I've been on Capitol Hill with VoteVets since this afternoon. I'm using a computer I borrowed from Faiz of Think Progress. It's after 2:00 AM here on the east coast, and I'm smoked. But we're still here, and I thought I'd take this time to pass on a few of the highlights from this long day.
So in no particular order, here they are:
- First, I went with Jon Soltz to meet with the staffers of two anti-Bush Republican senators about the impending filibuster. These are two senators who've recently gone on record as opposing Commander Guy. So Soltz and I went to find out if they were serious about putting their votes where their mouths were.
As you can imagine, no such luck.
These people don't see any problem with telling Commander Guy that his war sucks, while at the same time, turning around to clap furiously for his policies. One staffer told us that her senator couldn't support the Reed-Levin Amendment because it set a bad precedent, in that Congress shouldn't dictate military policy.
This is what regular Americans call a cop-out. Unless these Republican senators start getting some serious pressure from their constituents, don't expect to see them turn before September.
- Around 8:00 we went to the big rally in Upper Senate Park across from the Capitol. This was pretty freaking cool. We took the stage and several veterans and family members spoke. From VoteVets, John Bruhns, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Andrew Horne, and Jon Soltz spoke. There was also a Gold Star mother and the sister of a soldier currently in Iraq who spoke. I kept my mouth shut, because I'm still learning the ropes.
When the House and Senate leadership showed up, we were treated to some pretty rousing speeches. The only downside to the event were the people in the crowd who wouldn't let Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Patrick Leahy, and others speak. Since I thought we were there to protest Commander Guy's policies, I guess these people were protesting the protesters--and it was all over impeachment. But whatever. . .I've been highly critical of both Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in the past for not standing up to the President, so I don't have much room to talk. But I'll be honest, this was my first real-life experience with purity trolls. Overall, the park rally was great. Go to Democrats.Senate.gov for highlights.
- Before we went into the Senate gallery late tonight, we were watching the several TV screens. I noticed that while CNN kept covering the park rally and the filibuster about ending the war in Iraq, Fox News kept running a story about steroid-fueled wrestler/murderer Chris Benoit. Go figure.
- I didn't see or talk to Senator Lindsay Graham this evening. In fact, I've never seen or talked to him. But I would just like to add that Lindsay Graham still thinks that going to Iraq seven times as a senator makes him a badass. And I'm still wondering why National Guard Colonel Lindsay Graham still hasn't been mobilized to spend 15 months in a combat zone. Because until he does, I invite him to shut his yap about how tough he is and how much he knows about life in Iraq.
- And finally, to all my friends, family, and fellow bloggers in Louisiana, I talked to Tom Matzzie of MoveOn.org and did my best to convince him that, at heart, Louisiana is still a blue state.