Coffee, Tea and Me

This last Thursday was another busy day on the political front but entirely filling for mind and body.

I was able to fill myself up with coffee and waffles and then a big batch of home brewed Tea. Not all at once mind you.



Our 80th meeting of Carmen's was well attended and Bill Huizenga showed up. He is a candidate for the 2nd Congressional Seat. (Formerly known as Pete's seat but now coyly referred to as “the People’s Seat” lol). I was late to Carmen’s and from what conversation I did hear, I missed a lot.

The Snarks in other words were flying, as fellow blogger Jim Riley jokingly told Bill, “This is a tough room”. A lively discussion was had also about the 2nd District Republican meeting that was Wednesday night. Susie our County vice Chair went to it and told us about it. I missed it as I was at the Holland/Zeeland Tea Party Candidate Forum. I wish I could have attended as that discussion was about the Tea Party phenomenon. Well like I said it was lively, everyone had some ideas on that one.

The rest of the day was spent going out to Ken Punter’s home to pick up the Projector and lap top that Ken and Kay were loaning me for my planned Power Point presentation on Precinct Delegates I was going to give that night in Manistee. I was really starting to get some pre-game jitters. This was all new to me and I had to learn it all on the wing. I had never even opened a power point before let alone put one together. On top of that I had never talked in front of a crowd before. I actually typed out an entire script of what I was going to say.

Without the help of friends I would not have been able to get it ready on time. Susie Hughes (the master of power point) helped me by phone over a couple of the hurdles on building the presentation. Like I said Ken and Kay Punter provided the tools and the knowledge to allow me to get “teched up” with my presentation. Jim Riley helped me put the files from my computer into a memory stick to put in Ken’s laptop. Above all Jim gave me some moral support on top of a ride up to Manistee and then he acted as my tech guy changing the slides as I talked. The really was nice as I had enough to do just talking. I think I owe Jim a Free Carmen’s Breakfast next Thurs.



Jim and I got there early and as we waited I looked at a big empty hall. Did I mention Jitters? I had time and as I watched Tom and Ilene marshalling their volunteers it was obvious they were the prime movers behind the formation of the Manistee Tea Party which had their first meeting last month. They may be too modest to say so, but we all know that behind every group there are 1-4 visionaries who are just flat out workers, Tom and Ilene are definately two of the ones behind the Manistee Tea Party. Their first meeting by the way had 130 people.

This time they got a bigger hall. They had three tables set up with literature on them about the Tea Party of West Michigan and the Independence Caucus plus flyers for candidates. I had brought a box of Capital Confidential (the Mackinaw Center Think Tank monthly newspaper) and we put them out.

A couple of guys from Hoekstra’s team were there getting signatures from the people as well as a representative for Bill Cooper. Ray Franz the candidate for the 101st state House seat was there. I have seen him at a lot of Tea Party functions. Ray by the way during the introductions of guests received the biggest round of applause. Sherry Wilde the Manistee County Chair was there also.

Rod Merrill another real organizer and go getter for the Tea Party was there doing lots of jobs one of which was manning the Tea Party of West Michigan’s table which had lots of literature as well as selling their T shirts. He also is the one who took these pictures. Thanks Rod. As always it was a pleasure to see Tina Dupont a co-founder of the Tea Party of West Michigan. Talk about a sharp lady.

One thing I found nice was that there were 6 tables set up with a legal pad and a stand up sign on each denoting a specific activity the Manistee TP had hoped to get started. These were volunteer sign up tables. I noticed too that they had a single flyer entitled “What Can I Do”. That flyer had a lot of things for people to talk about and volunteer for. It also was set up through the election. Looks like the Manistee Tea Party is off and running.




Tom started the proceedings with a nice talk about the group and what it plans to do. Then a recap of the current batch of troubles on the national scene. Tom also recognized the politicians in the crowd along with Sherry Wilde the Manistee County Chair. Then introduced me.

This was bigger hall than before and that was a good thing, the reports on the number of people attending was varied – from 100 – 150. It was a good crowd. My talk did not embarrass myself or the people that invited me. Being my first presentation in public that was my main goal. lol. The tech stuff worked and I adlibbed some to shorten up the presentation from 40 to about 25 minutes so I could have a question and answer at the end for about 20 minutes more.




I saw people taking notes and there were several questions at the end. Also several people thanked me. It is hard to judge oneself so I won’t lol. I did enjoy it and learned a lot. Adlibbing to the crowd was the best part.

I learned alot doing this first one and am already thinking of changes. I do hope to give this PD Workshop to other groups, Republican and or Tea Party. I will change it’s content as necessary. I would also like to get into voter egistration. I just don’t know who or what help I should go after. As with my blog this is still all about “Bottom Up Politics”. From the Bottom Up is where real change - lasting change can occur.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative