Sunday - August 03, 2008

Pelosi Leaves Free Speech In The Dark

Gosh, I go away for a day and all hell breaks loose.

House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House, turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.

Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi’s refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.

At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward.

But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one was witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left.

Only about a half-dozen Republicans were on the floor when this began, but the crowd has grown to about 20, according to Patrick O’Connor.

via FREEP:

The first shot of the revolution was fired a few hours ago, as Republicans prepared to commence their five minute addresses that would decry the lack of any votes on meaningful energy legislation. From the Democratic side, a motion to adjourn for the day shot up. Then CSPAN, which covers House proceedings on television, was shut down. The microphones on the House floor were turned off.

Led by Rep. Tom Price (R.-GA), Republicans decided they weren’t going to take it—they would stay and fight. As the camera lights were shutting down, Price, Shadegg, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence and other conservative “young Turks” began delivering their speeches on the floor without microphones. The sparsely-filled visitors galleries that overlook the floor began to fill up and the ranks of reporters in the Press Gallery began to swell from the two or three newsmen who were there for what they thought was a routine closing day.

By 2:00 PM, in what resembled newsreels of the packed House floor on the day war was declared in December of 1941, the House floor was almost full. More than 400 visitors were in the gallery and Shadegg, having figured out the code on the panel that controls the microphones, put the sound system in the House back on—until a staffer (presumably from the speaker’s office) came and shut it off again.

“Word spread that the speaker—who was never actually here on the floor—was going to shut down the House press gallery,” a breathless Shadegg told me in a call from the floor, “But rules are clear that the gallery can’t be shut down if a Member is there. So a bunch of us have been taking turns—we’re ‘human shields,’ keeping the press gallery going.” Along with Shadegg, the ‘human shields’ included House GOP Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.), and Texas Reps. Ted Poe and John Carter.

“You cannot repress free speech, Madame Speaker,” declared Shadegg, adding that the intense protest to keep the floor and press gallery alive were critical because “every day without oil production, the American people are hurt. It destroys the lives of the poorest Americans, those with the oldest cars, the worst mileage, and sometimes the longest commutes. That’s the point we are making.”

“This is the people’s House,” said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.). “This is not Pelosi’s politiburo.”

Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, and reporters were kicked out of the Speaker’s Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers.

“You’re not covering this, are you?” complained one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans “morons” for staying on the floor.

Update: The Capitol Police are now trying to kick reporters out of the press gallery above the floor, meaning we can’t watch the Republicans anymore. But Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is now in the gallery talking to reporters, so the cops have held off for a minute. Clearly, Democrats don’t want Republicans getting any press for this episode. GOP leaders are trying to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters aren’t kicked out.

Read more at The Crypt, or just follow the link in today’s Day by Day cartoon ...

Ok, this is mostly a symbolic gesture ... and I didn’t see any coverage of it on the main news pages ... as if it never happened. But it’s a shrewd move by the Republicans ... and it might save them their jobs. I, for one, have no truck with these jerks leaving for vacation and not wrangling through an energy bill. That’s part of their jobs, and they aren’t doing it. No votes for them!

Now, if the GOP would continue meeting, even outside on the lawn if they need to, and hammer out an intelligent energy policy ... keep dreaming Drew, keep dreaming.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/03/2008 at 11:09 AM   
Filed Under: • Politics •  
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