Behind the Scenes at Palin’s Tea Party Convention Banquet
By Fox Nation Senior Editor Jesse Watters
1,110 people filed into the Tennessee ballroom at The Grand Opryland Hotel here in Nashville for the National Tea Party convention banquet. They began the night with the first course, a caesar salad, then radio talk show host Phil Valentine (tonight’s MC) cracked a joke that Sarah Palin wasn’t going to make it tonight, drawing hearty laughter from the crowd.
After the Star-Spangled Banner, everyone was asked to hold hands in prayer: “The Tea Party Nation is going to stand strong with the state of Israel… despite what the president says, we are a Judeo-Christian nation…protect Sarah and her family almighty Lord…Amen.” The next course came out: filet mignon with shrimp, asparagus and mashed potatoes.
It was a “dry” night, with a BYOB option, and from the look of it, only a few tables tables had bottles. Sarah Palin entered during the main course and chatted with folks in a roped off VIP area that contained about 20 tables. She was seated with Tea Party nation founder Judson Phillips and his family. Phillips then took the stage, and in his regular guy way, thanked a list of staff, volunteers, the hotel, sponsors and his wife.The crowd erupted in applause after he claimed the convention “the hottest political event so far this year,” and as a special gift, Judson announced all of the women in the room were getting flowers. Red roses began to be distributed while the third course was served: a chocolate cake with strawberries. Judson punctuated his remarks with a rousing “We Going to Change America” riff, which brought the crowd to its feet.
Phil Valentine took over from there and zinged Gore, “Al has a bigger footprint than Sasquatch,” before introducing Andrew Breitbart, who has emerged as a folk hero and real leader within the movement. Breitbart decided to skip the stairs and just jumped right up on stage to a hearty applause. Before introducing singer John David, Breitbart gave an official Tea Party movement endorsement of Steve Bannon’s incredible film “Generation Zero” that “knocked people’s socks off” last night.
John David then took the stage – a 30-year-old musician with a plaid shirt and trucker hat – long hair and looks straight out of an MTV music video…sang his song, “American Heart,” a patriotic John Mellencanp-esque song that had women standing and waving American flags. Where the flags came from I’m not sure.
Breitbart came back, and after a leading a touching toast to Ronald Reagan’s 99th birthday, he caught fire…teasing the media, mocking the “death panel” controversy and introducing Sarah Palin. She received a standing ovation for just under a minute and the crowd was at the edge of their seats…
Stay Tuned for more updates throughout the Convention and watch Palin’s speech tonight streaming online and or LIVE on Fox News…