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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Letters to the Editor
Wednesday 27 August @ 15:10:55 |
 Editor’s Note:
Last week’s cover story on Dennis Kucinich was meant to draw attention to a candidate we at Pulse thought was not getting enough press. It was not meant to start a fight between Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich supporters. Believe me, the last thing Pulse wants is infighting among Democratic presidential candidates. Therefore, we are going to publish a couple of letters we received from Howard Dean supporters this week and then leave the Dean vs. Kucinich debate alone. We suggest that people use their energy to support their Democratic candidate of choice—division in the face of the Republican onslaught would be disastrous.
--J. Miller
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RE: Campaign Donations
In your recent article about Rep. Dennis Kucinch, several inaccuracies were included. To quote your article:
"Unlike Sen. John Kerry's $16 million or Dean's $7 million in corporate contributions, Kucinich adheres to the campaign finance reform he's worked to pass. In the last quarter, he raised $2 million, half on the Internet, with contributions averaging $77, indicating that it is private citizens who make up the base of his monetary support."
This is simply untrue, because under campaign finance reform NO candidate can take corporate contributions. The money raised by Gov. Dean in the second quarter can be broken down as follows (courtesy of Dean for America http://blog.deanforamerica.com/archives/000584.html):
Second quarter fundraising by the numbers:
Total raised in second quarter: $7,500,000
Total donors (2003 to date): 70,000
Average contribution: $112
First time donors in second quarter: 48,000
Levels of Internet Giving:
Less than $50: 18,422
$50 — 99: 11,579
$100 — $249: 11,436
$250 — $499: 2,379
$500 — $1,000: 368
$1,000 and up: 129
David Krewinghaus
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RE: Dennis Kucinich
About a year ago, when President Bush claimed he could go to war with Iraq without Congressional support, the Left (correctly) decried this as anti-democratic. Now Dennis Kucinich says he’ll behave in a similar way, albeit on a much smaller scale. He promises to enact his agenda with a series of Executive Orders: repeal the Patriot Act, abolish the death penalty, close the School of the Americas. Similarly, he claims he would “cancel” the World Trade Organization (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In a speech to supporters at the Commonwealth Club, broadcast recently on Minnesota Public Radio, Kucinich was asked how he would work with Republicans in Congress. His answer: I’d ask the American people to give me Democrats.
Does this sound like a man who would make an effective president? Does this sound like a man who could actually get laws passed? It took me six months to cancel my subscription to Time magazine after I made the mistake of ordering four free issues. How is Dennis Kucinich going to “cancel” an international body like the WTO? I’d love to repeal the death penalty with the stroke of a pen. But the last time I checked, there were still three branches of government in the United States and they all have a say in how the country is run.
I agree with many of Kucinich’s positions. I’d love to have him as a friend, a neighbor or a community activist. But president? No way. In fact, at his Central High rally, Kucinich called himself “a grassroots activist disguised as a presidential candidate.” Too bad his supporters can’t seem to see the man behind the disguise.
If you’re going to vote your conscience, vote for the person you think would make the best president, not the guy you’d like to have over to your house for dinner. Howard Dean may not pass the Left’s litmus test for political purity. (The unattractive photo of him on Pulse’s cover last week would certainly indicate as much.) But among his accomplishments, he led Vermont to near-universal health care—and he didn’t have to use an executive order.
Hannah Clark
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