If you’re happy and you know it —- Call Congress
If you’re scared and you know it — Call Congress
If you’re mad and you know it — Call Congress
Keep up the calls. Call about what you are passionate about, call about what you care about. Call about what you can.
And see results:
Heitkamp a no on DeVos. Release notes: "95% of the almost 1,400 North Dakotans who contacted Heitkamp about DeVos opposed Devos nomination."
— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) January 30, 2017
As you’re calling Democrats who are in tough Districts (Senate Heitkamp is in a Trump +30 state) tell their staffers thank you. Tell them you appreciate that their boss is going out on the limb for our vision and values of America. The staffer answering the phone has no power and is getting deluged right now. Be nice and then register your opinion.
We’re getting results, so keep calling
Mary G
Still holding for Darrell Issa going on for an hour. I said I wanted to talk about his new plan for health care (let everyone sign up for the same insurance that covers federal employees) and he says there will be no mandates. I said without mandates only sick people will sign up, costs will go into a death spiral and the system will collapse.
And it just ended. What a dick.
elm
I made my calls today about the Muslim Ban EO (which radically affects green cards) and the Sessions nomination. I can’t change their minds alone, but pressure can slow down their support for these abominations.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t think they can say “He campaigned on this!”
and I hope Dan Pfeiffer is right
Patricia Kayden
That’s encouraging news about Heitkamp and the persuasiveness of her callers. Get ye all to thy phones, those of ye who dwell in Red States!!
#Resist!
Villago Delenda Est
My Senators are Merkley and Wyden, my Congressman is DeFazio.
I know where they stand. Because they can’t stop reminding me and asking for money!
XTPD
Somewhat related: Apparently William Pryor’s off Blithering Butthole’s SCOTUS list.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mary G:
In fairness, that fact was already well established.
Villago Delenda Est
@Mary G: Issa does not understand how health insurance works, and neither does Donald. Like this is a shocking surprise.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Called ’em.
Am at Louisville rally! 3000-5000 present, maybe more.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yikes. So, like, some random clerk at SSA could say “No Social Security for you, you godless pervert?”.
There’s no bottom to this hole, is there?
Lizzy L
I just called Kamala Harris’s office and left a thank you message on her VM for her strong statement on 45’s immigration EO. DiFi’s phone lines were all busy (good) so I sent her an e-mail and asked her to vote NO on all of 45’s nominations. I thanked her for pushing back against the immigration policies as well.
Lizzy L
Also, this is very ominous.
https://www.justsecurity.org/37010/steve-bannon-making-theres-white-house-paper-trail/
Stacy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think he’s right. I have GOP friends whose 17 year old daughter just came out to them. They are very supportive of her. They won’t be happy. I was at the anti-Muslim ban protest in DC yesterday. Don’t know how many were there but it was a lot. Walking back to our car from the Capitol we saw what I think was the anti-DeVos protest. Literally a protest around every corner! I can imagine this EO will create more of this.
Elizabelle
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Wonderful!
mai naem mobile
Good luck getting through if you’re calling DC.
DougJ
Are we not men? We are Devos
bystander
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That could be the tipping point.
btom89
I emailed both Senators Heitkamp and Hoeven. I even called Hoeven’s office today to let him know that I was ardently anti-DeVos and anti-Sessions. The staffer confirmed they got 14 to 16 hundred contacts about DeVos (he specified DeVos but not Sessions, I don’t know if that means I should be worried or not), and I asked if it was 50/50 or went more in one direction. He told me the majority was against her confirmation. I made sure to be unequivocal in my opinion and pressed that they were vastly unqualified. I also told him that Hoeven won re-election and didn’t have to run again for six years so he could afford to take a stand and not confirm them.
O. Felix Culpa
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/30/barack-obama-travel-ban-statement-protests-trump?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=The+minute+-+auto&utm_term=210990&subid=19967256&CMP=ema-2636
btom89
@Mary G: Colonel Applegate gave him a run for his money and he won re-election by the smallest margin yet. If people hadn’t shaven away at Clinton’s margin, it might have been enough to lift Applegate over that piece of shit Issa. He should run again in two years on name recognition and kick Issa out of his seat. There’s no way Issa can keep alienating his constituents and keep his job?
O. Felix Culpa
I called my Senators Udall and Heinrich and Rep. Lujan today, all D-NM. I thanked each of them for their STRONG statements opposing the immigration and refugee EO and asked them to oppose Bannon’s elevation to the NSC (and demotion of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs) by whatever means available to them.
The staffers all said they’re getting flooded with calls. Lujan’s staffer sounded genuinely pleased to receive a “thank you.” Don’t know how often they get positive feedback. Seems to make a difference, so go for it!
Jeffro
Called 2 of Warner’s offices today to say NO to DeVos…the staffers seemed pleased to tally another ‘no’ and were very polite (similar to OFC in #21 above).
Keep calling every day folks, it takes just 5 minutes and it works!
Mary G
@btom89: Applegate has already announced his candidacy for 2018 and held a rally with Keith Ellison. I am contributing, which is probably why Darrell is ignoring me. I blasted him on Twitter and FB. Kind of enjoying this social media thing, though I still hate FB, but I am determined to use all the channels I have.
He is sweating, though, you could hear the terror in his voice and he was surprisingly anti-Trump, saying he was dead wrong on Russia and he took two or three different positions for and against the border wall in like 20 minutes, which was amusing.
Percysowner
@elm: Today’s call was for the Muslim Ban. Tomorrow’s will be about Betsy Devos. The next 3 days will probably be about not confirming Sessions, not silencing scientists and standing up for immigrants. I’m on a roll!
Turgidson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s what Mike Pence absolutely would have campaigned on if he had been a candidate. And the EO is probably his idea.
In my Bay Area bubble, I have three male friends…more “friends” these days…who, despite being perfectly sensible people in general and absolutely tolerant of LGBT and immigrants and not particularly misogynistic, were huge MAGA Trumpbots from pretty early on. One of them is your garden variety socially liberal fiscally conservative twit who value tax cuts over all else. The other two are kind of professional contrarians who voted for, but then immediately scorned, Obama more in an effort to seem clever and contrarian than on the merits (and accused me of being a mindless zombie Obot because on a few occasions I tried to patiently explain to them why Obama wasn’t able to snap his fingers and usher in Progressive Unicorn Utopia) and bought the Crooked Hillary bullshit without question just because Trump and Bernie were saying it.
Their substantive argument (to the extent you can call it that) for Hair Furor during the campaign was that he didn’t really mean it when he promised the really awful shit he repeatedly promised, that he’d drag the GOP into modernity on social issues because he doesn’t give a shit what other people are doing in the bedroom and wouldn’t let the regressive GOP nutters in Congress do stupid shit re those issues, and that he’d reorient GOP foreign policy away from the neocons. And hey, if he fucks shit up, so what, shit is already fucked, amiright?
Every time I (or more often, my still-sane friends who have more patience for their stupidity than i currently do) point out something Trump does that makes their faith in him look ridiculous (which is daily if not hourly since he was sworn in), they dig themselves in deeper, saying “you just don’t understand how to listen to him to know what he really means, and what he really means is totally awesome.” I wonder if the anti-LGBT EO, should it happen, will have any effect on their blind faith in him. I doubt it. They think everything that fucking cretin does is genius and they have secret decoder rings that grant them access to his genius. It’s fucking creepy.
Roger Moore
@Mary G:
Issa is a dick? Stop the presses!
Noskilz
I have no reason to imagine that Alexander or Corker have any plans to actually impede Trump in any meaningful way, but it’s been very difficult to reach their DC offices, and some days all I seem to be able to get is a busy signal for one or both of them.
Farthestnorth
Actually got a human being to answer the phone at Cory Gardner’s office. Has been straight to voice mail for the last week. Told him I am happy Gardner spoke out (well sort of, better than nothing) against immigration ban and that I really want him to vote against Sessions. Hope he’s counting…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
that sounds vaguely familiar… do either of them post here?
Miss Bianca
@Farthestnorth: yay! Glad to hear it.
ETA: was this a local office you were calling?
Kathleen
@Lizzy L: His goal is to burn the place down. Period. The more people who suffer the better. It’s that simple.
Farthestnorth
@Miss Bianca: @Miss Bianca: Yes his Denver office. I’m currently in CO-6 (no longer farthest north sadly)and have had no such luck with my esteemed R congresscritter Mike Coffman, whose wife happens to be the Attorney General of the State of Colorado.Sigh. I am one of those folks who haven’t been engaged in protests since the Viet Nam War. But though I am a lurker here, I’m not letting this go.
EriktheRed
I’ve tried to call Durbin and Duckworth’s offices just to add one more voice to those of us who have their backs, but both have been busy. Duckworth’s number just had a busy signal while Durbin’s went to voicemail. For some reason, I didn’t want to leave a message. Guess I will tomorrow if the situation is the same.
Mnemosyne
Don’t forget, if you’re getting busy signals and full voicemail boxes, you can also fax. A fax is almost as good as a mailed letter, and better than an email.
suse
Longtime lurker here.
David, I wonder what you think of Kevin Drum’s question on why the health insurance industry has been so quiet about the attempts to repeal ACA. He wrote about this today. I’ll try the linky thing, but will probably screw it up:
ta, suse
louc
Some senators and representatives phones have been busy and people unable to reach them (Kaine and Warner, EG)