Going To A Tea Party...



April 18, 2010...

By: Matt Bruce - Manatee County Buzz Examiner...

SARASOTA, FL. (NS/Examiner.com) –

When I was first invited by Robin Stublen, of the Punta Gorda TEA Party to speak at their April 15th Tax Day TEA Party, I had no idea what to expect or how many people would show up as enthusiastic as they were…

It was a nice Florida afternoon with rain in the air, which moved off to the East to allow us to have great weather for an even greater event…

The people started coming in groups of 4 and 5 and the closer we got to the start time of 5 PM, more and more people showed up coming directly from work. I estimated the crowd at 1,000 around 5 PM but it kept on growing right through the event until all of the Print Media, Radio, TV and TEA Party Organizers agreed we had a crowd of between 1,500-2,000 people which probably closer approached the 2,000 mark…

Robin Stublen kicked things off and set the tone for the TEA Party and there were 5 Candidate’s present who were all running for Governor. I saw Conservatives, Democrats, Liberals, Libertarians, Progressives, Republicans and a lot of Families along with younger High school and College TEA Party goers there…

The Political Candidates did their thing and the crowd responded. What more can you say when you have Candidates show up because they’re always going to tell you “Vote For Me!” as you well know…

Now I had brought my TV friend Alix Redmonde from “The Alix Redmonde Show” on Comcast Cable BLAB TV who was filming me and what I was going to be doing at the TEA Party Event, namely speaking to the crowd…

She had her camera set up on a tri pod and also got some good clips of the crowd, some kids, animals dressed in patriotic attire and captured the real passion of the TEA Party attendee’s…

Then came my chance to get up and speak to the TEA Party…

I was introduced as a Nationally Syndicated Talk Radio Show Host heard on over 100 Radio Stations. Then came the announcement that I had been a First Responder on September 11th, 2001 to the World Trade Center and what happened to me when I got hurt away from the scene after falling 18 feet and suffered career ending injuries as a Fire-Rescue Captain. That started the standing ovation and I must admit, I had a few tears in my eyes when I took the microphone and began to speak…

The first thing I said was shout “Hello Punta Gorda” to the crowd who shouted “Hello” right back at me! Then I told them the last time I had been to Punta Gorda it was immediately after Hurricane Charley had torn through their small City on the Southwest Coast of Florida, destroying most of it…

From the ruins of that Hurricane, the people of Punta Gorda rose to build what today is one of THE nicest places you’d ever want to go and visit! I told them all to “Stand Up and give yourself a big round of applause for what YOU, the people of Punta Gorda accomplished by rebuilding your City!”…

Well that brought down the house and from there I started in with my basic and simple speech talking about the Progressive Left Liberal Agenda for America…

I can’t tell you how many times the speech was interrupted for applause but it was inspiring to say the least by all who heard it!

Of course I brought the Military into the discussion by thanking ALL those who had served and were serving America keeping all of us FREE and SAFE in the Global War on Terror! I saw numerous Veterans in the crowd wearing their Veteran hats and felt right at home…

To wrap up my story I just want to say that on TEA Party Tax Day we saw the BEST America has to offer attending their local TEA Party’s all across the Country, over 650 of them by reports I’ve seen, and the people’s voices were heard!

The message is clear and simple, “We the PEOPLE are coming on November 2nd to take our Country BACK!”…

God Bless each and every one of you and God bless the United States of America…

Matt Bruce

TEA Party Attendee & Supporter

Host Of “The Captain’s AMERICA Radio Show”…