sorry i didn't see it live.
Kevin Flynn
15 minutes ago
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
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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.
there's more than ron paul. and he got to the tv screen. |
