Thursday, July 23, 2009

Practical advice for killing ObamaCare

"No vote in Congress is a win for America," says HotMES, who makes some useful suggestions:
We can’t stop him for three and a half more years . . . but we can stop members of Congress by letting them know the votes won’t be there the next time around if they vote yes on bills that will break our country economically.
Can I declare August official Tea Party month? . . . Find every event they are doing in your state and be there. August recess is our time to take the power back!
Excellent suggestion. And Saturday, I'll be speaking to the Virginia Tea Party Patriots at their Liberty 101 conference in Richmond.

Ordinary Americans need to realize how much power they really have, if only they'll use it. Last week, I was in a senator's office on Capitol Hill, waiting in the lobby to meet somebody, and the phones were ringing off the hook with callers demanding that the senator vote against Judge Sotomayor.

How the senator will vote, I'm not sure, but when the calls are running 3-to-1 on a certain issue, that makes a difference. When the calls are running 5-to-1, it makes an even bigger difference. And when John Cornyn gets booed in Texas . . . well, betcha that got his attention, huh?

The title of my speech Saturday is, "Don't Get Angry, Get Organized." I could sum it up in four words: Politics is about lists. If you've ever seen a political operation that knows how to put that principle into action, it's an amazing thing to watch.

Bill Clinton famously built his political base in Arkansas by keeping a file of 5x7 index cards with names of his contacts and information about them. He built up that file, and worked his contacts, so as to have a network of supporters who knew him personally.

People were always amazed at the way they'd run into Clinton at a reception and he'd say, "Oh, Fred! Yes, I remember back in '81 when I met you at . . ."

That's not a talent, it's a skill, and the only way you develop that kind of skill is by hard work. Whatever you say about Bill Clinton, he was a man who dedicated himself at an early age to developing the basic skills of political organizing.

If conservatives lose, we ought not to lose because of sheer laziness. What a shame to let liberals out-work us!

5 comments:

  1. I learned when I was very young that it's not what you know but who you know. The biggest reason to go to college is the people you will meet that may well become your life long contacts.

    I call it people collecting...

    That's why I married a man who knows all about commas.

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  2. How do we get a list of upcoming tea parties across the country? By the way follow the health care debate at www.ilovebenefits.wordpress.com

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  3. ilovebenefits,

    Go to http://teapartypatriots.org

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  4. Jane Hamsher needs to be a better liar. The truth is that the 46 million figure (which she conveniently rounds up to 50 million) is totally bogus. . .

    If you are hearing this, you need to be prepare. For a breakdown of why this 46 million number is bogus, see . . .

    see http://www.sbabg.org/2009/07/24/thetwo-biggest-fattest-lies-in-the-health-care-reform-debate/

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  5. Soylent Green would be a much better way to go than Obamacare. The elderly would provide excellent nourishment for those under 50. By adopting this plan we would solve the hunger and medicare problems in this country.

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