I'm so proud of all the people, on this site and elsewhere, who stepped up to make calls and canvass for Martha Coakley. And that's all I'll say about her. I was one of the out-of-staters who gave up my weekend, my money, my roaming minutes, my voice to do all I could to keep our "sort of" 60 votes in the Senate.
We made a big difference, but not enough of one, and now some of our Congresspeople are running scared.
So we need to make our voices heard now. Everyone one of you out there who has a Democratic Representative, please, make ONE MORE call. Let's make sure they hear our voices, because they seem to not be very good at figuring this stuff out themselves!
There is a website that has taken a lead in this effort. The quote below is from their site, there is also a link to it.
One more call. We can all make one more call!
Here is how you do it.
(1) Use a phone. Email has nigh on zero impact. Trust me on this. Letter mail gets read, but you don’t have time. Reach the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 .
(2) Remember, this person works for you. You pay his or her salary and you voted for them. You’re the boss here, or at least one of them, and it’s they who should worry about what you think of them.
(3) Identify your name and the town or neighborhood where you live. If you are not a constituent, save your phone bill and yell at the TV.
(4) State the issue. This is easy: pass the Senate bill or the party gets it. We can (and certainly will) fix the shortcomings later.
(5) How strongly do you feel? Don’t apologize about feeling passionate or pissed off. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
(6) What are you going to do about it? Again, squeaky wheel. Will you reward good behavior with money or volunteers? Support a primary challenger if you feel let down? Stay home in November? Do you belong to a group who listens to your opinion or feels the same way you do? This part will get their attention and get the message passed on. Do not forget it.
One last, important point. We want to track where Representatives are swinging on this and who is willing to commit. However your Rep’s intern responds about the Senate bill, please email me or post it in the comments. We are most interested to know who is voting yes, who will vote no, who will not commit and whether the abortion language is a problem with conservative Dems.
The link to the website with more info is here.
Link to Balloon-Juice
Let's make our voices heard. We voted for these people, we volunteered for them and we gave them money. Now we need to speak up loud and clear about what is, and is not, acceptable from them in the next few days.
If they want our votes, our money and our time and effort again, "I didn't do much of anything," is NOT a sellable campaign slogan. Nor is, "look, I'm kind of Republican," since there will be ACTUAL Republicans on the ballots running against them, so if they want to run as a Democrat, they need to start acting like one. They shouldn't be so concerned about pleasing the teabaggers. Those people didn't vote for them in the first place and won't under any conditions.
And sending the bill back to the Senate is just a hugely stupid move. Republicans get what Democrats don't seem to - they don't pass HCR, lots of them are going to be out in November, and if they're out, who's in? Republicans. So why would they do one thing to help us pass HCR. They have healthcare. Thinking that Scott Brown is a possible ally because he voted for HCR in MA is totally wrong-headed. He campaigned on his record in MA and promised to do the same in DC - "no" on every Democratic initiative, "yes" on every Republican initiative. It's that simple.
Finally, they need to seriously consider what kind of message they are sending to people whose votes they will need in a few months when, even though we busted our butts to get the Democrats a majority of the House and Senate, and we DID get the Democrats the majority in both the House and the Senate, the Republicans still seem to be in charge.