DO I FIT with the DEMOCRATIC Party? Am I too liberal and progressive? Maybe its not me, maybe The Party has slipped too far right. Either way, how am I aligned with The Party? Is my ideology represented?
Perhaps I should practice what I preach, and vote my ideology instead of my affiliation. So what if a candidate won't win or is unelectable. At least my spirit remains true.
I need to know if other DEMS share my views. How would you answer this hypothetical question?
Poll was based on Democratic debate held on 6/3/07. Transcript of debate question:
BLITZER: Congressman Kucinich, if you were president of the United States and the intelligence community said to you, "We know where Osama bin Laden is. He's in Pakistan. We've got the specific target. But he's only going to be there for 20 minutes," you've got to give the order yes or no to take him out with a Hellfire missile, but it's going to kill some innocent civilians at the same time: What would be your decision?
KUCINICH: I don't think that a president of the United States who believes in peace and who wants to create peace in the world is going to be using assassination as a tool.
Because when you do that, it comes back at your country. And I think that Osama bin Laden, if he's still alive, ought to be held to account in an international court of law. And so should any other person who's been involved in a violation of international law which has resulted in the deaths of many people.
And so, I think that an America which has a strong stand morally in the world is an America that shows a way to get to peace. And an America that stands for peace is a strong country. So I would say to answer that question, I don't believe in assassination politics, and when you do that, you inevitably bring the assassination of our own leaders into play.
BLITZER: All right.
Senator Obama, you want to respond?
OBAMA: Well, I think Dennis is right. I don't believe in assassinations, but Osama bin Laden has declared war on us, killed 3,000 people, and under existing law, including international law, when you've got a military target like bin Laden, you take him out. And if you have 20 minutes, you do it swiftly and surely.
And it's unfortunate that I think during the initial push into Afghanistan that we let him slip away because we were distracted.
One thing that I want to talk about with respect to both Pakistan and the various problems in the region, including Iran: Our presence in Iraq is weakening our capacity to deal with these issues and fanning anti-American sentiment in such a way that it makes it more difficult for Musharraf to work with us effectively.
If people in Pakistan believe that the U.S. is an occupying force, it makes us more subject to the kinds of difficulties that we're seeing in Pakistan today.
BLITZER: I want everybody to raise their hand and tell me: If you agree that if the U.S. had intelligence that could take out Osama bin Laden and kill him, even though some innocent civilians would die in the process, would you, as president, authorize such an operation?
If you would, raise your hand.
BIDEN: It would depend on how many innocent civilians...
CLINTON: Yes, I mean, part of this is one of these hypotheticals, Wolf...
EDWARDS: There's not information, not enough information.
CLINTON: ... that is very difficult to answer in the abstract.
You know, my husband actually tried to take out bin Laden. You know, he did fire missiles at a training camp that we had intelligence that that's where bin Laden was.
Because, by that time, bin Laden had already bombed our embassies; bin Laden had already demonstrated his hostility toward the United States.
But you can't just -- you have to be very careful about how you proceed.
So, you know, yes, if we could do it without a tremendous amount of collateral damage, I think, maybe with one or two exceptions, we would give the order to do it, knowing what a weighty responsibility that is.