Kucinich electrifies convention arena
Congressman gets delegates roaring with passionate speech
By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 26, 2008 at 5:12 p.m.
Updated August 26, 2008 at 6:57 p.m.
Judy DeHaas © The Rocky
Former presidential candidate and US Rep. Dennis Kucinich speaks at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver Tuesday.
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich, erstwhile presidential candidate and strident opponent of the Bush administration, gave the most spirited speech of the session Tuesday condemning the war, the economy and the Republicans
Short in stature, the Ohio congressman leaped up onto his tip toes time and again, thrusting his arms out and up, getting the crowd to roar so loudly he had to yell into the microphone to be heard.
It will become known as the “Wake Up, America” speech.
“Fellow Democrats, are you ready for November?” he asked.
“It’s election day 2008 and we Democrats are giving America a wake up call. Wake up, America!”
"In 2001, the oil companies, the war contractors and the neo-con artists seized the economy and have added $4 trillion of unproductive spending to the national debt. We now pay four times more for defense, three times more for gasoline and home heating oil and twice what we paid for health care.
“Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, their homes, their health care, their pensions. Trillions of dollars for an unnecessary war paid with borrowed money. Tens of billions of dollars in cash and weapons disappeared into thin air, at the cost of the lives of our troops and innocent Iraqis, while all the president’s oilmen are maneuvering to grab Iraq’s oil.”
Meanwhile, with the U.S. helping to rebuild infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan, “there is no money to rebuild bridges in America.”
Then he launched into a “Wake Up” litany:
“The insurance companies took over health care. Wake up, America!
“The pharmaceutical companies took over drug pricing. Wake up, America!”
“The speculators took over Wall Street. Wake up, America! They want to take your Social Security. Wake up, America! Multinational corporations took over our trade policies, factories are closing, good paying jobs lost. Wake up, America!”
With each refrain, the delegates grew more frenzied.
“We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more. War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your wallet. Wake up, America!
“This administration can tap our phones but they can’t tap our creative spirit. They can open our mail but they can’t open economic opportunities. They can track our every move but they lost track of the economy.
He played on the terror alert level “color chart.”
“Every day we get the color orange, while the oil companies, the insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get the color green.
“This is not a call for you to take a new direction from right to left. This is call for you to go from down to up. Up with the rights of workers. Up with wages. Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems.
“Up with peace!” Kucinich yelled to approving roars. “Up with prosperity! Up with education! Up with Democrats!
The delegates continued to cheer through the first part of the next speaker’s remarks.
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August 26, 2008
5:25 p.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
These politicians never address the things we citizens have in our private thoughts. He didn't address, for example, this inexplicable increase in body hair I'm experiencing. Does it mean global cooling? Is there a government program for it?
August 26, 2008
5:49 p.m.
Suggest removal
Erik_Pedersen writes:
Thanks so much for posting this great summary of Rep. Kucinich's speech at the DNC convention. Unfortunately, CNN, MSNBC and even PBS chose not to air the speech live. Instead all we got was talking heads analyzing other speeches or speculating about future ones.
The networks are underestimating the intelligence of the public by not allowing them to view the convention as it happens in real time.
Regards,
Erik
August 26, 2008
6:16 p.m.
Suggest removal
chobbes writes:
Yeah! Wake up America! It's all Bush's fault. 911 was his fault everything afterward is his fault. When he is gone, who ya gonna blame then?
Common good Americans do not want your politics. They want accountability from our politicians. They want the truth. Your not getting it from the media or the internet.
Wake up politicians. America wants change they can believe in, but it isn't Obama.
August 26, 2008
6:39 p.m.
Suggest removal
unfug writes:
Hopi medicine man-
Has the peyote gone to your head?
Wake up, American!
Do you think you are goint to be in the select few after they have sold the rest of us down the river?
August 26, 2008
6:47 p.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
Unfug,
Peyote use is greatly exaggerated. It is however no secret Native Americans have a severe addiction to the substance effecting your typing this moment.
August 26, 2008
7 p.m.
Suggest removal
jbowen43 writes:
Kucinich just gave you the truth. Clean the wax out of your ears and the cobwebs out of your brain and wake up.