If you have a GOP Rep, tomorrow would be a great time pick up a phone and ask him or her to do their damn job. Whether your Rep stands with the halfway sane Reps like Peter King, with the ‘suicide bombers’ or with John Boehner in the blasted and treeless shooting gallery in between, we all benefit when you reach out and make their tomorrow a little more miserable.
Please do ask your ‘reasonable’ Rep what he or she thinks about this pack of mostly freshman or two-termer inmates running the asylum. If you live in a teabagger district then ask the staff what he or she thinks about their own caucus putting this mess in their lap, even fellow Congresspeople like Rep. David Nunes (R-CA) who called them “lemmings with suicide vests…because jumping to your death is not enough.” We will not have a better opportunity for fratricidal on-the-record quotes in your or my lifetime.
If you have the time, also point out that the ATF cannot issue any new gun permits until the shutdown ends. They might care about that.
You can reach the switchboard, if it works, at (202) 224-3121. If not then I guess you can pester wingnut Facebook friends with that Nunes quote.
JPL
I’m tempted to call my congress critter and tell him, I’d support a bill funding or canceling all the Bush era laws that were supposedly free. He’d be on the floor canceling Medicare part D, and no Child left behind. I don’t think he’d dare touch the military bills though. He would probably go after Homeland Security. I live in GA ..
Yatsuno
David Gergen haz a Broder moment. Who else is just stunned at this development?
West of the Cascades
Gun permits are unconstitutional anyway, so why should they be concerned? They can just go to a gun show tomorrow.
Yatsuno
@Yatsuno: FYWP. No really.
Jerzy Russian
There will be lots of consequences for a great many people, but the sad thing is that the lack of action on gun permits might be the tipping for a lot of people.
NotMax
Have always had better luck (and reached someone more willing to expend time listening) by calling my House member’s local district office.
That local number is usually in the Federal Government pages of a decent Yellow Pages book.
Steeplejack
@Yatsuno:
Linky no work. You fix.
ETA: Okay, you fix.
gelfling545
I’d skip the Nunes quote. I’ve read (TPM?) that he’s decided that lemming is the way to go and is on his way over the cliff.
Spaghetti Lee
@Jerzy Russian:
fun permits
Oh mai. What a typo.
lamh36
Oh please.
Patrick
@Yatsuno:
That was some incredible garbage he wrote:
Moreover, as Republicans make their counterarguments, it is becoming increasingly apparent that they have some valid questions. Is Obamacare truly ready for prime time? Shouldn’t the two parties work together on the tax code?
Republicans have demanded ACA (Or Obamacare as Gergen calls it) be eliminated. They are not asking if it is ready for prime time.
Why the hell should the two parties work together on the tax code? The Dems won the election! Besides, the GOP argument is that the Dems give them everything they want.
Gergen is the posterboy for why I don’t watch CNN.
dmsilev
@lamh36: Let me guess. The charity will be the ‘Ted Cruz for President’ fund.
Spaghetti Lee
I’ve got The Duck and The Durb, so all I could do is give them a thumbs up. The only good thing about Joe Walsh still being in office (BUT HE’S NOT! HAHAHA!) would be calling up his office and chewing ’em out at times like these.
Patrick
At least there is a small blessing in disguise to the shutdown.
Jerzy Russian
@Spaghetti Lee: Jesus Hussein Christ. Thanks for spotting that. I fixed the typo, although “fun permits” makes sense with a large subset of the GOP crowd, given that they cannot stand the idea that someone, somewhere might be enjoying themselves.
David in NY
Fired off an e-mail to Chris Gibson (NY-19) who professes not to want a shutdown. (I know, e-mails go in the trash, but just in case, they’re not answering the phone now.) Asked why he wasn’t voting with Pete King. Suggested he should be “brave.” Anyway, was fun to write. Will have about the effect of this comment.
Patrick
@lamh36:
Good! Now what about the other 43 GOP senators and the 217+ Republicans in the house? Why should they get paid when the other federal employees being let go won’t get paid?
Jerzy Russian
@Yatsuno: Part of me died reading that piece, and I blame both you and Obama.
David Koch
@Patrick: their ratings are abysmal. Ted Turner is rolling over in his grave.
Baud
Geaux Saints!
dmsilev
So far, 6 GOP nay votes. Wonder who they are.
And Reid’s spokesfolks have already said that this is just going to be sent back right away.
Edit: 8 now, and 1 D aye.
David Koch
@Jerzy Russian: Obama killed Walter White, Hank Schrader, Michael Westen, and Dexter Morgan.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Hmm. They can only lose about 18.
Spaghetti Lee
@Jerzy Russian:
I thought you meant it and I saw it the other way. It would actually make a good/stupid GOP slogan. “GUNS are FUN! GUN control is FUN control!”
BillinGlendaleCA
@Yatsuno: Fetch me my smelling salts.
dmsilev
And man, CSPAN’s call-in line has some real morons on the line. And apparently ‘bill rammed through without anyone reading it” is today’s talking point.
Spaghetti Lee
@dmsilev:
If I was Reid, I’d say this was a great time to drag out the big ‘FUCK YOU’ stamp* and the red ink.
*-(LBJ had one made when he was Senate majority leader. Saw a lot of use.)
David Koch
0
dmsilev
@Baud: 12 defectors so far. Only a couple of dozen votes pending, so it probably will pass, but they’re starting to crumble I think.
Spaghetti Lee
@lamh36:
Charity? WHAT WOULD AYN RANDZ SAY?!?!?
Violet
@David Koch: Ted Turner is still alive. I’m sure his money gives him some comfort.
NotMax
@NotMax
Quasi-correction: Not just Yellow Pages, rather any decent phone book will have a section with Federal Government pages.
dmsilev
@dmsilev: And …passed. Hit 217 with about 4 GOP votes remaining, and 4 or 5 Democrats voted Aye immediately after. Final looks like 227-202. I give it about an hour before the Senate laughs and sends it back.
Spaghetti Lee
@Violet:
It’s David. I think he knows.
I’m not really a Ted Turner expert, but he seems alright as billionaire media moguls go, which is kind of like saying Cthulhu is a decent guy compared to the other Elder Gods.
Steeplejack
@Spaghetti Lee:
You are possibly forgetting that he was the genius behind “colorizing” old movies. Ngrr!
Suffern ACE
Ok. So far in these “negotiations” the republicans have gone from “pass the Ryan budget” to “pass tge Romney platform” to “take away medical insurance subsidies from my co-workers”. I think we can wait awhile longer.
NotMax
@Spaghetti Lee
Brought Ted Turner this close to tears once at a meeting which included him.
The cold steely dagger glare he gave me as we rode the same elevator afterwards was astounding.
jg
Ted Turner gets a pass. He is responsible for TCM; Cartoon Network; & Boomerang cable stations.
Amir Khalid
So, after the feints and false starts, everything re debt limit/default is still where it was before the weekend? Surely no one is surprised. This crisis was never avoidable; the Tea Party tendency engineered it for their own political gain. I only hope that as usual they prove to be as inept as they are despicable. And that, for the sake of every one who will suffer from this, the car gets pulled out of the ditch ASAP.
BlueNC
I called Senator Richard Burr’s office (R-NC) to inform him of the following:
* I own a small business.
* I fully support the ACA/Obamacare.
* Republicans are acting like spoiled children and they need to grow up.
(My Congressman is David Price, NC-4. No need to bother him…)
David Koch
@NotMax:
Whaddya do sleep with Jane Fonda?
karen marie
I called my rep and another local rep’s offices, asked whether they stand with the hostage takers or the American people. Got the identical response in both cases, almost like a memo went out to every office – “what hostage takers?” Seriously? Apparently so. Also called McCain’s office. Like spitting in the wind.
Glidwrith
I called the rep that had been mine until they re-drew the districts. Calling them vote-denying, pollution-swilling, women-killing, child-starving fascists was immensely satisfying. Also found out they don’t know what a ‘whipping boy’ is – I defined it for them then asked why the hell the rest of us have to suffer for problems they couldn’t solve on their own.
Stella B
Heh. I live in Darryl Issa’s rapidly empurpling district. I’d call, but it would give me a major attack of nerves and then I would blurt out something cruel. Maybe I will call.