Howard Dean, Guy James and Congressman Davis of Florida

[BeachBuckeye]

Last night it was my privilege to attend the annual Democratic Gala in Naples, Florida. There were over 500 people present at this $100 per plate dinner. I was honored to speak before State Chairman Scott Maddux, Congressman Jim Davis and Governor Howard Dean.

I have to tell you that Governor Dean set the room on fire with his speech. It was an unbelievable atmosphere the likes of which S.W. Florida has never seen before. It was just plain electric!

I sat next to Governor Dean and he is every bit the intellectual giant I assumed him to be. He is warm, friendly and extremely interested in what the grass-roots of the Party has to say. I am very proud that he is the new Chairman. He WILL make a difference.

He already knew about our show and had positive comments to say about it.

I had promised those of you here at DU that I would call out Congressman Davis concerning his "yea" vote on the bankruptcy bill. Well, I did and he was not very happy about it. He stammered and stuttered and basically had no defense except to say that he knew it was an "incomplete" bill but something had to be done about the fraud and excess of those filing bankruptcy. I started telling him the facts that most of us know concerning the REAL numbers and he didn't want to hear it. Trouble was that I had him cornered (really in a corner of the room) and he couldn't get away until I had echoed the sentiments of all of you who wrote and called the show about that horrible bill. He couldn't leave until I had finished what we all had to say about him and his betrayal of the common man. He is running for Governor and will NOT have my support.

All in all it was a great night!

Guy

[patrice]

1. Thanks for standing up! re the Bankruptcy bill

Standing up is probably nothing new for you, but timing can be so important. Thanks again!

[scarletlib]

2. sounds like you had a great night!

[janx]

3. Say--I spoke to you on the phone on your show once,

though it was probably well over a year ago. Thanks for the opportunity to do so.

It was a fun conversation about freepers, the Rapture, and the fundamentalists' views of the Resident.

[eleny]

4. I'm happy for you

I'm delighted that you had your say and grabbed the opportunity to speak for us. Those people up there start breathing the rarified air and forget what's important to "ordinary" Americans. Go Guy!

[Catt03]

5. Thanks for the thread

Very hopeful...about Dean

[lojasmo]

6. Really a fantastic story.

Thanks, Guy.

[madfloridian]

7. Agree with you on both Dean and Davis....here is the video.

Jealous you were there, Guy. It sounded tremendous. I wish people who keep going after him would just listen to him or read his words.
Thanks. Be sure to watch the video as well. I am surprised the news site put up the whole video instead of a snip.

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/19/Worldandnation/Dean_goes_to_heart_of.shtml

I called Davis's aide, gave him the facts on the bankruptcy bill, to nowhere. They know. They don't care. I can't vote for him either.

[BeachBuckeye]

8. Where was the video on this page?

I couldn't find it.

[madfloridian]

9. Right side under caption of picture.

How did Scott Maddox do in his talk? One article I saw said he was almost as "vivacious" as Dean. Never heard it worded that way. :evilgrin:

[BeachBuckeye]

11. Scott was pretty good

He gives the same canned speeches over and over again but then, so do most of them. His was far better than Davis's. Davis has no chance whatsoever of gaining acceptance all over Florida.

[BeachBuckeye]

12. I must be getting stupid

I don't even SEE a picture on my screen after clicking on the link you gave.

[madfloridian]

13. Oh, oops, I put the St. Pete Times article. Hang on, will fix.

.

[madfloridian]

14. Here you go.

I had the two links together and got them mixed up.

http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_3710665,00.html

[flpoljunkie]

10. Good for You! He could not rationalize his vote cause it was wrong!

I will not be supporting him because of this vote. It is a betrayal of what our party should stand for, and a missed opportunity for Democrats to distinguish themselves from the Rethugs!

Davis ought to have better political instincts than to vote for this stinker of a bill.

[candy331]

15. I believe I read in the The Tallahassee Democrat that Maddox was

running for Governor of Florida, did he was it mentioned?

[BeachBuckeye]

16. He didn't mention it.....however

It was quite obvious from his speech that he will toss his hat into the ring. Davis would have NO chance against Scott.

[madfloridian]

17. He won't announce until he steps down as chair.

I am so irate with Jim Davis about the bankruptcy bill and pretending ignorance on it, and rather suspicious of Rod Smith's connections with the Florida Mainstream Democrats, that we most definitely prefer Maddox at this point.

[SW FL Dem]

18. I have proof Guy was there!

Guy did a great job getting the audience revved up!


Of course Dr. Dean did well too!

[madfloridian]

20. Hope you don't mind. I brightened them up to see two handsome men.

Not stealing,just a little brightening. Sort of grainy. Go Guy and Howard. I can never brighten anything much without it looking faded. We need to get a new digital camera, as hubby is sort of unofficial DFA/DEC picture taker. I can't get it adjusted not to be so dark.

That is an excellent backdrop, whoever did it should be commended.

[SW FL Dem]

21. No problem, I cut the quality to make it faster to load n/t

[madfloridian]

22. You did good.

I need to see if Guy's speech is at the link as well. They put up another link for speeches today.

[SW FL Dem]

24. The last time I checked they only had Scott Maddox and Jim Davis

in addition to the full text of Howard Dean's speech.

[Cha]

26. Nice! I can see those two a lot

better.

[Cha]

19. Thanks for the report, Guy!

We heard from another DUer who was there and was really impressed by our Chairman Dean, too.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1732477

I'm so glad he knows about your show..it really is an amazing progressive voice down there in Florida.

[SW FL Dem]

23. Thanks for the plug!

My posts usually sink like rocks!

[madfloridian]

25. Well, this one just couldn't. Great event.

:hi:

[stevedeshazer]

27. Guy, that is amazing. Thanks for all you do.

I listen when I can on the net and have talked to you a couple of times.

Keep up the great work.

Message to radio management: Pick up Guy's show!

And jeez, why won't AirAmerica or Jones or ClearChannel pick up Guy's show on the weekends instead of reruns?

[bklyncowgirl]

28. Thanks for that.

I listened to that speech and it inspired me to go back to that e-mail from Dean that I kept hanging around in my in box and made my very first donation to the DNC.

I'm not going to agree with every Democrat on every issue but I think that Dean has a handle on what Democrats need to do to stop the right wing juggernaut that threatens everything I believe in.

He's earned my support.

[BeachBuckeye]

30. He is totally committed

and has some GREAT ideas for the Party

[Califooyah Operative]

29. thanks. nt

[Dudley_DUright]

31. Thanks for the report and for your

strong words to Congressman Davis. Typical that he had not a clue about the facts of who is declaring bankruptcy before voting for this that travesty. Sounds like it was a great shindig!