Congress Deluged With Telephone and E-Mail Traffic: add yours to the mix
Which, Mr. Obama asked the American people to weigh in on the debt ceiling increase debate, and it looks like they're taking his suggestion under serious consideration:
Congressional offices were deluged with feedback Tuesday after President Obama urged Americans to make their voices heard on the gridlocked debt ceiling debate.
Moments after dueling prime-time speeches by the president and Republican Speaker of the House John A. Boehner on Monday night, several congressional websites were overloaded with traffic. A day later, some were still slow to load, if they did at all.
On Tuesday morning, the Capitol call center said in a memo that House telephone circuits were "near capacity" due to the high volume of incoming calls.
A spokesman for the office of the chief administrative officer said that at the peak, House offices received a combined 40,000 calls in an hour — twice the typical volume. Some callers got a busy signal, but the number was not significant, spokesman Dan Weiser said.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) said the phones in his Capitol Hill office were "ringing off the hook" at midmorning. Calls included a lot of "scared seniors," the spokeswoman said, adding that Rohrabacher believes the administration has misled seniors into believing their Social Security checks are at risk.
The calls, mostly from outside the congressman's district, favored the president's position, "but not by much," she said.
It's good to see folks actually paying attention to, as well as participating in, this debate, and I would urge all our readers to do so as well. I realize that with plans changing on a daily basis, and ideas being alternately talked up and shot down on a variety of outlets, that the idea of calling the members of their Congressional delegation without a specific proposal to support may seem like so much unproductive complaining.
Which, your humble scribe has some advice and a few suggestions to offer regarding that. Don't ever be hesitant to contact your Senator, Congressman, or even the White House and simply voice your opinion on the issues of the day. Always remember the fundamental American principle of our founders; the right to govern comes from the consent of the governed. And although there are many, in my opinion, arrogant individuals who mistakenly contended during the Obamacare debate that this consent began and ended at the ballot-box alone, it is much closer to the truth to say that political speech is the most protected of first amendment "free-speech" rights; so never shrink from engaging in the time-honored American tradition of telling elected officials just exactly what is on your mind.
Although right now there may seem to be no conservative plan to get behind and demand your delegation vote for, you can certainly let them know what you don't want them to vote for. For instance, it is my considered opinion, as well as Paul Ryan and others smarter'n me, that Senator Reid's plan is rife with the usual Washington smoke and mirrors, and that it also proffers additional, real, defense cuts I believe would harm the effectiveness and readiness of our military. So one course of action could be to express your dissatisfaction with Reid's plan as a whole, or to make clear any of the specific parts you disagree with.
And even though members of your Congressional delegation can't necessarily do anything about it, you might also considering expressing your unhappiness with the Democrat's "Mediscare" tactic of frightening senior citizens via the class-warrior assertion that the GOP is wantonly holding their Social Security checks hostage in the interest of benefiting "Big Oil!", and, "Corporate Jet Owners!". There's also the matter of the administration's constant media drumbeat about the coming US default, at odds completely with what they are telling banking and finance executives via the back channel; a direct and boldfaced lie that you may wish to call out the most ETHICAL! and TRANSPARENT! administration, EVAR! on. In fact, these just might be good topics to voice your displeasure with directly to the White House . I mean, Mr. Obama's the one who asked everyone to contact DC, right?
You may be asking, "why should I bother to contact DC"? The reason is pretty straightforward, and as usual with the Obama administration is all about the optics.
Mr. Obama is attempting to use a technique that Mr. Reagan used effectively several times in the 1980s; having the American people directly pressure their Senators and Congressman. Since part of the narrative construct that is Barack Obama is that, somehow, he is more beloved and an even better communicator then Reagan ever was, there is going to be an urgent need for his solicitation of the public to succeed; to be the biggest and bestest ever(!11!1!eleventy!!). To that end one can expect that all the Fightin' Nutroots, Obamabots, and assorted electronic brownshirts will be out trying to "freep" the results; just as they did with every high-visibility poll and media event during the 2008 campaign. They're going to try to sway the opinion of both Congress and the public at large by making it appear as if all America is behind beloved President Obama...
That's why it's vital that each of us make our preferences, and feelings, known. Do like they do in Illinois; vote early, and often :)
Seriously, America needs her patriots to make their voices heard above the shrill professional left. I urge you to add yours to the chorus of others. Don't let the nutroots reward Obama's "Days of Whine and Poses".
Here's a list of Senate Contact information, of House of Representatives Contact information, and White House Contact information. Please, kind reader, make the call or send and e-mail.
[Cross posted at The Conservatory]
I Blame Lieberman
It looks like the temper tantrum from Daddy's Girl will continue with a write in campaign as promised. I don't think Murkowski is a "RINO," but she does appear to have a sense of entitlement, and I think that's worse. No one "deserves" a Senate seat by virtue of anything but winning an election.
Eugene Robinson wrote about what he called "spoiled brats" having a "temper tantrum." That's not what I see; I see the losing candidates (Murkowski and Castle) thowing their own tantrums. Those who have been lecturing the tea party activists to act like adults ought to take their own advice now.
Obamacare Senate vote “incentives”: benevolence or bribery
A Trio of Trifling Twits
Virtuous or vogorish? I'll let you make the call, but any fair assessment will have to wait until Lord Reid allows us plebeians, and his fellow Senators to, you know, actually see the bill being voted on.Â
Still, some of the details of the compromises payoffs are out there already, and Cap'n Ed features a list of them:
Recall the moments in 2008 when Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama campaigned on the platform of — must … control … gag … reflex — “Honest Leadership, Open Government� This picture should jog your memories, and your own gag reflexes, especially that sanctimonious pose by Reid. The trio have managed to make themselves either satirists of the highest order or influence peddlers of the lowest while struggling to pass the second item on their legislative agenda.
It seems to me that if ObamaCare really reformed the process, we wouldn’t need all of these exceptions to its rules. After all, it’s supposed to “bend the cost curve downward†for everyone. If it does that, then why does Hawaii need a DSH extension? Why does Connecticut need exemptions for its hospitals and a $100 million grant, if we’re leveling the playing field?
Â
Cap'n Ed makes a great point in that last paragraph. Make sure you read the entire piece to get an idea of the magnitude of coin dropped on select members of the most ethical party-EVAR!,  enough that it caused them to see Obamacare in a whole new light. I won't invoke the old joke about prostitutes and prices, but it seems that the Senators detailed have revealed how much their individual ethoses (ethoi, ethe?) are worth.
Â
Some though, like Tom Harkin, are more up-front about it. He didn't need a bribe, because the way he sees it he's part of a putsch that is creating a whole new category of rights in America:
Harkin dismissed deals dubbed vote-buying by GOP senators as "small stuff" that distracted Americans from the primary focus of the overhaul bill. "We have to keep our eyes on what we're trying to do here. We're trying to cross a demarcation line," Harkin told "Early Show" co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "On one side is health care as a privilege, on the other side is health care as a right. With these votes, with the vote that we'll take before Christmas, we will cross that line finally and say that health care is a right of all Americans."
Imagine if you can...Creating a whole new class of constitutional "rights",but without all of the messy business of actually amending the constitution. What progress! And all it took was a few bucks inserted in the correct vest pockets. At ACE's site Slublog points out Harkin's particular flavor of hypocrisy by quoting him chastizing Boooooooosh! in 2004:
"The President must stop gambling with taxpayers' money and get the country back on the path of fiscal sanity."
Â
I wonder what's changed since then. Oh, that's right, one of his guys is the President now. Now that's integrity my friends...
Â
But, it's Christmas after all and I should be more charitable, and less suspicious. So, I'll just characterize this instead as the cost to fall on their sword, so to speak, in the next election; because according to Quinnipiac and Rasmussen the majority of the public oppose this abomination of a bill-and oppose the public funding of abortion by a 3 to 1 ratio! In fact, according to Scotty Ras', just 34% believe that passing this bill would be better than doing NOTHING! The President and the congressional Democrats are counting on the public having a short memory at the polls next year, a phenomenon they generally count on. It's up to all of us to keep the presure on our Representatives and Senators, call them today and every day until the Obamacare vote is actually taken. Tell them to vote NO!; and if you want, remind them that your vote, ergo-their job, depends on how they vote on this bill. Help to bring OPERATION WATERLOO to a successful conclusion.
In any case, during the coming election season prior to the 2010 vote, you need to remind everyone you talk with to hold these people accountable. Remember all the grand promises they made, and how they violated them all to drag Obamacare across the finish line; that they traded all of their principles for a political victory. Those who feel that they have the latitude to impose what they feel is "best for us", as opposed to executing our will, must be treated like the unprincipled hacks that they are and fired-by rejecting them at the ballot box next year if they impose this legislation, that is opposed by the majority of the public, on to all. Remember their 2008 mantra, and make them pay for resorting to disingenuous sloganeering.
Ethics!, Leadership!,Judgement!,Transparency!
O!
(H/T Cap'n Ed)
The Devil wears…Bauer?
Â
A Trifecfta of Trifling Trickstering Twits (Click to enlarge)
Ol' Nick must be lacing 'em up right now, 'cuz there will surely be a lot of ice skating going on in hell tonight. Why? Because on this day I find myself to be in agreement with not only one, but two of the demi-gods of the nutroot left; Howard Dean and Keith Olbermann, and surely that must mean that Hell is freezing over! The Devil you say!?! No, that would be the guy who'll be leading the all skate...
What in Heavens the world would I be  in agreement with Messers Dean and Olbermann over?  Why, Obamacare of course. Sit a spell, while I explain this extraordinary confluence of opinions on what the Senate's course of action should be; after all, the Devil is in the details.
Last night during his Speshul KKKomment segment Keith Olbermann declared that he'd  go to jail before complying with any federal mandate to buy health insurance:
“We must not buy federally-mandated insurance, if this cheesy counterfeit of reform is all we can buy. No single payer, no sale. No public option, no sale. No Medicare buy-in, no sale. I am one of the self-insured, albeit by choice, and I hereby pledge that I will not buy this perversion of health-care reform.â€
I am one of the self-insured, albeit by choice. And I hereby pledge that I will not buy this perversion of health-care reform. Pass this at your peril, senators. And sign it at yours, Mr. President. I will not buy this insurance. Brand me a law-breaker if you choose. Fine me if you will. Jail me if you must.
Ooooooooh, how edgy and bad-boy of modern day Murrow; I'm sure that'll get him a load of chicks at the Daily KKKos KKKafe. After reading this quote, Cap'n Ed shrewdly observed:
What Olbermann says here is that while he’s self-insured by choice now, he doesn’t think that’s a choice other Americans should be able to make if the federal government offers a public plan along with the mandate. Does that make any sense at all? Would Olbermann dump his self-insurance, presumably taking advantage of HSAs and market-based competition for his health-care dollars, in favor of a Medicare buy-in or a public option? After all, Olbermann seems blessed with good health, and withholding himself from the risk pools could be arguably skewing costs upwards (infinitesimally) for other Americans. And if that seems like a silly argument, well, that’s the argument for insisting on a mandate in the first place.
[emphasis-ed.]
By itself, this far-left flagellant's declaration of opposition to Obamacare alone would be enough to schedule a 4 hour program of "So You Think You Can Ice Dance With Beelzebub", but the addition of MarKKKos and former Presidential candidate, darling of the fightin' nutroots, Howard Dean to the kvetching chorus is enough to buy at least another few episodes. From Dean's Washington Post op-ed:
If I were a senator, I would not vote for the current health-care bill. (...) In Washington, when major bills near final passage, an inside-the-Beltway mentality takes hold. Any bill becomes a victory. Clear thinking is thrown out the window for political calculus. In the heat of battle, decisions are being made that set an irreversible course for how future health reform is done. The result is legislation that has been crafted to get votes, not to reform health care.
Can you hear her singing? (Click to enlarge)
This is all just too good to check. But wait! There's more! Not only has this touched off a low level, but high intensity, war between the White House, "face" work provided by spokes-tool Robert Gibbs, and the "Dean" of the nutroots, but as ACE reports, it now comes complete with it's own "Dean is just bitter over Obama snubbing" meta-narrative. That's not all though, today on "Morning Joe" Josef Goebbles David Axelrod said that those on the left who wanted to kill this bill were "insane"; well at least he's got Dean pegged right. What a bargain! Better than Sham-Wow!
In spite of how sweet all of this schadenfreude tastes, don't forget about all of the tasty side dishes, one being the major labor union's absence at a major Obamacare rally and instead holding an "emergency meeting" to decide their position on the bill; a development AllahP likened to, "the Kiss army turning on Gene Simmons". Another would have to be both Howard Dean and the leader of the Congressional progressives, Lynn Woolsey,  vowing to not only oppose the bill but to also sit on their hands in 2010 and 2012!  I wonder if the legacy media will be as interested in the Democrats civil war as they were with the Republican "purity" tests? Don't. Make. Me. Laugh...
But I can't help it really. Don't these idiots remember recent history?  This is the analogue of the formula that killed the immigration amnesty bill in 2007; just enough of the far-left opposing the bill because "it didn't go far enough!1!1!!eleventy" joined with the Republicans to defeat the President's bill. And all of the Sanders/Olbermann/Dean/MarKKKos drama doesn't even take into account Ben Nelsons declaration this afternoon that the compromise language on Abortion didn't go far enough; a sure signal for other blue dogs, who are looking for guidance, that it will be safe for them to vote against Obamacare too. If Reid compromises further with conservatives in order to get the blue dog votes, he will certainly lose any of the far left that are willing to grit their teeth and vote for a bill with no public option in both the Senate and the house. Add to all of this the President's, and the health care bull's, deflating poll numbers, and with that it seems that the stalemate is set.
I never expected to be relying on guys like these as purely political allies. And I wonder if it's safe to think of them like members of Wellington's army, lying on the unseen far side of rolling terrain, waiting to spring a surprise attack on Obama L'empereur just when he thought he was winning the day. Whatever role they're playing is unimportant really, as long as they're playing on our side; and adding their sway in the effort to see OPERATION WATERLOO through to it's successful conclusion.
So stay strong, remember to do your part to make your voice heard and fan this firestorm. Call your representatives and tell them to vote NO! on this bill; if they're liberal tell them it's due to the lack of public option, if they're conservative tell them you oppose it's lack of free market mechanisms. In either case, tell them that should they vote for this abomination, not only will you not vote for them in the next election, but will actively and tirelessly work to oppose their re-election.
Although we now have a few of the big guns of the far-left joining the call to kill this bill, only you can ensure that OPERATION WATERLOO is a success through your continued pressure on the politicians. Stay strong, and stay vigilant, stay vocal, stay committed, and stay active because they may be trying to sneak a vote through on Christmas Eve!
Follow Dan!
All the Kool Kidz are doing it...
Creature Commentariat
- A War Against Us All [Updated Below] « The Camp Of The Saints on The Paternalism of the Elite Left
- On “Marry Bacon” and other SB XXX Ads « The Daily Mush on Teh Gays and Teh Fashion of Starvation
- ultrabook notebook tipis harga murah terbaik samsung series 9 on Where in the world is Tony Rezko? Where’s the Chicago Tribune?
- Enoch_Root on Principled Politics vs the Politics of Self
- Guaman on Principled Politics vs the Politics of Self
Categories
Recent Grist
Feed the Kraken.
Sponsors
Blogroll
- A Voice from the Closet
- Ace of Spades HQ
- adeliemanchot
- American Power
- American Thinker
- Anchoress
- AnthropoCon
- Baby Troll Blog
- Backyard Conservative
- Bad Science
- Baldilocks
- Big Feed, The
- Big Government
- Big Hollywood
- Big Journalism
- Bit Maelstrom
- Blackfive
- Blog Prof
- Blogshevik, The
- Bob Belvedere
- Bookworm Room
- Brussels Journal
- Catawissa Gazetteer
- Chap-O-Matic
- Chris Wysocki
- Christopher Taylor
- Classic Liberal, The
- Coach Is Right
- Coalition of the Swilling
- Conservatives4Pailin.com
- Coordinated Illumination
- Corner at NRO
- Cranky Conservative
- Cynthia Yockey
- Da Techguy
- Daily Caller, The
- Daily Mush, The
- David Thompson
- DC Trawler, The
- Don Surber
- Doug Ross @ Journal
- Dustbury
- Emerging Corruption
- Eye of Polyphemus
- Fausta's Blog
- Feed Your ADHD
- From the Right Lane
- Front Page Mag
- Gateway Pundit
- Goldfish and Clowns
- Grand Rants
- HAEMET
- Heartland Murmurs
- Hot Air
- I Own the World
- I Wish I Was a Geordie
- IMAO
- Iowahawk
- Is This Blog On?
- James Gunn
- James Joyner
- Jammie Wearing Fool
- Javelina Bomb
- Jawa Report
- Jennifer Townsend Photography
- Jimmie Bise
- Johanna Hopes
- John Hawks Weblog
- Jookoos News
- Just Russ
- Kathleen McKinley (Rightwingsparkle)
- Kill Truck
- King Shamus
- Knifework
- Lead and Gold
- Legal Insurrection
- Liberty at Stake
- Liberty At Stake
- Lightning News, The
- Little Miss Attila
- Luminarium
- Maggie's Farm
- Man Pants (Ninnuh's blog)
- Mark Steyn
- Medary
- Meepbobeep's Journal
- Melanie Phillips
- memeorandum
- Mi Vida Loca
- Michael Yon
- Michelle Malkin
- Midnight Blue
- Mike Hendrix & Co.
- Mike in New Hampshire [RIP. Never forgotten]
- Mind Numbed Robot
- Miserable Donuts
- Moxie
- MsUnderestimated
- My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
- Naked Empress
- Natural Born Conservative
- Neo-neocon
- Newsbusters.org – Exposing Liberal Media Bias
- Nice Deb
- No Sheeples Here
- Oatmeal, The
- Obi's Sister
- Old Grouch
- Once Upon a Time in the Webs
- Opera Rat: The Blog
- Paco Enterprises
- Pal 2 Pal
- Paragraph Farmer, The
- Patterico's Pontifications
- Phelony Jones
- Pixie Place II
- POH Diaries, The
- Pool Bar, The
- Potluck
- Power Line
- Public Secrets
- Pundit & Pundette
- pw
- Q and O
- Question Obama
- Radical Middle
- Redstate – Conservative News and Community
- Renner's Here
- Rhetorican
- Rhymes with Right
- Ric's Rulez
- Richard Fernandez
- RightNetwork
- Ruby Slippers
- Salty Droid
- Sanity Inspector, The
- Scott Effin' Burgess
- Serr8d's Cutting Edge
- Seven Deadly Sins
- Sissy Willis
- Six Meat Buffet
- Snark. And Boobs.
- Sono Annoiato
- South Texian
- Stop the ACLU
- Sultan Knish
- Supply Side Politics 2.0
- That Mr. G Guy's Blog
- That's Right
- The B-Cast
- The Blago Files
- The College Politico
- The Conservatory
- The H2 – New Location, Same Retardation
- The Hayride
- The Other McCain and Smitty
- The Rude News
- The Trogolopundit
- Theo Spark
- Three Beers Later
- Tigerhawk
- Tim Blair
- Trevor Loudon
- Unreligious Right, The
- Useful Info Nation
- Useful Info Nation Blog
- Vally of the Shadow
- Vanderleun
- Verum Serum
- Victor Davis Hanson
- Vodkapundit
- Walking on Eggshells
- Washington Examiner
- Watts Up with That?
- Weasel Zippers
- Yid with Lid