Former presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich delivered one
of the most passionate addresses Tuesday night. “Wake up,
America. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want
more,” Kucinich said. “War against Iran will mean $10-a-gallon
gasoline. The oil administration wants to drill more, into your
wallet. Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more. An Iran
war will cost 5 to 10 trillion dollars.”
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Kucinich wakes up Democratic Convention
26/08/08 DENVER -- Who lit a fire under U.S. Rep. Dennis
J. Kucinich?
The Ohio Democrat went to church at the Democratic National
Convention today, lighting up the 4 o’clock hour as time marched
toward Sen. Hillary Clinton’s much anticipated appearance.
Kucinich preached.
I mean he preached like he’d had some lessons from the Rev.
Jesse Jackson. And he woke up an audience that until that moment
appeared to be mostly waiting to hear anybody else.
“We Democrats are giving America a wake-up call,” he preached.
“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.”
Sleepy delegates in a half-empty arena began to take notice. A
couple of them pointed.
“If there was an Olympics for misleading, mismanaging and
misappropriating, this administration would take the gold,”
Kucinich said. “World records for violations of national and
international laws … we can't afford another Republican
administration. Wake up, America.
“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.
He had them. Where was this speech when the tiny Ohio
congressman was running for president? Or did we really just not
pay attention?
“This administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our
creative spirit,” he said. “They can open our mail. They can't
open economic opportunities. They can track our every move. They
lost track of the economy while the cost of food, gasoline and
electricity skyrockets. They skillfully played our post-9/11
fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many.
Every day we get the color orange while the oil companies, the
insurance companies, the speculators, the war contractors get
the color green.
“Wake up, America! 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.”
And Dennis Kucinich began to bounce, the way the ministers of my
girlhood churches did.
“Up with fair trade. Up with creating millions of good paying
jobs, rebuilding our bridges, ports and water systems,” he said,
his voice rising, people rising and grinning at the Dennis
Kucinich who was surprising them.
“Up with health care for all,” he said. “Up with education for
all. Up with homeownership. Up with guaranteed retirement
benefits. Up with peace. Up with prosperity. Up with the
Democratic Party. Up with Obama-Biden!”
Hmmmmm. Did the Democrats miss something along the way from the
only man with the courage to introduce a resolution in June to
impeach President George W. Bush and whose speech reminded those
gathered who their fight actually was with?
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