DFH blogger speaks at Pensacola Tea Party ... and lives to tell the tale

If you were following my livetweeting today from the Pensacola Tea Party, then you already know: I gave a little speech. Hey, I'm a sucker for Open Mic Night ... what can I say?

Seriously -- I didn't realize there would be an opportunity to speak, but they were practically begging folks to come up and say a few words ... and I was right there ... well, with apologies for the picture quality, now you can see and hear for yourself:

I enjoyed the part when I asked, "How many here make less than $250,000 a year?" and there's a big cheer ... then it goes quiet again when I tell them they'll pay less in taxes under the Obama plan. That's about when the murmuring started ...

My favorite part, though, is as I continue to gripe about the years from 2000 to 2008 (yeah, it's '01 to '09, but you have to "speak to your audience," y'know), and then I hit them with "place the blame where it belongs: squarely on the Republican Party and the Bush administration," they pretty much lost their shit at that point. That was fun.

But, like all good villains, I reveled in the booing just a bit ... although I should have closed with "Enjoy the rest of your teabagging!" Maybe I should have paid more attention in rehearsal ...

(Special thanks to Sid for acting as cameraman.)

UPDATE (7:17 pm 4/15/09): Lots more pictures and video to share, but I probably won't get to it until late tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATE (1:20 pm 4/16/09): Well, um, maybe late tonight? Hard to say. Real life is happening, you know? Out to do stuff today and tonight, then on the road tomorrow. I'll get those other things posted ASAP, though.

Thanks again for your patience, and for all your kind words here and elsewhere. I really appreciate it.

UPDATE (8:28 am 4/18/09): Finally starting to get more stuff posted, including the firsthand account of how the video happened, Olbermann and Garofalo weighing in on the video, interviews on the Richard Hunter Show and PaxLive, and more raw pics and video. There will be much more throughout the weekend, so please continue to check in when you get a chance. Thanks!

UPDATE (1:50 am 4/19/09): Why the hell am I still awake, especially when it's almost 3:00 am in the Eastern Time Zone, where I am as I write this?

Anyway, the emcee of the teabaggers' ball, Pensacola Republican Club president Troy Schoonover, evidently isn't too happy with me. Check out what he emailed me Saturday night, and my response thereto. We're having some fun now!