long shot Democratic presidential candidate sounded like a man too worried about the state of America to waste time with small talk.
Which is precisely why so many of his ardently liberal supporters see him as the only real choice among the nine-person Democratic field.
"The rest are just Republocrats," said Jay Alexander of St. Petersburg, who was among nearly 100 Kucinich supporters and Muslims who turned out for the Ohio congressman at the Islamic Society of the Tampa Bay Area.
Stephanie Donald, a Port St. Lucie writer who has been organizing Floridians for Kucinich for months, said in November she'll write-in Kucinich's name, rather than vote for any other Democrat who might win the nomination...
Kucinich came to Tampa to meet with Muslims and members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national civil rights group.
While only about 25,000 Muslims voted in Florida in 2000 - overwhelmingly backing Bush - activists say Muslims are disenchanted with the Bush administration, particularly over civil rights issues since Sept. 11. Kucinich has been reaching out aggressively to those voters.
"The civil liberties of all Americans are only as strong as the civil liberties that we accord to the Muslim-American community," Kucinich said...
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