Congratulations!!! You’ve just won four free drinks!!!
Okay. Not really. But I wish I could give you forty drinks as a consolation prize. Yesterday, Congress voted to repeal Obamacare FOR THE FORTIETH TIME. In a previous post, I mentioned the $1.45 million cost of each Obamacare vote. So if each punch on one of those cards represented the cost of one vote, we’ll have spent a grand total of fifty-eight million dollars!
Exciting, eh?
In related news, the government might shut down if Congress can’t agree on next year’s appropriations bill. If you live in a liberal district, you’re asking “Is Rep. (Name) going to do anything?” “Is (s)he on the phone with congressional conservatives hammering out a deal to save my job?” “Is (s)he requesting a deal on Obamacare?” “Is (s)he going to be able to save my job?”
The answer to the two in the middle, and probably also the two on the outside, is “no.”
Sorry. Because now I know you’d like your four free drinks.
Your representative is currently leaving Washington and the terrible reality of a government shutdown for a five-week vacation.
DISCLAIMER: I did not make that and do not own copyright. Don’t act like I did (if you want it taken down, feel free to request it via comment and I’ll do it).
But it’s not going to look exactly like the picture at left either.
You see, these outrageously long five weeks are what is called a “district work period.” Your member of congress will be returning home to your district for the majority of the five weeks. Ideally, this will allow for five weeks for your member of congress to march in parades, hold town hall meetings, visit a few businesses, and shake hands with constituents like you at county fairs.
I’m all for meeting constituents, but five weeks at a time during a budget crisis, please, isn’t that what election years are for?
Add to that the fact that the above description is only “ideally.” Practically, “district work period” is GOP code language for “15-months-till-election district-wide propaganda tour.”
This year, the GOP has put together lots of resources so that in no time starting this Monday, your GOP member of Congress will be off on their August “Fighting Washington for You” tour.
By the way: information for congressional staff regarding planning events for the tour can be found in this handy pdf. Take my word for it: it’s a fascinating read.
The pdf begins with a sample editorial to be customized to the rep/district and submitted to local papers at the beginning of the month. If the grammar is off, sorry, I could only fix so much of it before I got sick of fixing grammar. If you’d like the correct version, here’s the goddamned link.
“Fighting Washington for You”As we conclude another busy legislative session in Washington, I look forward to working hard at home for the month of August. Each day I am grateful for the opportunity to represent you in our nation’s capital because Washington is broken and needs to be fixed. It spends too much, borrows too much, and takes too much. It targets people for what they believe and punishes them for their political ideologies. It chokes out jobs with more red tape, blocks new energy resources, and makes our health care crisis worse. Washington is out of control.But every day I serve in Congress, I work to fight Washington. I’m fighting Washington to spur economic growth and create more jobs. I’m fighting Washington to hold government accountable to taxpayers. I’m working to dismantle ObamaCare and make America energy independent. I’m working to cut wasteful spending, expand educational opportunities, and rein in red tape. I’m fighting Washington for you.As I make plans for my time at home these several weeks, I want hear from you about how we can work together to fghtWashington to stop government abuse and make sure government is making your life easier – not standing in the way. That’s why I will be traveling throughout the district in August on my “Fighting Washington for You” tour. This tour is an opportunity to have conversations about House Republicans’ alternative plan to Washington Democrat’s overreaching, out-of-control government. It’s about our plan for economic growth and jobs.If you come to one of the events, you won’t hear another boring speech or more inside-the-beltway rhetoric. This tour isn’t about me. This effort is all about you.I want to hear how decisions from Washington are affecting you. Are you still struggling to find a job in our stagnant economy? Have you had to put of school because student loan rates just doubled? Are you worried about your hours getting cut at workbecause of new health care regulations? Are you concerned about an abusive government taking away the rights of hardworking taxpayers? I will be travelling from one end of the district to the other, stopping at many different places – colleges, hospitals, senior centers,main streets, factories, and farms. I hope we have the opportunity to see each other.Fighting Washington isn’t about creating more partisan gridlock, heated rhetoric, or Republicans versus Democrats. It’s about fixing an out-of-control government for the moms and dads struggling to support their families, the recent college graduateslooking for jobs, the seniors relying on their benefts, the most vulnerable in our communities, the veterans who served Americaand the brave men and women who protect us right now.For more information about my “Fighting Washington for You” your, please visit my website for a schedule and updates along the way. I look forward to seeing you, talking with you, and continue to fight for you.
Here’s a sample suggestion, from Page 28, of how to stage a phony public meeting with business owners:
“Confirm the theme(s) prior to the event and make sure the participants will be 100 percent on message. (Note: while they do not have to be Republicans, they need to be able to discuss the negative effects of Obamacare on their employees.)”
And what if I have a child with cancer, and the insurance company plans to dump him if Republicans stop Obamacare in its tracks? Can I attend? Or what if I’m counting on buying into the new health care exchanges in my state, saving hundreds of dollars on my insurance bill?
The kit has an answer: planting supporters, with prescreened softball questions, will ensure that such things never get asked. More important, this tactic will assure that any meeting with the dreaded public will go “in the direction that is most beneficial to the member,” as the blueprint states.
I thought this wasn’t about you.
I’ll be following GOPers as they embark on these tours; considering all they have in their packets (there’s more: if your GOP member of Congress follows through, expect your local media to spend a great deal of time on it and several op-eds, including a few co-written with fellow constituents who agree with Faux News), I’m anticipating entertainment. And lots of speeches of bullcrap.
You can find your representative by going to:
[Last name goes here]-dot-house-dot-gov
Just remember that as an unhappy liberal constituent, you are unlikely to have your voice heard. The GOP is trying to avoid making the mistakes the democrats did in 2009 and is advising members to “Prepare a few questions in advance in case the conversation slowly starts.” Or, I assume, if a thirty-nine-year-old cancer patient who would have reached his lifetime insurance coverage cap if it weren’t for Obamacare tries to hijack the conversation.
If you’re one of the lucky ones without a GOP congressman, for your enjoyment I have links to:
- John Boehner
- Eric Cantor
- Michele Bachmann
- Paul Ryan
- And my favorite GOPer to hate: Darrell Issa
If there’s any other stupid Republican the world needs to worry about, comment and I’ll add them in the morning.
Stop Right-wing Extremism 