Last night Obama asked us all to contact our Representatives and tell them to do the right thing for America. I could not have said it better myself.
Have a Republican congresscritter? Call him and tell him to pull his head out of his ass. Or her ass as the case may be. Democrats could use some support as well, of course, but at this moment in time Republicans need your input more than anyone else. Their staff genuinely may not know that you exist.
As always, use a phone. Email has the same impact as yelling at clouds.
Find your Congresscritter here.
Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Guide for first-timers here.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
What a great idea, I’ll just call up Paul Broun…spit.
Halcyan
According to someone, and of course I can’t remember who, but for some reason I found it entirely credible, the biggest impact is from a fax. Hand written.
woody
However, historically the summative impact of all such pleadings is, to use the Arabic word for it, “ZERO!”
LarsThorwald
My Congressman is Andy Harris (R-MD1), he of why-do-I-have-to-wait-30-days-for-my-healthcare fame. No one has a higher opinion of Andy Harris than me, and I think he is an unmitigated douchecrust.
He will not listen to my pleas, no matter how many pieces of handwritten correspondence I send him.
He and his ilk are entirely and utterly insane. They do not accept facts. They do not acept reason. They do not accept truth.
They want a second civil war. They want to watch it all burn.
What the fuck makes you think he’s going to accept my letter?
kay
I looked last night and both my GOP House member and GOP Senator sites were “busy” for at least an hour, which is when I gave up looking.
Latta (House) and Portman (Senate).
I will call them.
Linda Featheringill
@Halcyan:
Hand written fax.
That sounds reasonable. Like a letter but it will get there quicker. I understand that handwritten letters are the very best but it sometimes takes a while to get to the desired destinations due to delays for security reasons, etc.
If you don’t have a fax machine, try office supply stores and/or UPS stores. It used to cost a couple of bucks altogether, maybe a little more now. Well worth it.
I like the handwritten idea. :-)
Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill
@Halcyan: Yes, faxes and letters have more impact.
We also have VERY few days until this all comes a cropper. If you don’t have access to a fax, a phone call “beats” an email, and both beat not doing anything at all.
There’s a bunch of people who want to insist that doing nothing is A-OK. Although it’s you’re right, consider — the same energy can be used to tell a bunch of folks here their actions are useless…or to pick up the damned phone and have your voice heard where it counts.
Linda Featheringill
@LarsThorwald:
I suspect total volume of communications from his district might have an impact. Your congresscritter might be a total idiot but it’s worth a try.
Kristine
My critter’s Joe Walsh. I doubt any type of communication will do any good.
Senators are Durbin and Kirk. I wonder if Kirk will listen to reason…?
Boudica
You can probably access a fax machine at your local library ([email protected]).
WereBear
@Kristine: Urgh. That Joe Walsh.
We lost a good man, Murphy, and got the waste-of-plasma that is Gibson, upstate NY. But Mr WereBear has already sent a fax on our behalf.
We can never assume that our efforts do not make an impact. Drops of water on a stone it may be; but that does wear away stones.
Doing nothing always gets you the same.
Linda Featheringill
@Boudica:
:-)
Yevgraf
I’ve got Geoff Davis, teatard from the unwieldy and incredibly gerrymandered 4th KY district, stretching from Ashland to the southern burbs of Cincinnati to the burbs of Louisville; his election is decided in the Cincinnati burbs. When we say “unwieldy”, understand that we’re talking a 3.5 hour drive from one end of the district to the other in more or less a straight line, with loads of disenfranchised democrats
I’ll get nowhere with him, less than nowhere with Rand Paul, and will get a hysterical and flirty giggle from McConnell.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Yevgraf
Is Louisa in that district?
kay
Congressman Latta’s office rang and rang, then I got his voicemail, which is full.
So I’ll send a fax.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Correct. The last I heard (via a Gubbermint Drone) a letter will take AT LEAST three weeks to get to its destination because it must be first sent to a special post office where it is inspected, irradiated and beaten with a stick.
The GD did say post cards MAY be quicker. However, they don’t get processed as quickly as an envelope.
Lee
I live in Texas.
Not much point in calling any of them.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
And don’t forget your rep’s local office[s] also too.
jayackroyd
And what, exactly, do we say? What’s the clear message for our elected officials the President would like us to deliver?
jayackroyd
@Halcyan
Handwritten proves it’s not astroturf, and that the constituent actually took the time to compose the missive.
Fax gets around the anti-anthrax security measures applied to snail mail.
dedc79
Just called Eric Cantor’s office, just for the hell of it. His voicemail is full. shocking
kay
Right. Except Latta’s website is still down, so no local numbers. I don’t think they want hear from us. It’s been down since last night, as far as I can tell.
R-Jud
@ Kristine:
I think the focus should be House members rather than Senators today. They’re the ones causing this mess.
I guess you could ring Kirk’s office and say “Please vote for Harry Reid’s plan, which sort of sucks, but will at least preserve our AAA rating, which means less of a catastrophe for my interest rates.”
I might do that anyway, because my rep is Jan Schakowsky (D). I suppose I could call and give her people warm fuzzies.
Linda Featheringill
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen:
Excellent point. It bears repeating, which I just did.
Nemesis
Speaking of the frustrations of trying to communicate with a bagger, did anyone see L’OD dismember Marsha Blackburn last night?
He got after it. Called her a liar.
She was the perfect bagger interview. She stated she wasnt there to be interviewed and she just kept droning on not really even touching on talking points. L’OD called it “running out the clock” which is quite appropriate.
kay
I told him to offer a tax increase, now, today, and quit screwing around. I also told him we have two employees, we survived the last crash they caused, are still in business (miraculously) with those same two employees, and I’m not looking forward to trying to survive the second crash they cause.
Yours will be different :)
It’s cathartic, if nothing else.
Linda Featheringill
@jayackroyd:
1. The current deadlock will harm the country. And it will harm you, the constituent.
2. We do need to address the debt but the most effective way would be to both control spending and increase revenue.
3. Big business and rich people probably make big donations to campaign funds but they don’t donate to you and you are not beholden to them. You vote and your vote counts just as much as the rich guy’s vote.
4. Raise the debt limit. Vote for savings and increased revenue.
5. The current bill probably won’t be perfect. Vote for it anyway. Corrections can be made as we go along.
6. And did you mention that you vote?
Triassic Sands
That may be true of one email message. I doubt it would be true for say 200,000 messages. If servers begin to crash, people will start to pay attention.
That said, calling is probably better in the absence of overwhelming numbers. Apparently, snail mail is greatly delayed by safety restrictions, so a regular letter is probably worthless if time is an issue.
A handwritten fax is the new equivalent of the old written letter and is worth considering. Many people, without knowing it, may have software installed on their computers that will allow them to send a fax.
@Woodrow/asim Jarvis Hill:
There is a regular crew at BJ that routinely counsels that nothing should be done until the action in question is already complete. Therefore, the time to “panic,” i.e., act, about a US default is after it happens. By this reasoning, on August 5 or 6 BJ commenters should flood their representatives’ offices with phone calls and faxes. (In fact, this is usually just a way to avoid criticizing the president, but it becomes a call to inaction.)
lacp
I’m sure Pat Toomey is standing by the phone, eagerly awaiting my call.
kay
Just so you know, I now get a busy signal at the switchboard, which is good, I think.
Punchy
I’m quite certain it goes like this:
Vegas Republican: Reid, get your shit together and pass Boner’s bill!
Reid: (click)
Tahoe Dem: Reid, get your shit together and protect Medicare
Reid: Done and done. And when I say “done”, it doesn’t mean done.
This country is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too fucking polarized for any “compromise” to happen.
Woodrow L. Goode, IV
I genuinely don’t see that contacting your member of congress will do any good. Let me put on my realpolitik hat for a moment:
If I’m a wingnut congressman, I wouldn’t even consider compromising (or, more precisely, accepting the terms of surrender).
1. I’d be wondering what else I could get if I sat for another day or two.
2. I know Obama has a way to end this– invoke the 14th Amendment. Since I’m pretty sure he won’t let the U.S. go over the debt limit, my not taking a deal pushes him to pursue that path. After he does, I can impeach him for overstepping his constitutional bounds.
As a bonus, I can expect to have the media making the case for impeachment. Every story will say “No U.S. president has ever asserted his consitutional authority to ignore the debt limit– including Barack Obama. In fact, Obama recently said that this theory isn’t constitutionally valid– and he used to teach constitutional law.”
And in this example I’m a wingnut who’s conventional enough to agree that we need to raise the debt ceiling. A lot of them don’t– either because they don’t understand the consequences or believe in exceptionalism to the point where they imagine the U.S. can make up its own rules.
One guy in my area– not my rep, but two districts over– is privately telling people that we can go over without consequences, on the grounds that the U.S. is “Too Big to Fail.”
Which makes Macchiavelli seem like Mr. Rogers and really illustrates the notion “It’s a fine line between clever and stupid.”
Linda Featheringill
@Punchy:
You’re probably right. Call anyway. It will make you a more noble person. :-)
El Cid
We need to spend time aiding a really needy group, one suffering under an astounding tax burden.
Linda Featheringill
I had a thought:
Call AND fax. The offices will be busy and they won’t cross check names.
Vote early and vote often.
DZ
I Have two center-left Democratic Senators, Wyden and Merkley and a quite liberal Democratic representative, Earl Blumenauer, but I faxed them anyway first thing this morning.
Punchy
@ Linda:
My prob is that I dont cotton well to wanton bullshit. I’m highly unlikely to suppress the f-bombs and STFUs while listening to my Rep’s aide tell me why teabagging is so much fun and enjoyable. Ergo, my reluctance on behalf of my blood pressure and sanity to call and engage with such dumbfuckery at such an early time in this fine morning.
Dave
I’m calling my congressman to ask that all assets over $300k be seized for redistribution.
TooManyJens
Jesus Christ, no wonder the Teabaggers are kicking our asses. Do you really think the ones in D districts sit around whining “he won’t listen to me, so I might as well do nothing.”? Is it that hard to pick up a phone? If you have a phobia, send a fax or even a damn email. It takes the same amount of time that pissing and moaning here does. I’m sure the Republicans would love to see liberals voluntarily taking themselves out of the game.
evap
I am proud to be represented by John Lewis. I called and it’s not clear if he will support the Senate bill, but I suspect if it makes it to the House he will.
rickstersherpa
I knew we would be having a series of these crisises this year and next as soon as the Republican control of the House was confirmed last November. It is not irrational or crazy when grifters pursue their goals, even if the commonwealth itself is irrevocably damaged. And since the drivers of this circus the last 3 years, Fox and the right-wing noise machine, thrive on these crises, Boehner’s plan perfectly suits their interests. It will mean something like the Clinton impeachment saga for them in terms of ratings and revenues. Limbaugh’s fortune has grown ever larger, and he has been joined by the like of Erickson, Norquist, and Beck in multi-millionaire right-wing grifters club. Further, Limbaugh made it plain in January 2009 that the prime objective was to make Obama and the United States fail over the Obama Presidency. And because Obama’s neo-liberalism has always required a cooperation with the Republicans to have any success, he has made himself a hostage to his worst enemies, especially since so much of his agenda involves shifting spending from the “old to the young” and so that means the reduction of social security and medicare. And people wonder why older voters shifted from Democrats to the Republicans from 2008 to 2010?
TooManyJens
Triassic Sands:
I think you’re confused. I see a lot of “don’t panic over every bit of unsourced WaPo gossip because most of it’s bullshit,” and none of what you’re claiming.
Halcyan
There are those of us in blue states and districts, that think – I don’t really need to tell my congresscritters. They are already on the President’s side. There are those of us in red states and districts that think – what good will it do? They are not going to listen to me, or to reason for that matter.
Numbers count. A huge wave of people inundating congress with the message, “stop this fucking around and raise the ceiling” is going to make an impact.
This is not, or doesn’t have to be a crisis.
dpcap
My congresscritter is a Demoncrat. So there ain’t much I can do, I know he’s already tryin’.
Han's Big Snark Solo
I just called Lloyd Doggett’s office (Austin, TX 25). The guy answering the phones said it depended on what legislation hit the floor, but that Rep. Doggett is pro-reasonableness.
I’ll give Doggett the benefit of the doubt. Generally, I think he is a decent man.
Linda Featheringill
@dpcap:
A message of encouragement and appreciation would probably be very welcome.
DZ
@Dave #38:
Ah, dictatorship of the proletariat.
Halcyan
@Linda
Excellent point. It’s a numbers game at this point. They are just ticking columns, for and against. In fact, we can fax other people’s representatives (cough – Walsh – cough), because they are swampted right now.
It’s a numbers game.
kay
Congressman Latta’s server is still too busy. I’m enjoying that way too much.
I figure people will get wildly frustrated trying to contact him, so when they finally get a real person they’ll rip right into them. Latta is sort of a weenie backbencher who inherited his dad’s seat, and looks bewildered and frightened by the Tea Party.
He didn’t sign up for mano a mano.
liberal
Tim F. wrote,
OK, but the speech itself sucked. Obama clearly can’t do outrage. What a pathetic leader.
Percysowner
My congressperson is Betty Sutton progressive and reliable Democrat. After this is all over, I will send her a thank you note for all the good work she has done and (hopefully) will keep doing. Sadly, she is one of the districts on the chopping block, it will probably merge with Dennis Kucinich’s district. On the good side, this had made Dennis decide that Washington State looks friendly, so she probably will win the part support.
That aside, I’m holding my fire for Rob Portman when and if this thing hits the Senate he will be getting lots of phone time from me. I’m not too worried about Sherrod Brown, he won’t like the austerity part but he really is one of the good guys.
kay
Tim, it’s working. They’re not picking up the phone at the switchboard. Rings and rings.
MAC
I’ve called the local office of my congressman, Renacci, a few times in the past couple weeks. And I despise talking on the phone to people I don’t know.
The first time I called I asked about his views on the debt ceiling and the intern told me that he did know that the debt ceiling had to be raised. (As opposed to the people who thought not raising it would be fine.) So I have a bit of hope that he’ll be reasonable and compromise.
Today when I called I thanked the person who answered the phone. I’m pissed off, but they’ve always been pleasant to me and today will probably suck for them.
MazeDancer
@Linda Featheringill:
The President set up three important points last night:
1) Something has to be done.
2) “Balance” and everyone paying a fair share is the way to go, like Regan said.
3) We don’t want this crisis stuff again soon
And this is true:
@Halcyan:
Thus, the President has set the stage for: If the GOP try to make this another “three ring circus” next year, they’re going to hurt themselves, not Mr. Obama. Americans don’t want this mess.
And the overlords don’t want it. Even Chuck Todd just asked John Thune: “Do you really want to do this again in nine months.” Clearly GE doesn’t.
No matter what your Representative’s persuasion contact them.
Let them know people are listening to the President. Play the long game. The President is.
jwb
TooManyJens: This. A thousand times this!
Tone In DC
TooManyJens – July 26, 2011 | 9:03 am · Link
Jesus Christ, no wonder the Teabaggers are kicking our asses. Do you really think the ones in D districts sit around whining “he won’t listen to me, so I might as well do nothing.”? Is it that hard to pick up a phone? If you have a phobia, send a fax or even a damn email. It takes the same amount of time that pissing and moaning here does. I’m sure the Republicans would love to see liberals voluntarily taking themselves out of the game.
____________________________________________
What she said.
shortstop
Kristine:
Kirk’s the only one of mine I’m bothering with. Durbin and Schakowsky are on board and teabagging, as Kirk well knows, does not fly statewide in Illinois (deadbeat Walsh and some other individual reps notwithstanding).
Since I am fortunate to have an awesome congresswoman, sometimes I direct my efforts to sharing my insights with other people’s representatives. I don’t actually lie and say I live in the district, but some vague implications may be made.
WereBear
Look at this face.
And tell me he’s got a clue.
jwb
liberal: Last night was not the time for outrage. Still, I didn’t really see the point of giving that speech at that time. What we’re doing here today was really the only aspect of substance in it—and even this seems a bit late in the game to do much good. I hope to be proved wrong about that, however. I do wonder if the White House didn’t have different plans earlier in the day when they announced the speech and then changed tactics. It’s been known to happen. In any case, it was curious.
arguingwithsignposts
@kay:
Directory assistance should have those numbers.
Mark B
Fucking irresponsible Republican congress. They already voted to spend the money, now they’re trying to get credit from their base by refusing to pay the bill when it comes due. Fucking losers. If they had a legitimate commitment to spending less, they wouldn’t be doing it at this stage of the process.
shortstop
kay:
419.354.8700.
While sites are down, y’all can find your critters’ local office numbers by doing a business # search on yellowpages.com: Enter the rep’s last name and the town where the local office is, if you know it. If you don’t know it, try looking at the cached version of the critter’s site (that’s how I got Bowling Green for kay’s rep).
OzoneR
This is snark, right? Cause I can’t even tell anymore.
arguingwithsignposts
@jwb:
Given that Congress has pretty much resigned itself to not doing anything until it absolutely has to, I don’t see how calling Congresscritters three months ago would have done a lot of good, especially with the teabagging house members.
KXB
I just sent the following fax to Robert Dold (R) of Illinois’s 10th District:
Congressman Robert Dold
212 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: (202) 225-0837
“Dear Congressman Dold:
This morning, I had the chance to catch your interview on WFLD-TV. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to see that you repeated the tired talking points that were handed to you by your party’s superiors. At a time when we still have men and women fighting overseas, when our economy is still weak – the idea that the top 1% of income earners cannot be asked to pay taxes at rates they paid during the Reagan and Clinton eras of growth is laughable. When I first registered to vote, I selected Republican as my party affiliation, because I believed that it was the pro-growth party, not the party for landed gentry. While you may survive the consequences of a default, I can assure you that many members of the 10th District will not.”
Aside from a grade-school letter writing exercise to President Reagan, this is the first time I felt compelled to write to a representative.
jwb
arguingwithsignposts: I wasn’t thinking three months ago, I was thinking a couple of weeks, even last week would have been better. But I do think it is good that he proposed an action for people to take, because my sense is that the vast majority of people are really very frustrated by this whole thing but don’t know what to do with that frustration.
MazeDancer
@KXB:
Way to go!
@Tone In DC:
Exactly!
Hand written fax to 3 people. Ten minutes. Just remind them tea-crazies are not the only voters. And that people listen to their President. That is not a waste of time.
Linda Featheringill
@Percysowner:
Sutton is my rep. So we are neighbors, sort of.
me
For people who lack a fax and are cheap. To send a hand-written fax you’d need a scanner though.
KXB
“Hand written fax to 3 people. Ten minutes. Just remind them tea-crazies are not the only voters. And that people listen to their President. That is not a waste of time.”
I’ll be honest – I was a little hesitant to send the fax, because I think many people think if they write a critical letter to a government official, they can expect a visit from the FBI. And if you have a foreign sounding name like me, even though I was born in NY, that uncertainty can inhibit a course of action that Billy Joe Smith can take with ease.
danimal
@TooManyJens: It’s too bad so many folks around here don’t know the difference.
rob!
I’ve tried calling my critter, John Runyan (NJ), and when I finally stopped getting a busy signal it told me his mailbox was full.
I’m hoping it was full of VM’s from NON-teabaggers, but I’m not optimistic.
arguingwithsignposts
@jwb: Well, I’m not sure even last week would have helped given the circumstances, but that’s a difference in degree, not in kind.
I agree. And I feel the same sense of frustration.
martha
I just FAXed a hand-written note (very diplomatic, if I do say so myself) to our teabagger senator Ron Johnson (R-WI, WHACKJOB who married his money and bought his senate seat…). It actually went through on the first try. Anyone else from Wisconsin, GO DO IT!!!
Linda Featheringill
@jwb:
Yes. Especially from the point of people resorting to counterproductive measures, like following the wrong but charismatic anti-republic leader. Preserving the union, to cite Lincoln.
It’s a good thing, even if it wasn’t on Obama’s list of things to do.
MazeDancer
@KXB:
Good for you for challenging this fear, recognizing it’s groundless, and faxing anyway. And for having handwriting that is legible enough to actually decipher your name. I don’t. Even when printing. And Reps likely see any ethnicity as oh, a voting bloc.
Reminder to those who have never done it: Calling is easy.
People answering the phone are trained to be polite at anything. They’re going to be just as polite as you are. That’s their job. They’re just going to ask for your zip code and make a mark in their data base with yes/no by zip.
Linda Featheringill
@KXB: #69
Bless your heart, dear. You are a good citizen.
Find the phone number for ACLU and put it in your wallet and leave it there. For emergencies.
Tim F.
I could gin up twenty thousand messages in half an hour with ten bucks for a cheap email list. I could do it in five minutes with a freeware that automatically scans a voter registration list. That is exactly why they ignore it.
Beth in VA
I did this. Felt good. The first thing I asked was had he signed Grover Norquist’s hideous No-Tax Pledge. The guy on the phone (intern I imagine) showed actual pride in his voice to say my rep. was one of the few Republicans who didn’t sign the pledge.
Move-On is mobilizing people to meet at this rep’s office today. I’ve never done that before, but I might, sounds a bit scary to be honest and it’s a 1/2 drive. But I am really pissed at this Congress!
Linda Featheringill
@Beth in VA:
You go, girl! Applause, applause.
[The Move-On folks tend to be very supportive of newbies. They’ll take care of you.]
The Disgruntled Chemist
Just called my Senators and Congressman. The Congressman’s staffer said that he was in favor of the Reid plan, but he wished that it had some revenues in it. I am very happy to have voted for him.
The phone of one Senator has been busy for over an hour; the staffer who answered the phone at the other Senator’s office sounded very overworked but was otherwise fairly polite.
Call, people! It takes a few minutes, and they do appreciate your support (my reps are all Dems, but they still thanked me for calling and giving my support).
Chris Gerrib
I called my (Republican) Congressman and Senator today. Remember that:
1) They work for you
2) They are politicians and can count votes
3) They have to figure anybody motivated enough to call them will not only vote but be active in campaigning.
KXB
Nope, I typed it up. But I did sign my name.
rdldot
Wow. Waste of time but actually called Ted Poe’s office and told the guy they should raise the debt ceiling and fix their budget problems next time around. He said the Congressman would get the message.
rdldot
Well, both Texas Senator’s mailboxes are full. Shocking.
Sasha
TooManyJens:
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst / Are full of passionate intensity.”
Still true after nearly 100 years.
MazeDancer
@rdldot:
Good for you for calling your Red Reps!
Because these words are so true:
and
And Blue Reps staffers do really appreciate hearing some kind words. Plus you can tell them emphasize: The Rich have to pay their fair share, too.
That’s a talking point that’s cutting through the clutter. Thank you, Ronald Reagan. (Words I thought I’d never say.)
MGB
Just sent hand written faxes to my Senators Durbin and Kirk, and my Rep, Luis Gutierrez. Basically continuted support for the two Dems, and for Kirk, reminding him that he is senator in Illinois, he has a very diverse state, and support a clean increase.
I figure it can’t hurt to let Durbin and Gutierrez that I agree with them. Even left my e-mail address, let’s see if I get a response.