Live from the Guerrilla Congress

For an hour and a half this morning, I was on the House floor watching the Guerrilla Congress in action. Unfortunately, I have no photos to show for it, as Blackberries, iPhones, and cellphones were all banned from the chamber. The representatives I heard speak this morning (sadly, ol' Marsha Blackburn was not among them, though I did see her there): Adam Putnam (Fla.), Virginia Foxx (N.C.), Scott Garrett (N.J.), Frank Wolf (Va.), Christopher Shays (Conn.), Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Judy Biggert (Ill.), and Rob Bishop (Ut.). I think the theme of what everyone spoke on can best be summed up by what Rep. Putnam reiterated twice: "When the next generation looks at the Middle East on the map, they should be able to say, 'What an interesting place,' not, 'We depend on them for our economic security.'" A lot more under the jump.

To get in, we went through the Cloak Room, which hilariously featured handbags and Blackberries literally piled on top of each other everywhere. Apparently (some in our party went on Monday, as well), there were a lot more people there -- almost all the seats on the floor and half of the gallery -- were filled with either staffers or people who were on tours. Since I had no writing tools or phone, I'm going off memory, so we're switching to bullet points:

• The first and strongest standing ovation was at Virginia Foxx's declaration that ours is the greatest country in the world.
• Foxx also made the comparison of the "drive smaller cars and wait for the wind" comment (which she has printed on a poster) to the Marie Antoinette "let them eat cake," which isn't actually legitimate.
• Posters were popular, as were handouts -- apparently they're more organized now as the week has progressed. Scott Garrett had a whole series of posters which I couldn't see, but Patrick McHenry had the best one: an orange VW Bug with a windsail attached to it. They also had handouts today: a copy of the open letter to Nancy Pelosi, and H.R. 401: The "Enhancing Energy Independence Resolution."
• They were serious about no cell phones; two AAs who were sitting next to me were told by a cop to take their phones outside. Without Blackberries, DC ceases to function.
• Unrelated to the Blackberry stuff, Chris Shays gave that cop a high five one time when he went up the aisle.
• Frank Wolf, who is my congressman, was by far the most fired up. He has a long history with trying to stop the genocide in Darfur; visibly outraged, in a way that silenced the room, he yelled about Cuba selling China drilling rights off the coast of Florida, as well as the Chinese denial of Joey Cheeks's visa. Wolf left straight after he spoke; his was definitely the most impassioned speech, largely specific to the Olympics beginning tomorrow.
• To hear anybody, they had to yell. One speaker mentioned it was just like the 1850s in the House. I'm sure Judy Biggert and Scott Garrett had plenty of interesting, factually-based things to say, but I could barely hear them, and I wasn't even sitting that far back.
• Shays sort of reiterated the ridiculous foreigners drilling into our resources by discussing Canadian natural gas drilling off the coast of Nova Scotia, which is then piped through Canada, and sold to the U.S.
• Shays also made the point that he wanted Pelosi to come back and to have vote so they could actually have the debate that was going on today
• McHenry was hilarious: "Nancy Pelosi said she wants to save the planet. She repeated it, 'I want to save the planet' -- she had to convince herself," and then he talked about her jet, and when she wanted a bigger one a few years ago. "Don't buy her book. Don't encourage her."
• Rob Bishop was probably the best; not only was he also funny, he made an excellent point about American ingenuity (taking us through a lengthy timeline of American inventions), but also one about a French town that banned cars and will eventually face problems of horse manure and TB, relating that back to the turn of the century NYC, where officials welcomed cars -- the point being that looking to the past does nothing.

I think that's about everything -- totally a cool day.

Comments

[ScottJ]

Maybe instead of desperate political ploys to distract from another double-digit loss of seats coming their way in November, these GOP members should be home trying to save their hides, or gasp, they could be actually working on constituent services when their constituents are obviously suffering....

[B. Wilder]

"McHenry was hilarious . . ."

Amen. Glad I am not the only one who thinks closeted gay Republicans from the Carolinas are funny . . . Oh . . . you meant that he uttered a funny about Pelosi.

Nevermind. Saw on

[DG]

"The first and strongest standing ovation was at Virginia Foxx's declaration that ours is the greatest country in the world. "

Demonstrates the intellectual bankruptcy of contemporary conservatism, if this is what they can really get behind. Bill Buckley is spinning in his grave.

[Katherine Miller]

DG -- agree with you there, I wasn't editorializing that one, just reporting it. Foxx's entire speech went a little too heavy on the generic patriotic generalizations for my taste. As Mike can tell you, I'm not much for American exceptionalism as a talking point.

[Mike Warren]

"Glad I am not the only one who thinks closeted gay Republicans from the Carolinas are funny"

Why is it that the tolerant lefties always find homosexuality funny when it's a conservative who is/may be/is falsely alleged to be gay?

And I will concur with Katherine's analysis of herself. I, on the other hand, will debate American exceptionalism to the death.