Rock The House

The return of the Guerilla Congress today was a huge encouragement and it is really exciting to see what the House GOP can do when it sets its mind to it. The Dontgo movement is growing minute-by-minute and people want Congress to return to work and pass the American Energy Act.

Everybody is taking leadership in his or her own way. We've got Danny Glover and Jason Carini working on media distribution channels, Media Lizzy and Jenn Sierra promoting the events on internet talk radio, Robert Bluey and Reps. Culbertson and Wittman twittering from the floor, and Eric Odom setting up websites for the Dontgo movement. People are offering to drive visitors to the Hill, collecting money to buy food for Members, and creating promotional flyers, all on their own.

This is possible because a large group of people have been inspired by the Guerilla Congress and it touches on themes that all of us recognize. This event, at least for me, reminds me of why I became a Republican in the first place. Transparency, smart usage of modern technology, principled free market policies, and the thrill of fighting the establishment is what the Republican Revolution was all about.

Over the past two days, many people have worked to build an alternative to the MSM to get media from the floor out to the general public. However, as the phantom sessions gain more attention, it will become harder and harder to smuggle media out of the House chamber. What we need to focus on now as a movement is how to bring the American people into their House.

We can pump tweets out continuously and get some precious video or audio out from time to time to maintain page A13 attention, but we need crowds of energized Americans clamoring for change in the Capitol to take things to the next level. Right now, the MSM is dismissing the Guerilla Congress as a GOP stunt, but that will be much harder to do if there are long lines of excited and angry people waiting to get into the chamber specifically to take part in the phantom sessions. I know from experience that constituents are usually bored and disappointed when visiting the House gallery - if they are engaged and excited, that is a news story in itself.

We can make this happen. During the summer, a flood of people drive to Washington for vacation and take exhausted kids around the Mall in the humidity and heat, trying to show them the monuments and teach them about American democracy. They have just driven hundreds of miles and spent large amounts of money on gas - more than most other Americans would. They are almost the ideal target audience for the shadow sessions, and they have every right to be mad that the Dems skipped town for a vacation of their own when their vacations are cut short or made less enjoyable because of the price of gas.

If we build on this foundation, and add in the opportunity to spend time inside with the AC and let their kids go on the House floor while it is in a pseudo-session to interact with 20-30 members, we can probably draw people in. What we need to figure out is how to frame it, publicize it to tourists and do it right. It's an opportunity we can't afford to pass up.

Promoted. -Patrick

On Sunday, over thirty Republican Members announced that they would return to the House of Representatives to continue the Guerilla Congress's phantom sessions. Members will continue to discuss the need for an 'all of the above' energy plan with visitors, and keep the pressure on the Democrats to reconvene the House and allow a vote on offshore drilling.

The session is expected to begin around 10 AM Eastern. Twitter users on the #dontgo feed and members of the Facebook group, 'Rock the House! I Support the Guerilla Congress' have organized to capture video, audio and images from the event and distribute it throughout the web and to the MSM.

Those who are stepping up to get footage from the event are coordinating on #rth, and Eyeblast.tv has offered to promote any media uploaded to the website. If you plan to report from the event, be sure to stick to #rth and upload to Eyeblast.tv. From there, we will need the conservative netroots to alert the media about the Eyeblast content and promote it as much as possible.

Be sure to follow http://dontgo.us and Rock the House for continuing developments tomorrow.

And I blame MaryKatherine Ham for this one. Last Friday she published the following profile quote on Facebook: MaryKatherine Ham "is wishing she were on the House floor for the "Night the Lights Went Out in Congress."

MK, this one's for you. Since it's sung to the tune of "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia", I'll include a recap of the original here for those who are not familiar with this classic little Southern Gothic ditty. The original version's by Vicki Lawrence of Carol Burnett fame, but sorry Vicki, my favorite cover is by Reba McEntire accompanying this perfectly gothic clip from the CW's "Supernatural":

 And here is my ode to Vicki, Reba and the 8/1/8 "Rock The House" Band of Brothers (and sisters):

The Night That the Lights Went Out in Congress

It was a hot summer day in Washington
The money in my wallet was almost gone
My husband told the kids we can’t drive over to Granny’s
Americans said “Drill Here, Drill Now!”
Congress said “No way, no how!”
They weren’t countin’ votes, but we were countin’ our pennies
The gavel went down and the Congress recessed
Without any energy solution addressed
John Boehner asked Speaker Pelosi to please reconsider
She shut off the cameras and turned off the mikes
On the way out the door she flipped off the lights
While Congressman Cantor continued his debate in the Chamber

That’s the night that the lights went out in Congress
That’s the night that they killed our Energy Act
Don’t trust your vote to the Democrats in November
Cause the Speaker and the House ain’t workin’ for you, that’s a fact

The press went home and C-Span died
But the folks on the street were invited inside
To listen to Republicans staying and making their stand
Like drilling offshore and up north in ANWR
Devin Nunes showed a picture of a sail-powered car
He said “I’m a Democrat, folks, here’s my energy plan”
The people in the gallery rose to their feet
Their whistles and cheers could be heard on the street
While Culberson uploaded live updates to Qik and Twitter
The Band of Brothers stayed into the night
Republicans went home, then came back to fight
For American families who’ve suffered at the pump all summer

That’s the night that the lights went out in Congress
That’s the night that they killed our Energy Act
Don’t trust your vote to the Democrats in November
Cause the Speaker and the House ain’t workin’ for you, that’s a fact

Drilling is safer than ever before
On the Outer Continental Shelf and in ANWR
We want to send a message to the world that we’re independent
“Use it or lose it” on Federal land
Can’t force hidden oil to rise out of the sand
When the oil corporations spent three trillion dollars to find it
Nuclear, coal and natural gas
Can bring us clean energy that’s going to last
With solar and wind power and new modes of transportation
Republicans are asking for a vote up or down
They’re working for us and they haven’t left town
While Democrats went on a nice long 5 week vacation

That’s the night that the lights went out in Congress
That’s the night that they killed our Energy Act
Don’t trust your vote to the Democrats in November
Cause the Speaker and the House ain’t workin’ for you, that’s a fact