Yes, I heard about Pelosi. Keep calling your Reps. I want to know who won’t vote for the Senate bill and why. They need to know how many of us are losing our heads over this. Just do it. And keep emailing me what you’re hearing, or post it in the comments.
Archives for January 2010
Calling Your Rep, Reposted
By reader demand, here are some tips for reaching your Representative.
(1) Use a phone. Email has nigh on zero impact. Trust me on this. Letter mail gets read, but you don’t have time. Reach the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 .
(2) Remember, this person works for you. You pay his or her salary and you voted for them. You’re the boss here, or at least one of them, and it’s they who should worry about what you think of them.
(3) Identify your name and the town or neighborhood where you live. If you are not a constituent, save your phone bill and yell at the TV.
(4) State the issue. This is easy: pass the Senate bill or the party gets it. We can (and certainly will) fix the shortcomings later.
(5) How strongly do you feel? Don’t apologize about feeling passionate or pissed off. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
(6) What are you going to do about it? Again, squeaky wheel. Will you reward good behavior with money or volunteers? Support a primary challenger if you feel let down? Stay home in November? Do you belong to a group who listens to your opinion or feels the same way you do? This part will get their attention and get the message passed on. Do not forget it.
One last, important point. We want to track where Representatives are swinging on this and who is willing to commit. However your Rep’s intern responds about the Senate bill, please email me or post it in the comments. We are most interested to know who is voting yes, who will vote no, who will not commit and whether the abortion language is a problem with conservative Dems.
***Update***
Think that we can trust them to get this right? Once again, Josh Marshall.
According to Majority Leader Hoyer, at the House Dems caucus meeting this morning, the leadership presented no plan or options for moving forward to get reform passed.
This is urgent. Call your Rep today.
She Dropped The Bomb On Me
For some reason right wing sex scandals always have that extra je ne sais quoi that makes them so much more memorable. I have no idea why. They just do.
***Update***
Yes, it is clearly inaccurate to describe this case as a “sex scandal” when the guy is a rapist and a predator. Apologies.
SCOTUS Campaign Finance Ruling
The Supreme Court has opened the corporate money floodgates for the next election:
In a ruling that radically reshapes campaign-finance law, the Supreme Court has struck down a key provision of the McCain-Feingold measure that bars corporations and unions from pouring money into political ads.
I’m not sure how that will play out, but it sure will make it more difficult for a reformer to win any seat up against unparalleled corporate dollars. On the other hand, this may be a bigger threat to Democracy (via Jamison Foser):
The deep political sophistication of NBC’s static display of Beltway nepotism, Luke Russert.
I’m done with the internet for a while.
It’s All About Race, Part 80
I realize that there may be some of you who think that are issues other than race that are important in American politics. You are wrong, all major arguments in American politics revolve around race and ethnicity to some degree. Tom Edsdall on health care:
The harsh reality is many voters consider the health care bill a multibillion-dollar transfer of taxpayer money to the uninsured, a population disproportionately, although by no means exclusively, made up of the poor, African Americans, Latinos, single parents, and the long-term unemployed. Providing medical care to this population is an explicit goal of the legislation, and a worthy goal, but political suicide in the current environment.
As everyone knows, the United States is undergoing a profound demographic transformation. Non-Hispanic whites are likely to become a minority by the year 2042. This shift underlies the theory of a Democratic realignment: Pro-Democratic groups are growing while the pro-Republican white population is declining.
Edsall goes on to claim that this is why Obama shouldn’t have pursued health care reform. This makes no sense to me, since the legislation is popular with demographic groups that are growing in influence and unpopular with those that are declining in influence, as he himself asserts.
Not The Onion
The new softer, cuddlier Taliban:
The Taliban have embarked on a sophisticated information war, using modern media tools as well as some old-fashioned ones, to soften their image and win favor with local Afghans as they try to counter the Americans’ new campaign to win Afghan hearts and minds.
The Taliban’s spiritual leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, issued a lengthy directive late last spring outlining a new code of conduct for the Taliban. The dictates include bans on suicide bombings against civilians, burning down schools, or cutting off ears, lips and tongues.
We’ll know for sure they are serious about working on their image if they try to change their name to Xe.
Maybe He Did Get the Wake-Up Call
While Goldman is reporting record profits once again, Obama looks like he is siding with Volcker:
President Obama on Thursday will publicly propose giving bank regulators the power to limit the size of the nation’s largest banks and the scope of their risk-taking activities, an administration official said late Wednesday.
The president, for the first time, will throw his weight behind an approach long championed by Paul A. Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and an adviser to the Obama administration. The proposal will put limits on bank size and prohibit commercial banks from trading for their own accounts — known as proprietary trading.
The White House intends to work closely with the House and Senate to include these proposals in whatever bill dealing with financial regulation finally emerges from Congress.
I’ve been under the impression that all the reputable folks who I read about the Wall Street and financial crisis were upset that Volcker was being marginalized. If he is in fact siding with Volcker, then this is a good thing, no?