Can You Hear Me Filibustering Now?
You can blame Rush Limbaugh for this, as is the customary reaction these days.
The talk radio leviathan's health care opposition call to arms consisted of readers getting up off their couch, taking three steps, and calling Congress' special hotline. He's also imploring people to ask certain undecided House Democrats to cast a "nay" in the forthcoming health care vote. (Hey, it's more productive then making fun of Parkinson's patients.)
As a result, the Capitol switchboard has been inundated with 40,000 calls a day and about umpteen e-mails. The spokesman is well aware there's nothing they can do about it:
As long as the pundits, the Internet, the blogosphere keeps giving out the main number to the House and saying, "Call the House," they’re going to call.
(Oh, and if you want to join the Busy Signal Brigade, the numbers are 877.762.8762 and 202.224.3121.)
I'd love to hear some of these phone conversations. Do the switchboard operators actually engage with the citizens? Do they take down everything they say, or do they vie for the time-proven method of "air typing?"
Manning the telephony equipment this week could either be the most stressful job du jour, or the most potentially fun gig, depending on how one handles the pressure with a certain level of sass. "Yes, Mr. Jones, I'll personally hand deliver your extremely poignant criticism to Ms. Pelosi." Please tell me these calls are monitored for hilarity purposes.
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