Terrific article in today's LA Times about Dennis Kucinich, mainly about his history. Discovered a few things that I didn't know about him. Snippet:
| His presidential aspirations took form in February 2002, when he was scheduled to speak, along with the Rev. Jesse Jackson and actor Warren Beatty, to the Americans For Democratic Action in Los Angeles. He was staying at the Westwood home of a friend, Emmy-winning TV producer and writer Lila Garrett, one of the event's organizers.
"He was sitting at my computer in shirt sleeves after breakfast, about four hours before his speech," she recalled. "And he said, 'What theme would you like me to use?' I said, 'Reveal who Bush really is.' He replied, 'I can do that,' and he wrote this really beautiful prayer for America." In his prayer, Kucinich lamented the USA Patriot Act and the approaching war in Iraq and concluded: "America, America. God shed grace on thee. Crown thy good, America. Not with weapons of mass destruction. Not with invocations of an axis of evil. Not through breaking international treaties. Not through establishing America as king of a unipolar world. Crown thy good, America." Fifty-thousand people responded with e-mails. He knew he had tapped into a chord of national discontent. Eight months later, he kicked off his presidential campaign. He has drawn enthusiastic crowds, though polls put him a distant sixth in a field of seven, and he received only 1% of the vote in Iowa on Monday. And he delights supporters with his animated style, his progressive vision and his willingness to poke fun at himself. Walking into an Iowa coffee shop the other day, Kucinich was dwarfed by the crowd gathered around him. He kicked off his shoes, jumped on a chair and shouted: "I am standing up!" |
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