Loading ...The Politico is reporting this morning on the latest attempt to marginalize the tea party movement in the health care debate.
“Congressional offices were expecting tens of thousands, but it looks like only a few hundred showed up. I think our office handled more White House tour requests than questions about the health care bill,” said DCCC spokesman Doug Thornell.
“It was like a high school classroom,” an aide to one lawmaker who hosted tea partiers noted glumly. “It was so boring.” – Politico
First, let me say that I was not in DC yesterday, I was in Millington at John Tanner’s office. Obviously, Tanner did not get the memo from DCCC.
Have staff at the ready to assist constituents. Be communicative. If possible, have light snacks and coffee available.
No one offered any “snacks” or “coffee” to the 60 folks who showed up there and the only staff that showed up to “assist constituents” was the local police who had been called to make sure tea party folks stayed on the public sidewalk and did not enter the Congressman’s office. Darn, we even had our own black sedan “baby-sitter”. No one would even know that anyone had been in Millington yesterday if not for BCR and Post Politics. The local media completely ignored the historic battle going on for our Republic.
What seems to be lost (but I don’t really think it is) on Congressional leaders is that the tea party “movement” is comprised of regular working folks and is not the “astro-turf” they wish it was. So the Congressional leaders are moving fast with one tactic after the other hoping to confuse the public when the actual vote will occur, or what the actual vote will be. Most tea party folks are like me. They have jobs and responsibilities and cannot just up and take off for a rally in DC on a moments notice. That is why getting 60 at Millington yesterday on less than 24 hours notice was a significant feat. No, I have to schedule time off work, make hotel arrangements, put aside a few bucks out of the next few paychecks to pay for the gas, have the car serviced, and numerous other life details to attend to before running off to DC. So if Congress thinks yesterday was a “high school classroom”, then they had better leave town for April 15th!
Today is the day to work the phones people to let them know you are still there. Congressman Tanner’s contact and offices are listed below and readers can visit the House website to find information for their Congressman.
Union City Office:
P.O. Box 629
Union City, TN 38281
Phone: (731) 885-7070
Fax: (731) 885-7094
Jackson Office:
Room B-7
Federal Building
Jackson, TN 38301
Phone: (731) 423-4848
Fax: (731) 427-1537
Millington Office:
8120 Hwy 51 N
Suite 3
Millington, TN 38053
Phone: (901) 873-5690
Fax: (901) 873-5692
Washington, D.C., Office:
1226 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4714
Fax: (202) 225-1765
Good on you for going to Tanner’s office–thanks!! You are right–getting 60 people to come to a local office is quite a feat. Last fall I went to an event at Marsha Blackburn’s field office and I was the only one there. It is just really hard to get working folks to take the day off to do something like this especially when jobs are hard to come by. But make no mistake the time is fast coming when we will have to make sacrifices to band together in large numbers. In the meantime, every one keep making phone calls and sending faxes. We have to keep pounding on the door in every way possible to keep up the pressure