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This is a place for members of Progressive Democrats of Hawai‘i to express their thoughts
and exasperations about political happenings. The opinions and views are not necessarily
those of PDH's steering committee or membership as a whole.

Dennis Kucinich is in Hawaii, campaigning for Senator Akaka. Wednesday, he spoke at a couple of events on Maui. Thursday, he was working the Big Island.

Dennis will be on Oahu this Saturday, August 12th at 4pm, speaking at the Akaka Campaign Headquarters. The headquarters is located in the Dole Cannery complex, ground floor, next to the theater entrance. You are invited to come and talk with Dennis.

Follow the link to read a Maui News article about the Maui luncheon:

Kucinich: Akaka ’exemplar of peace’
By KRISTA WALTON, Staff Writer
Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:32 PM

WAIKAPU – U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich returned to Maui on Wednesday. But this time, it was not to ask Valley Isle voters to support him in his bid to be president.

Instead, the Ohio congressman – who won support from Maui County but fell short of gaining the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2004 – came to drum up support for U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka’s re-election.

Kucinich and Akaka appeared together before a partisan crowd Wednesday at a Maui Democratic Century Club luncheon at the Maui Tropical Plantation.

Kucinich said it was a “great honor” to win support from Maui Democrats during his presidential bid. “I’ve never forgotten that,” said the congressman, who maintains a strong following among Maui voters for his environmental and anti-war stances.

During the luncheon, Kucinich praised Akaka as an “exemplar of peace,” noting that he was one of 23 senators who initially voted against invading Iraq.

“I traveled thousands of miles for him because he has the courage to take a stand for peace,” said Kucinich. “You can stand on the beaches and, as each wave comes in, you can sense it: You can sense it in Hawaii that there is some condition that we are made for that is better than war.”

With the Democratic Party hoping to take the majority in both the U.S. House and Senate in November’s elections, Akaka and Kucinich said they were confident that voters would respond to their anti-war message, with Kucinich noting that “people in the country are taking a strong stand for peace.”

Kucinich resisted speaking about his own political platform, noting that he came to Hawaii specifically to support Akaka, who faces a primary challenge from, among others, U.S. Rep. Ed Case.

“You have something special here in Hawaii with Senator Akaka,” said Kucinich. “He is peaceful and gentle, like Hawaii is peaceful and gentle. . . . He embodies what is essential to Hawaii.”

“I look upon Iraq as a war unjustified and incorrect,” said Akaka during his remarks to club members. “Our country is great because we will admit to our mistakes and amend our mistakes.”

Akaka said he voted against the war because there was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction and no postwar strategy for withdrawing troops and because the U.S. was invading unilaterally, without support from the United Nations.

“As we look back today, all those things were true; our vote was correct,” said Akaka.

He added that he will continue to support the U.S. troops in Iraq, but that he also advocates withdrawal when the time comes.

Akaka and Kucinich were united in their positions on the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, both agreeing that President Bush should ask for a cease-fire.

“The war in Iraq makes it more difficult to stand for peace anywhere, but Congress has an appropriate role to ask for a cease-fire,” said Kucinich, who is sponsoring House Concurrent Resolution 450, which asks the president to seek an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon and bring all parties together.

Akaka said he, too, supports a cease-fire.

“It’s important to stop the fighting and talk, rather than kill people,” he added.

Kucinich shied away from commenting on incumbent Sen. Joe Lieberman’s narrow defeat on Tuesday by Ned Lamont in Connecticut, saying, “I didn’t come here to say a word against anyone. I came to speak for Senator Akaka.”

Kucinich said, however, that he believes Democratic voters are looking for candidates who “have courage and who are for peace.”

Fellow Democrats often criticized Lieberman for supporting the Iraq war.

Akaka said he and Lieberman were “good friends,” and so he was “disappointed on a personal level” at Lieberman’s defeat. However, he added that he would endorse Democratic nominee Lamont if Lieberman were to run as an independent candidate.

A difference of opinion was brought up between Akaka and Kucinich when an audience member asked Akaka why he supported drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Akaka said he supported the drilling because “indigenous peoples of Alaska support it, because it will bring them a higher quality of life.”

Akaka is one of a few Democrats who support drilling in Alaska.

“Just because we disagree on this one issue doesn’t mean I don’t support him,” said Kucinich, who is against drilling in the refuge. “I still would vote for him in this race.”

Wednesday’s luncheon came a day after Akaka and Case clashed publicly for the first time in a joint appearance before the Hawaii Publishers Association in Honolulu.

Akaka said that the event was “a good meeting.” He said he and Case would “certainly be onstage together in the future,” but he did not know if they would debate.

Akaka also spoke about his support for the Jones Act, which requires cargo moving between U.S. ports to travel on ships that are made, owned and crewed by Americans; he said the act is crucial to national security. He also pointed to his environmental record, noting that he is co-sponsoring a new global warming bill with Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, which aims to outline steps to reduce the effects of air pollution on the Earth’s climate.

Kucinich and Akaka also spoke together Wednesday evening at an event called “War, Peace and the Environment.” Akaka said he planned to reiterate his anti-war message.

Krista Walton can be reached at kwalton@mauinews.com.