Former Minerva Village Councilman and Deputy Mayor Phil Davison (“America’s Councilman“) appeared on the July 25 broadcast of the ABC newsmagazine 20/20. A segment documenting political candidates who “lose their cool” while campaigning featured Davison among others, including Illinois State Representative Mike Bost, former Congressman Anthony Weiner (“Carlos Danger“), and former Vermont governor Howard Dean. Video of the segment can be viewed in full here.
20/20 correspondent Nick Watt presents the six and a half minute spot, which begins with Bost, who as a state representative on the floor of the Illinois House in 2012 ranted and raved about not being given enough time to read a bill before a vote. He is shown throwing around papers, presumably the bill, and punching them as they fall in midair. It is mentioned later that Bost is currently running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Illinois as a Republican. The National Journal predicts Bost will give Democratic incumbent William Enyart “a run for his money,” but Real Clear Politics still lists the seat as leaning Democratic.
Thereafter, the segment turns to Weiner’s argument with a man in a New York City bakery. This occurred while Weiner’s mayoral campaign was unraveling in 2013 after new revelations of his “sexting” habit came to light. The confrontation here is more personal than political. However, more appropriately, the story includes a snippet of Weiner shouting “I will NOT yield!” during a Congressional floor speech in 2010 about the GOP’s opposition to a bill providing for medical care to 9/11 emergency workers.
Davison appears after footage is shown of the “Dean scream,” the infamous high pitched “YEAH!” from Howard Dean that preceded his fall from front-runner status for the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nomination.
“When Howard Dean gave that speech I’m like, ‘Hey Amen, Howard Dean’,” says Davison in an interview with Watt, “because you know what he was? He was authentic.”
Transitioning to Davison’s fiery 2010 speech, a brief excerpt of it is shown. Davison then reveals to Watt, “when I was practicing the speech, the dog would start to run away from me. I should have known at that point something might go drastically wrong.”
As Watt and Davison are shown outside the building where Davison would have worked had he been elected in 2010, Watt notes that because of it all, Davison was able to star in a 2013 Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial. However, the commercial was only a teaser and was not shown during the game.
Watt concludes the piece by arguing that the raw emotion Davison and others display is “actually the kind of dedication and passion I want in a politician.”
That is a stance Saturn’s Repository has espoused since its founding.