This was classic. About a thousand enthusiastic patriots showed up for our rally in Fort Collins, CO. They loved my performance singing my “Tea Party Anthem” and “2010”. Fans of my articles on the internet were also in the crowd. Some drove hours to meet me. I signed numerous autographs and posed for pictures with my patriot brothers and sisters.

A white guy approached me and said, “You're the only black here (which was not true). Why don't you come to our democrat rallies where there are many blacks and more tolerant people". I could not respond because I was due back on stage.

If I had time, I would have said, “No thanks. I don't want to hang out with a bunch brainwashed blacks convinced by liberal democrats that they are victims". And what the heck did this guy mean by “more tolerant people”? This is my second tour traveling across America on the Tea Party Express. At every rally, the mostly white audiences embrace me, a black man, as a brother. Why? Because unlike the liberals who think everything is about race, the American people care about shared values and principles.
I am so sick of the Left getting away with branding us Conservatives “intolerant”. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, the Left is totally intolerant of opposing thought.
I recently received an email from the father of Kristen Campbell. Kristen is a high school student whose article disagreeing with Mrs. Obama was published in her school newspaper. Outrageously, this brilliant student was physically attacked with a knife and verbally abused by many in her community. To her credit, this courageous kid stood by her article.

Books! During this first week and a half of the Tea Party Express tour, several first time authors have honored me with copies of their self published books. Their motivations were the same. “I was feeling frustrated with the way our country is going and wanted to do something!” Folks, I LOVE the fact people across America are contributing to the movement in their own ways; totally passion and concern driven grassroots.
Interesting point. A few blacks are in attendance at every rally. Every black I have chatted with is retired military. They have fought for and served our country. They have traveled and lived abroad. They love America, realize its unique greatest and do not want to see it changed. It was truly refreshing speaking with fellow blacks uninfected with the Lefts' “America Sucks/ Blacks Are Victims” disease.

For the grand finale of the Fort Collins,CO rally, our team sang “God Bless the USA”. Earlier while mingling in crowd, I met a German guy who told me he was a new American. He said taking the oath of citizenship was very moving. I shared his story with the audience and invited the new proud American on stage as we sang, “...and I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I gladly stand up, next to you and defend her still today. Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land...God Bless the USA!”

The crowd cheered and loved their new fellow American brother. Very cool.

Today being Halloween and all, it is fitting that some state and federal politicians have provided us with some old fashion trick-o-treat fun. In NY Congressional District 23, Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has just treated us with her withdrawal from the contentious race-leaving Conservative candidate Hoffman to duke it out with the Liberal Democrat who is also running in the race.  

In New Jersey, we have another treat in the making as we may very well see Liberal Governor Jon Corzine lose to his Republican counterpart Chris Christie. As we all know, New Jersey is as blue of a state as they come. President Barry Hussein Obama is expected to continue to stump for Corzine in the upcoming days. So far, Barry’s coat tails have not helped Corzine’s cause.

Back here in the beautiful state of Florida, we have a different set of tricks and treats. When you think of Florida, you think of Governor Charlie Crist- the tanned man. And it is so funny to say that all of the states’ Halloween festivities revolve around his tanning bed, I mean his campaign.

First Crist appointed Republican Kevin Tynan to the Broward County School board-treat.

Now the Governor has to appoint someone to the Broward County Commission, hopefully it will be a solid conservative Republican. This may turn out to be a trick since, Crist is notorious for bucking the GOP by appointed Democrats instead of Republicans to public office. Most notably, his appointment of Liberal Justice Perry to the Florida Supreme Court and a Democrat Palm Beach County Commissioner only served to undermine the chances for responsible conservative governance.

Broward GOP Chairman Chip LaMarca is very confident that the Governor’s pick in Broward will be a Republican. He and other local GOP leaders have lobbied the Governor to choose another Republican to replace Commissioner Josephus Eggeletion following his arrest for corruption.

What has turned out to be a little bit of both trick and treat has been the alleged involvement and/or knowledge Governor Crist had about the anti-Rubio website and Youtube video that one of his advisors, Rich Heffley was responsible for.   Initially, Mr. Heffley, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), and Governor Crist adamantly denied involvement. Then their tune began to change, saying they had limited knowledge of the site. But now Heffley admits the site is his responsibility. See story-Heffley/Crist

Here are the indisputable facts:

-Heffley rents an office from the RPOF

Heffley has worked for Crist in the past

-Heffley is a current adviser to Crist

-Heffley gets paid by the RPOF

Enough said?

So this begs the question- What did Charlie know, and when did he know it?

Can anyone get a comment from RPOF Chairman Jim Greer? He’s been mysteriously absent of late. Was he aware of the shenanigans that were going on? More on Greer-Redcounty

There is speculation that Senator George LeMieux (REDSTATE) himself was indirectly involved or had prior knowledge of the website in question or the “Hitler” video. Read more-LeMieux-Redcounty

It seems as if the Crist campaign tried to trick the Rubio campaign and its supporters, but it’s turned out to be a major treat for Rubio. With all of the negative attention Charlie has brought upon himself, it looks like the Governor has tricked himself out. Happy Halloween!!!!

Readings:  

Dismantling America - Thomas Sowell, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

Take Two Aspirin - Inside the Beltway

Self-Governance Works - TownHall

Showering With Hugo - Investor's Business Daily

GOP Should Grow The Party, Grow The Economy, Shrink The State - American Thinker

Democrats' Policies Based On Dogma, Hopes, Dreams, Not Reality - Dennis Prager, TownHall

Is The Left Now Wary Of EPA's Power? - The Heritage Foundation

Video of the Day:

Cartoon of the Day:

Readings:  

The Other MIT Global Warming Guy - The Heritage Foundation

Stealth Socialism - Investor's Business Daily

Welcome To The P.T. Barnum Administration - TownHall

From The People Who Brought Us The Swine Flu Vaccine Shortage - Government-run health care! - The Washington Examiner

Yes, "The One" Should Fail - The American Spectator

Medicare's Low Administrative Costs Cost You $60 Billion A Year - The Heritage Foundation

The Middle-Class Health Tax Heist Of 2009 - Investor's Business Daily

Video of the Day:

Cartoon of the Day:

The long anticipated speaking engagement at the Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC) by US Senatorial candidate Marco Rubio turned out to be quite an event. A record crowd of more than 400 showed up to see the future Senator speak last night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Back in August, the BREC lost control of its meeting when a supporter tried to both make and have a motion for the BREC to conduct a straw poll for its members’ preference for the Party’s nominee in the US Senatorial race between Governor Charlie Crist and Fmr. Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio. Miami Herald- No Straw Poll in Broward

Rubio supporters were expecting a bit of chicanery by certain BREC leaders that shall remain nameless (for at least a couple of paragraphs), and there was an attempt to take away some of the limelight away from Marco Rubio- but these silly antics are only undermining what little is left of the BREC’s credibility.

Several weeks back, GOP officials reached out to your humble correspondent to try and influence Rubio to postpone his speaking engagement before the BREC. I of course told them that it was a stupid move, and that doing so would infuriate Rubio supporters, so they backed off. Their next ploy was to use the threat of a cancellation- word was that they were going to cancel Marco because it was somehow more important to have a meeting concerning "corruption throughout Broward County" Come again?

But the silly antics continued.  The idea was floated that the October meeting would consist of Rubio speaking in addition to a meeting on Broward corruption, this time with ‘other’ speakers. Then there were threats that BREC were going to close the meeting to all except actual members, only to have this plan thwarted at the 11^th hour!

All of these shenanigans preceded the BREC meeting. Now, to the main event. Prior to his speaking engagement, Rubio was asked to speak freely, but not take questions from the crowd-something he is known to do after every speech he gives. The reason for this, as I was told, was because the BREC was afraid that questions would be asked of Rubio that would in some way embarrass Governor Crist.

Let’s not forget that the Cato Institute- the conservative institute that Governor Crist boasts about in his recent radio ad- has just issued a not very complimentary postscript regarding their earlier Gubernatorial rankings, stating that Governor Crist's so-called fiscal conservative record is not really so fiscally conservative and responsible after all. 

 CATO Institute-CRIST

Back to the event.  Right before the Chairman was supposed to introduce Marco Rubio, he stopped himself and acknowledged the newly Crist appointee to the Broward County School Board, Kevin Tynan- a long time Crist supporter.  So I ask myself, why couldn’t Mr. Tynan be announced after Rubio spoke? Why was he acknowledged just as Rubio was set to be announced?  Let's count this as a slight.

But it gets better. Chairman Chip LaMarca then lacklusterly introduced Marco Rubio as just the Former Speaker of the House, and omitted the fact that he is also a US Senatorial candidate. This was odd since the whole meeting was premised on the controversy regarding the Senate straw poll between Rubio and Crist. If you think this was simply an oversight, you would be mistaken. This was no oversight at all, it was fully intentional. With all due respect to LaMarca, this was a tad bit disrespectful.

Marco Rubio went on to give yet another inspiring speech that was met with cheers, whistling and standing ovations. At the conclusion of the speech, half of the crowd got up and left! Out in the lobby, droves of people signed up to help out the Rubio campaign, and before the event was over, all of the campaign's bumper stickers were gone.

Next month, Governor Crist is expected to address the Committee on November 23^rd. Could it be that the BREC will stack the meeting?  Will the BREC plant enough questions in the crowd to the Governor's liking?  Will the Governor even take questions from the crowd?  Will the BREC close the meeting? Who knows.  But one thing is certain- the BREC hierarchy and the Republican establishment are shaking in their boots, because a tsunami of support for Marco Rubio is about to sweep them out to sea. 

Video from the event:

A knock came to my front door. It was a small built, average height white guy in his late thirties, early forties dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt. "Excuse me sir, I need work. I have seven kids and a wife to feed." Kenny proceeded to tell me in his thick southern accent about his many skills; construction, lawn care, tile, mechanics and more. Due to downturns in the economy, Kenny was having great difficulty keeping steady employment.

As I am admittedly technically and mechanically challenged, I put Kenny to work. Upon discovering that I was a black man married to a white woman, Kenny looked surprised; not judgmental or disapproving, just surprised. Kenny did a meticulous job tiling a floor at our Arts Center. He tuned up my car and fixed my lawnmower. He poured the concrete for our patio; very professional, meticulously done. Kenny likes to listen to country music on his radio while he works. When Kenny was working on my patio, he asked if the music bothered me and offered to turn it off. I said, no problem, enjoy yourself.

When Kenny was working on our air conditioner, we chatted a bit. Through my typical probing questions, I learned that Kenny had a difficult childhood. His dad was an alcoholic. Kenny himself has also had problems with alcohol in the past. Kenny's wife is ill, suspected cancer. They have a combined family of seven kids from previous marriages. So, Kenny has a lot on his plate.

I am struck by this simple man's positive attitude, character and pride in everything he does. Kenny told me he has forgiven his dad and moved on. When hit with bad news about his wife's medical condition, Kenny's response blew me away. He said, "Sometimes "laufe" (life) challenges you and you just gotta deal with it." I thought, Wow!

Sadly, many in America today are infected with an entitlement mindset thinking they should reap the benefits of hard work by others. It was refreshing to meet Kenny, a man who does not believe anyone owes him anything and simply wants to work.

I've grown to have the utmost respect for Kenny. Rather than whining, he literally knocked on doors seeking work. He is a man of his word, does a great job and always goes the extra mile. He loves his kids and his wife. They are a happy family. My wife Mary and I are growing close to them. Though I do not require it, Kenny insists on addressing me as sir. Some would call Kenny a redneck, country music, southern drawl and many times shirtless. I call Kenny, a friend.