Jim Hightower was an instant hit with delegates and guests on Day 2, delivering political commentary with his special brand of down-home humor.

A syndicated radio commentator, writer, and speaker, Hightower told the assembly he was “happier than a mosquito in a nudist colony” about being with the Boilermakers at our 31st Consolidated Convention. He called Boilermakers “grassroots fighters, corporate butt kickers, and agitators for fairness and justice.” A man who pulls no punches, the Texas-born populist firebrand said it’s time to “rededicate ourselves to the heavy task of taking our country back from the thieves in high places who are knocking down American working families and stealing our country out from under us.”

He said in his extensive travels across the country he has been heartened by the grassroots actions of people on the local level who have taken it upon themselves to restore fairness and goodness. He called on Boilermakers to be proud of their ability to agitate for change. After all, he said, an agitator “is the center post of the washing machine that gets the dirt out.”