Calling Sucks, But I [Bleeping} Did it, Anyway
In my attempt to do this resistance thing, I made one call so far today.
I'm insanely disappointed that my senator, Amy Klobuchar voted to confirm Trump's CIA head, Pompeo. So, I called her DC office this morning and asked what she's doing on Session's confirmation. I realize that there just might not be enough Democrats to stop any of these confirmations, but I want reassurances that they're going to stand together in their "NO." If it's a symbolic vote, anyway, why not go with THE RIGHT F*CKING SYMBOL???
Not that I was this articulate on the phone.
The script I have in front of me is actually about the Dump's short list for Supreme Court Justices. But, I was sitting here, muttering to myself about the whole Pompeo thing, and I thought, "Well, sh*t, Lyda, if you're so wound up, maybe you should just call now and vent to a staffer about the whole thing."
So, I did.
I no longer hesitate to punch in the numbers. That used to be the hard part. Now, I'm pretty good up to the point where I inevitably lose my cool and start babbling incoherently about the end of democracy.
But, okay, so, I think this staffer was a nice, young twenty-something, because after I frothed at the mouth about spineless voting for Pompeo, she just said, "Hey, no worries. I get it."
So, f*ck it, they clearly have to deal with crazier people than me, and if the revolution has to start by flooding the damn phone lines, I can do this thing.
Okay, should I just do Franken now? Probably.
----
Edited to add:
Okay, called Franken.
Right, so even with the right script in front of me, I still suck. I'm finding that asking the question, "Are you the person I should be talking to about 'x' issue?" is a non-starter. They don't want to transfer you and so far both staffers are like, "You can talk to me about that." So, I think I'm going to drop that part of the process.
I've been adding to my script, "So, I guess I'm supposed to be sure to give you my zip code..." and then I give it to them. This part, I'll keep regardless. It does show that I live in an area that votes for Franken/Klobuchar.
So, how did this one go? Well, it's always awkward, but I've just kind of accepted that. I asked the staffer if Franken had plans to filibuster any Supreme Court nominees. She made a vaguely agreeable noise and so I said, "Are you saying he WILL filibuster?" and that seemed to wake her up. She said, "Oh. I don't know." I said, "You don't know if he would?" And she confirmed that she had no idea what his plans were.
So, I went off script.
And I said (only less articulately), "Okay, well, that's how this needs to work. I want Senator Franken to know that I expect him to resist the nominations. One of the things that has made me very proud to be represented by Senator Franken is his willingness to stand up where needed. I want him to join any filibuster efforts. If you can't commit to him doing that, can you at least assure me he will vote against any of Trump's nominees?"
She said she could.
I told her I guessed that was something, and signed off.
About as frustrating as calling Klobuchar's office, but in a different way. I mean, girlfriend, were you checking Facebook as I was talking to you? Second, if Al F*cking Franken isn't sure he's going to stand up and filibuster, we've probably already lost.
So, even though they say this makes zero impact, I sent off an e-mail to both offices telling them I expected a united filibuster of ALL nominations for Supreme Court put up by Trump. They blocked Obama's pick, this is fairsies.
If I make a third or fourth call today, I'll do it after lunch. I really don't want to hit the same staffers in the same day.
I'm insanely disappointed that my senator, Amy Klobuchar voted to confirm Trump's CIA head, Pompeo. So, I called her DC office this morning and asked what she's doing on Session's confirmation. I realize that there just might not be enough Democrats to stop any of these confirmations, but I want reassurances that they're going to stand together in their "NO." If it's a symbolic vote, anyway, why not go with THE RIGHT F*CKING SYMBOL???
Not that I was this articulate on the phone.
The script I have in front of me is actually about the Dump's short list for Supreme Court Justices. But, I was sitting here, muttering to myself about the whole Pompeo thing, and I thought, "Well, sh*t, Lyda, if you're so wound up, maybe you should just call now and vent to a staffer about the whole thing."
So, I did.
I no longer hesitate to punch in the numbers. That used to be the hard part. Now, I'm pretty good up to the point where I inevitably lose my cool and start babbling incoherently about the end of democracy.
But, okay, so, I think this staffer was a nice, young twenty-something, because after I frothed at the mouth about spineless voting for Pompeo, she just said, "Hey, no worries. I get it."
So, f*ck it, they clearly have to deal with crazier people than me, and if the revolution has to start by flooding the damn phone lines, I can do this thing.
Okay, should I just do Franken now? Probably.
----
Edited to add:
Okay, called Franken.
Right, so even with the right script in front of me, I still suck. I'm finding that asking the question, "Are you the person I should be talking to about 'x' issue?" is a non-starter. They don't want to transfer you and so far both staffers are like, "You can talk to me about that." So, I think I'm going to drop that part of the process.
I've been adding to my script, "So, I guess I'm supposed to be sure to give you my zip code..." and then I give it to them. This part, I'll keep regardless. It does show that I live in an area that votes for Franken/Klobuchar.
So, how did this one go? Well, it's always awkward, but I've just kind of accepted that. I asked the staffer if Franken had plans to filibuster any Supreme Court nominees. She made a vaguely agreeable noise and so I said, "Are you saying he WILL filibuster?" and that seemed to wake her up. She said, "Oh. I don't know." I said, "You don't know if he would?" And she confirmed that she had no idea what his plans were.
So, I went off script.
And I said (only less articulately), "Okay, well, that's how this needs to work. I want Senator Franken to know that I expect him to resist the nominations. One of the things that has made me very proud to be represented by Senator Franken is his willingness to stand up where needed. I want him to join any filibuster efforts. If you can't commit to him doing that, can you at least assure me he will vote against any of Trump's nominees?"
She said she could.
I told her I guessed that was something, and signed off.
About as frustrating as calling Klobuchar's office, but in a different way. I mean, girlfriend, were you checking Facebook as I was talking to you? Second, if Al F*cking Franken isn't sure he's going to stand up and filibuster, we've probably already lost.
So, even though they say this makes zero impact, I sent off an e-mail to both offices telling them I expected a united filibuster of ALL nominations for Supreme Court put up by Trump. They blocked Obama's pick, this is fairsies.
If I make a third or fourth call today, I'll do it after lunch. I really don't want to hit the same staffers in the same day.