Got a letter from Sen. Manchin today in response to my phone call, and it contained this explanation:
“I would like to make clear that my hesitation is not with the idea of repealing the policy itself, but with the timing of the repeal.”
It goes on, but that is the thrust of it. I still think that is a bullshit excuse, and people saying it will be difficult for the military to implement this policy just simply do not understand the military at all. If the brass orders the implementation of this policy, everyone below them will make it happen. It’s really that simple. Compared to all the other things these guys are forced to do on a moment’s notice, this is a nothing burger. It really is.
On the other hand, in all my years of calling and emailing Senators and Congresscritters, this is absolutely the first time I have ever been mailed a confirmation that my opinions were duly noted, so there is that. As good a use of the franking privilege as I can think of- letting people think you listened to them.
WarMunchkin
Should have just said he had gasteritis that day.
Brian S (formerly Incertus)
I got one of those from Bill Nelson once. It was worded pretty much the same way, even though I was (metaphorically) cursing him out on some other issue. I wonder if there’s a special template that Microsoft sells to politicians to make it easier to have them respond to non-corporation complaints?
As a side note, I have to give Bill Nelson props on the lame duck session. I’m fairly sure he was on the right side of every vote, and he was never one of the drama folks in the press the way he usually is.
shortstop
Seriously? Everything I’ve ever sent to Schakowsky, Durbin and Obama–and Fitzgerald and Moseley-Braun and Dixon before Obama–has gotten an answer. I didn’t realize that was out of the ordinary. I expect Kirk to ignore my ass, though.
Comrade Dread
I never gotten a reply from Feinstein or my Representative, but Sen. ‘Boxer’ did send a nice email reply thanking me for my letter.
Made me slightly more inclined to vote for her this year.
WyldPirate
Cole sez:
This is true, but there will quite likely be some “incidents” related to the implementation. I think that any incidents that may occur will have as a contributing cause alcohol and/or normal testosterone-fueled rage found in the military.
Integration of the services wasn’t “hitch-free” despite the orders from on high.
Lettuce
Yeah, I got a lot of responses from Herb Kohl… Not a single one from Russ Feingold.
Herb is still MY Senator, Russ is looking for work.
Elizabelle
Maybe this preventable debacle will inspire Manchin to be more courageous next opportunity.
He’s got something to live down, and may he do so.
shortstop
@Lettuce: Coincidence? I think not! Fuck with Lettuce at your peril, Senators!
Lettuce
I didn’t vote for Feingold for the first time.
Coincidence? I think not.
I voted for Ed Garvey.
Cat Lady
Barney Frank, in addition to his general awesomeness, has responded personally to a couple of my emails in long thoughtful paragraphs that explain exactly what his thinking his, within a couple of weeks of receiving my email. John Kerry took about 6 months for his staff to return a “thank you for your comments, have a nice day”. It’s that Senatorial clubby attitude whereby they may or may not deign to lower themselves to address your concerns. They’re all guilty of it, and Manchin just hasn’t been there long enough yet to bend you over.
cleek
i got a note from Liddy Dole telling me that Karl Rove was a good and patriotic American, in response to a note i sent encouraging her to condemn Rove’s remarks about how liberals were “rooting for the enemy” (or whatever his stupid phrase was at the time).
BeccaM
Bigotry masquerading as prudence. Seen it expressed in about a hundred different ways the last few weeks. But it’s still homophobic bigotry.
Jim C.
Smells like someone on Manchin’s staff finally woke up and realized just how bad he came off on this one.
He wasn’t going to get any credit with the right wingers of his state for abstaining, and is absolutely getting vilified on the left over this.
He honestly would have been way better off politically if he just showed up and cast a vote either way. If he votes against, then he run on how he was willing to listen to the constituents of his state, defy Obama and the liberal Democrats, and represent his state’s values. If he votes in favor, then he could run on being willing to take the hard stands even when the prevailing popular opinion in his state is against them.
But by just skipping out he came across as a complete wimp. By then tossing out the “sorry, had this party planned for months” line, he came across as both a wimp AND clueless. You’re a Senator of the United States. It’s your job to show up and cast votes, particularly on high profile items that people have opinions on. If that means missing a party then you miss the damn party.
Basically, his waffling ticked EVERYONE from BOTH sides off.
Lettuce
As long as Herb Kohl has been there, he’s had PLENTY of time to get into that “Senate” attitude. He never has.
But that a wrote to each of them about, several times, was the fact that I’ve had two stokes and I’m beyond benefits and I’m still waiting for Social Security to make a decision.
Nothing from Feingold, responses (in detail) to everything I sent to Herb Kohl.
Since I’m a Socailist, I voted for somebody I’ve had dealings with. Ed Garvey.
Suffern ACE
@Lettuce: Ed Garvey still runs for office?
MattF
He doesn’t hesitate at the idea of repealing the policy. WTF does that mean, exactly? How about the actual actuality of repealing the policy?
And don’t imagine that this incomprehensibility is just carelessness– staffers earn their salaries by composing sentences that appear to mean something, but, in fact, do not.
Comrade Jake
I don’t think Manchin’s a bigot. I just think he’s decided that he needs the bigot vote.
Either way, though, he’s a prick.
shortstop
@Jim C.:
Which is why the people claiming here that Manchin was brilliantly navigating the troubled waters of West Virginia politics were so in error. There were a couple of things Manchin could have done to waffle through this more gracefully. He did everything, but everything, wrong.
@Lettuce:
Agreed — same deal with Durbin and with Dixon (and, I should’ve added, with Simon). I won’t pretend that the Senate isn’t full of clubby entitleists, but there really are individual differences in how senators deal with constituent correspondence and calls. Some get it and some don’t.
WaterGirl
@shortstop: I love Durbin, and he always replies to everything I send him, but I sometimes find his replies annoying and have pretty much taken to not reading them at all. I think it’s because he doesn’t acknowledge my position on the issue I contacted him about and he doesn’t explicitly state or acknowledge whether our positions are in alignment or not. Am I too cynical?
Edited for clarity.
eemom
at this point I don’t think it matters what Munchkin says. I mean, srsly — starting off a Senate career hiding in the cloakroom during a historic vote? Poor Sen. Byrd must be turning in his grave.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
Just as a point of order, a having worked as an office page in the Senate around the time the Iran-Contra report came out:
Dude, unless things have changed drastically with the (e)mail/staff ratio, it is truly a shock you got a direct (if likely canned) response. I was the letter-opener page for a good chunk of time there, and spent my days in a corner office in the back, opening letters and sorting them by various categories. And there was a lot of mail, and I’m sure email has only made what was already a deluge into an epic flood. And although Staffs have grown, so have the ways — and the desires — for people to communicate to them.
Having been in that system, even decades ago, I don’t easily begrudge any Congressperson for not providing a response to my missive. It sucks, but short of giving them money to hire more staff, it’s what we’ve got.
Ailuridae
@Lettuce:
That’s because Herb is an absolute Mensch.
I have some pretty choice letters from my Congressman, Luis Gutierrez re: his horrible stance on payday lenders and currency exchanges. We agree on most everything else so it really has been just me hammering him on a single issue that shouldn’t matter to me (I’m not poor or a recognized minority) but does indeed matter to me in a social justice way. Luis? Well he “needs their money. Önce his office realized that
1) I wasn’t going to stop
2) That I had a sense of humor
the letters got pretty entertaining.
shortstop
@WaterGirl: No, you’re not too cynical. His responses are too general (although the ones I’ve gotten often do acknowledge my position) and always about four paragraphs too long. Still, he does respond, and pretty quickly.
WaterGirl
@WyldPirate: I’m sorry… but don’t you think there are “incidents” now?
Edit: And in what other situation does the army take into consideration how the soldiers will feel about something?
MattF
OT, but… “I did it due to a chemical imbalance, your Honor.”
alwhite
So what are you going to do about John? I have the same sort of problem here with Klobuchar, she never had a problem voting in favor of every Bush proposal, has been a weak partner to the democrats the last 2 years and only replies with the same sort of empty bullshit you got.
Yet she is a Dem, not much better than the empty suit, Dayton, she replaced (a less reliable vote but better at the ‘optics’). I guess we just have to STFU and be grateful it is not worse and hope when they die in 20 or 30 years we can get a better replacement.
WaterGirl
@shortstop: Completely agree that they are too long – maybe so long that I never make it to the part where he acknowledges my position. I would prefer short and sweet: I heard you, I agree/disagree, here’s how the action/vote came out and here’s what I plan to do in the future.
How shocking is it to now have a republican as our senator, after barack obama and dick durbin, and good people before them? (I am choosing to ignore our temporary “senator” from the past few months. What a clusterfuck that whole thing was!)
Redshift
@Brian S (formerly Incertus): That’s better than the ones I used to get from George Allen. I’d write him complaining in strong terms about some issue, and not (of course) expecting him to actually agree with me. I’d occasionally get a letter back saying “I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that…” he had advocated for the exact opposite of what I wanted.
FlipYrWhig
@alwhite: What Bush proposals was Klobuchar voting for, and on what issues has she been a weak partner under Obama? It surprises me to hear that. I see her on Rachel Maddow and find her to be smart and likeable, but I haven’t followed her voting record.
Dennis SGMM
My Senators are Feinstein and Boxer. It doesn’t matter what you write in an email, both have a setup that picks out the first keyword and shits out an automated response.
For instance, if I send Feinstein an email saying “I’m working as hard as I can for your recall,” the response will be “The recent recall of Toyota automobiles is deeply disturbing to me. You can rest assured that the safety of all Californians is my first concern.” My Rep is Dreier and I don’t bother emailing him because all he does is reply with a picture of himself.
Ailuridae
@alwhite:
That’s some pretty strong criticism of klobuchar. I realize she does that faux-centrist BS too often but she sure seems to be a reliable vote. What specifically are you referring to? You seem to be suggesting that she’s essentially a lot like Claire McCaskill. Am i reading you fairly?
Davebo
Like DADT? Or was it the brass themselves undermining that policy?
Ailuridae
@FlipYrWhig:
Yeah, this.
shortstop
@Dennis SGMM:
I know it’s not funny, but damn, that’s funny.
@WaterGirl:
Well, but remember that the guy right before Obama, Pete Fitzgerald, was a Republican…one that could never get through a primary today because he wasn’t batshit crazy.
I take some odd comfort in the fact that Kirk only got elected because he convinced people he’s a moderate. If he’d been full-out teabagging like Brady was, he’d have lost. Although the state GOP is a bunch of lunatics as it is pretty much everywhere now, openly insane wingers still do not make it through the general election for statewide office in Illinois. Yet.
Ruckus
I got regular emails from my congressperson until I disagreed with her about an issue.
Not a word since then. And not running for office right now either.
Nellcote
@WaterGirl:
Hasn’t Burris voted reliably with the Dems?
WyldPirate
@WaterGirl:
Of course there are “incidents”.
I’m not excusing any that occur. All that I am saying is that they may become a bit more frequent for a while.
You are living in a fairy tale world if you don’t think that a gay soldier who may not have to be as conscious about getting kicked out of the service might, in an alcohol-fueled moment, hit on the wrong person who is under the influence as well. I’m sure that it has happened before. It happens all the time in both the civilian and military arena with unwanted sexual advances.
Passing a law and giving an “order” isn’t going to make the prejudice go away. Neither is it going to make the alcohol and testosterone-fueled poor judgement go away.
ruemara
I nearly always hear back from Sens Boxer & Feinstein, usually after I chew out Fein for some craven autocratic profiteering, but also when I give them a kudos for the basic, outrageous act of voting like a decent democratic Senator. I spoke with a friend who works as a policy analyst in the State legislative body and he says faxes work the best. If you really want to be heard and responded to, fax.
Ailuridae
@Dennis SGMM:
For some reason that totally made my day
Josie
Don’t get to feeling too good about getting a reply. John Cornyn always replies in measured tones to my diatribes and has now added me to his snail mail and email list. I can’t get off them no matter what I say or do. Asshole.
Anonymous At Work
What’s that line about “Tomorrow, tomorrow…”? I don’t remember how it goes but frankly, I think Manchin’s efforts were BS during the lame duck session. We’re gonna see him, Pryor, Nelson (NE) and Liebermann form a mini-delay caucus of people putting off matters, via procedural votes, for tomorrow what 50+ Senators want to do today.
Sadly, and more importantly, that will include filibuster reform unless they can get 20-30 Republicans to join them.
lovable liberal
Odd that voters don’t hear back from Congress. I always hear back from my Congressman, Jim McGovern (D-MA-3), even when I send him something on line. Ted Kennedy was great about responding. Even John Kerry has sent letters.
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill
@lovable liberal: I know that in Teddy’s case, he had a HUGE staff+eager volunteers, with years of experience; there were even articles about them when he passed.
Bondo
Didnt his first statements on this have to do with the chaplains? Ever since them I’d pegged him as someone who wanted to expand the rights of religious nuts to prey on and harrass members of the military (forced attendance at religious meetings, superiors berating soldiers for their religious beliefs, etc) that we’ve seen lately from various officers and the air force academy.
DADT was just a stealth issue to force the religious changes.
edit: here’s a link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2637063/posts
asiangrrlMN
@alwhite: I disagree with you about Klobuchar. She’s been a reliable vote. She doesn’t posture against Democrats like the Blue Dogs do. This is Al Franken’s voting record from the same site. I compared their votes all the way through healthcare issues, and there was a handful of differences. That’s it. I’m satisfied with Klobuchar and happy with Franken.
WaterGirl
@shortstop: Pete Fitzgerald. Huh. That must have been during the years after the supreme court stole the election for Bush and I had to pretty much tune out of politics in order to save my sanity.
Lettuce
@ Suffern ACE:
No, but that’s a reason I voted FOR him.
@shortstop:
I personally liked Paul Simon and voted for him, and got a Christmas card from him until he died.
@Ailuridae:
One of the reasons I’ve got to pay more attention to Luis Guttierez, sounds like a decent guy. I love getting slightly off center letters. (And I am neither a minority nor poor, I’m an Irish guy.)
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