Dennis Kucinich: The "Wake Up America" Speech

Holy cow. Dennis Kucinich isn't a name you associate with rabble-rousing. But that's what the wonky congressman from Ohio did when he gave a barn-burner of a speech at the Democratic Convention. As he went through his familiar talking points, he kept getting hotter, and by the halfway point he was looking and sounding like Tony Clifton (comedian Andy Kaufman's alter ego) chewing through raw sirloins. Half of the audience had gotten to their feet by then and were egging him on. He was tossing out lines like, "This Administration can open our mail, but they can't open our economic opportunities." Then he completely wins over the crowd by 2/3rds through and audience close-ups showed mystified looks on their faces which said, "Is this for real? Where the hell has this guy been?" From there on out, he turns into a jumping pentecostal preacher.

Seriously, it's like he's tripping on acid or something. He was absolutely on fire, it was a dynamite speech, and whether you're familiar with Kucinich or not, it has to be seen to be believed.

(Research creds to HopeSpringsATurtle.)