“You’re not covering this are you?”

I missed this other night; the Democrats tried to shut down debate over the Republicans proposal to drill domestically by shutting off the lights in the chamber, shutting down C-SPAN and by shooing off reporters. Luckily, some reporters stuck around;

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

“This is the people’s House,” Rep, Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) said. “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?” complaing 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.

Update 2 – This message was sent out by Blunt’s office:

“Although, this Democrat Majority just Adjourned for the Democrat 5-Week Vacation, House Republicans are continuing to fight on the House Floor. Although the lights, mics and C-SPAN camera’s have been turned off, House Republicans are on the Floor speaking to the tax payers in the gallery who, not surprisingly, agree with Republican Energy proposals.

Rurik sent me this link last night to Pete Hoekstra’s “Twitter” page (In reverse chronological order).

Shame! Shame! Capital Hill police working under strict orders to shut Capital down at 430 pm today. Speaker Pelosi wants this shut down now 02:47 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry
Mike Pence speaking. He’s firing people up. His message. Hill isn’t in revolt, this is democracy at work. We’re looking for solutions. 02:38 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry
Message; Call Speaker Pelosi at 202 225 0100. Demand vote on energy legislation. Tweet your friends and call now. 02:27 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry
Eric Cantor. “Why is Speaker Pelosi and the Ds forgetting the middle class.” Audience really getting into it. 02:13 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry
Mike Rogers (Mi). Speaking in shorts. Heard what we were doing. Came back. He wanted to be a part of it. 02:05 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry
Standing applause for last speaker. People on the floor cheering wildly. They love it. They’re into it. 01:59 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry

John Culberson was also using Twitter;

Thanks to everyone @ Twitter/Qik today:America got a glimpse of the future. We demonstrated the power of a real time network of free people. 01:39 AM August 02, 2008 from web
@petehoekstra – What a great day – lots of fun & very healthy for America & the House. Our Twitters were key Pete. CSPAN used my Qik video 01:35 AM August 02, 2008 from web in reply to petehoekstra
@mikepratt Yes but this is a rule that needs to be broken bcz it needs to be changed to make Congress transparent to the public 04:46 PM August 01, 2008 from web in reply to mikepratt

@zaren Then lets get started now! Just drilling will bring prices down right away – then we need to invest in new technology like nano/solar 04:37 PM August 01, 2008 from web in reply to zaren

Pelosi’s House thrives on secrecy and is going on vacation and ignoring the need to bring down gas prices 03:48 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry
Qikking and Twittering now 03:47 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry

I just told the House chamber We the People can take back the Capitol with these new media tools by networking and shining sunlight everywhe 03:31 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry

Cong Todd Platts of Penn up now – he was driving home heard about this and turned around and is here calling for Congress to get to work 02:55 PM August 01, 2008 from TwitterBerry

Yid With Lid complains that the media had no legitimate excuse for ignoring the Republican revolt;

I can almost understand the media not picking up on the John Edwards story, after all it is salacious in nature, and the media only publishes those kind of reports when a Republican is involved. There was NO EXCUSE for the media to ignore what happened in the House of Representatives yesterday. Its not often that the minority party revolts against the majority or that the Speaker of the House is so frightened by the potential of a discussion that she has the lights and mikes turned off.

Fort Hard Knox pointed me to some cellphone video;

I only wish the Republicans had been this vicious when they still had control of Congress. Maybe if they’d revolted against the Left back in 2006 they’d still have Congress.

Another YouTube video asks what “change” Pelosi was talking about 2006;

GOP.gov lists the Republicans who took part in the mini-revolt;

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland

Rep. John Culberson

Rep. Gus Bilirakis

Rep. Chip Pickering

Rep. Joe Wilson

Rep. Todd Platts

Rep. Brian Bilbray

Rep. Rob Bishop

Rep. Mike Rogers (MI)

Rep. Mary Fallin

Rep. Henry Brown

Rep. Jon Porter

Rep. John Boozman

Rep. Kevin McCarthy

Rep. Wally Herger

Rep. Kevin Brady

Rep. Tom Cole

Rep. Greg Walden

Rep. Paul Broun

Rep. Michael Turner

Rep. Devin Nunes

Rep. Adrian Smith

Rep. Don Manzullo

Rep. Dan Lungren

Rep. Mike Conaway

Rep. Pete Hoekstra

Rep. Steve King

Rep. Eric Cantor

Rep. Virginia Foxx

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry

Rep. Tim Walberg

Rep. Michael Burgess

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter

Rep. John Carter

Rep. Charlie Dent

Rep. Bill Sali

Rep. John Shimkus

Rep. Duncan Hunter

Rep. John Campbell

Rep. Ted Poe

Rep. John Shadegg

Rep. Mike Pence

Rep. Tom Price

Rep. Louie Gohmert

Rep. Roy Blunt

Rep. John Boehner

Rep. Adam Putnam

A statement from Nancy Pelosi’s staff shows how disconnected are the Democrats from reality on energy (Washington Post);

“Republicans are too scared to go home to face their constituents after voting against bills to force Big Oil to use it or lose it, demand that the President free our oil from the government stockpile and crack down on speculators. In a week when Exxon Mobil made the largest quarterly profits by a U.S. corporation, Republicans are staying in Washington to argue that Big Oil deserves more taxpayer lands. That sums up their priorities.”

More hyperbole;

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) cited a poll showing the public blames President Bush, oil companies and foreign nations for $4-a-gallon gas.

Republicans have cited other polls showing that voters are more open than ever to offshore drilling.

Despite the nearly month-long Republican drumbeat to allow drilling in offshore areas currently off limits, Democrats did not allow Republicans a clear vote on the issue.

Democrats maintained that more drilling was not only environmentally risky but unnecessary, because energy companies were not using their record profits to explore in areas already open for drilling.

Category: Economy, Media, Politics