My evening with Dennis

Well humans, we are back at Monkey Muck HQ after seeing Rep. Dennis Kucinich in Asheville, NC and let me tell you if we were on the fence before, we are true blue believers now. Just like our human female compatriot Blue Gal, we here at Monkey Muck HQ are officially on the Kucinich bandwagon, hell boys and girls, we may be driving the band wagon or hosting Kucinich fundraisers before it's all said and done.

President (oops), we mean Rep. Kucinich appeared through the auspices of the UNC Asheville College Democrats, a finer group of young political activists you will not find, and the appearance was held, get this, free of charge on the UNC Asheville campus, in, fittingly enough, a building that was named the Justice Center.


The event was supposed to start at 7 PM but got started a little bit after that. They had a few people say a few words before the main event and when he hit the stage at about 7:18 PM, the crowd went crazy. Everyone in the audience jumped up to their feet as soon as he walked through the door and came inside the sweltering gym. He had left California last night at midnight but he did not look a bit tired as he strode smiling to the stage.


He spoke for about 25 minutes and sometimes we could not hear him over the wild applause and cheers that punctuated his speech. He spoke about ending the war on Iraq, about reclaiming, although if you ask us we'll tell you you can't reclaim something you never had, the moral high ground for America and reclaiming America's reputation for goodness and decency.
He spoke about the health care crisis in this country and how he would take out the profit motive in health care and provide universal health care, including medical, mental health, vision, and dental coverage for all citizens by cutting out the insurance companies and the HMO's.
In short humans, he spoke about the issues we care about. And he spoke about them as eloquently as anyone.


We in the crowd ate it up. The gray heads loved him, the hippies, the lesbians, the straights, the college kids, the working class wage slaves, the simian contingent, we all swooned when he got down with his bad white self. And he knew it too. He knew he had us when he spoke about not using war as a weapon on the world stage, he knew it when he said as President he would reconnect the USA with the world not as a superpower but as an equal to other nations. He knew he had us in the palm of his regular guy hand, and yes he does look like a regular guy, in fact he looks like the guy who lives down the block from you that you have a beer with from time to time while you both listen to that damn radio station that blasts the classic rock that really rocks, when he reminded us that our values were not being represented in Washington DC and when he said, "We stand for truth. We stand for justice. We stand for the Constitution of this country and anyone who does not should be removed from office."


He also told us about being in the gallery after the past few State of the Union addresses. He said as bush passed him by he put a hand on the President's shoulder and whispered in his ear. bush just walked away, but then he stopped, went back and said, "What did you just say Dennis?"Kucinich replied, "I said I wish you peace Mr. President." bush thanked him and said, "I know you mean that too."


The next year as bush passed him by after the speech he put his hand on the President's shoulder and told him that he, Kucinich, had just written a book about how to get us out of the war on Iraq. Kucinich told us, "I don't think he's read it yet, but there's still time."


At the end of the event he did a Q and A. We knew our chance had come so yours truly, the simian behind the phenomenon known as Monkey Muck, jumped up and ran to be first in line at one of the mics. After a few nervous minutes it was finally my turn. I put the mic to my mouth and managed to say, "My name is Steve (that's right my real name is really Steve but most of the time I reject the name my human oppressors hung on me) and I am from across the mountain, from over in TN. " He smiled and walked towards me as I blathered on, "I just wanted to thank you for being the only candidate that has the courage to speak out on the issues that we care about. I want to just say thanks." He then gave me what can only be classified as a 'big ol' goofy grin' and he grasped my hand. Now as you know, or maybe you don't, but us monkeys have strong hands, in fact at one time my right hand could have crushed a Volkswagen if you know what I'm saying, but his grip on our hand can only be described as vice like. He pumped my hand and looked me in the eye and said, "Thank you." I was a giddy monkey after our handshake and our exchange of thanks and it was right then and there that I decided to go to the mat for him if needs be.


Would the other candidates have let me get that close? I doubt it. Would any the other candidates have held such an event like that one, where you did not have to make a huge donation in order to get in? Hell no. Would any of the other candidates have taken a midnight flight to get to the mountains of North Carolina to meet with the Buncombe County Young Democrats and the UNC Asheville College Democrats and then meet with an unwashed throng that included me? Hells to the no.



Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate that is on my side. And he's on yours too. And he'd make a hell of President, just like Blue Gal said.


UPDATE: Follow the link to see Rep. Kucinich on Real Time with Bill Maher-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lcg1xQJnow&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fguerillawomentn%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F