War Room - Salon.com

Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008 16:12 EDT

Kucinich gets standing ovation at convention

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who ran for president earlier this year, brought down the house at the Pepsi Center Tuesday afternoon.

By Alex Koppelman

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who ran for president earlier this year, brought down the house at the Pepsi Center Tuesday afternoon

DENVER -- The surprise star of Tuesday afternoon's session at the Democratic convention? Ohio Rep. and former presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

No, really.

Kucinich, who entered to the strains of the Ohio Players' funk classic "Love Rollercoaster," managed to score not one but two sustained standing ovations during his speech here at the Pepsi Center, his passion rising and his speaking style growing more compelling as he fed off his audience's enthusiasm, and vice versa.

Especially popular was a continuing theme in Kucinich's speech -- a call, actually: "Wake up, America."

"Wake up, America. The insurance companies took over healthcare ... Wake up, America. The speculators took over Wall Street." Kucinich said, the applause growing with each repetition. "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. We went into Iraq for oil. The oil companies want more ... Wake up, America. Weapons contractors want more."