1. Possible contenders to Trent Lott as Majority Leader have withdrawn their hats from the ring. So, he's going to get the post, and the ability to get things done in the Senate will depend on him.
2. I suggest a thorough FReep of Trent Lott, to happen in two forms:
a. A fine demonstration by the exellent folks at the D.C. Chapter, as soon as Lott is back in his offices, and as soon as certain critical matters, spelled out below, have been taken care of.
b. A FReep by e-mail of Lott, subject to the same conditions.
3. The objects of this FReep will be:
a. Reorganization of the Senate as soon as the lameduck session begins, not waiting until January. That means a new Majority Leader, new Committee Chairs, and new membership to reflect the new Republican majority. The theme of this is: "The Majority / We Have It / Let's Use It" (Jim Talent will be seated immediately, as will What's-His-Name from Minnesota who may not vote with Lott but certainly will not vote with Daschle. So the Republicans will have a majority now, not even relying on a tie-breaking vote by Cheney.)
b. The Senate has about fifty bills bottled up, thanks to Daschle, which have already been passed by the House. The most important of these is Homeland Security. The themes of this are: "Free / the Daschle / Fifty" and "Homeland / Security / Now" (As you can see, all themes are stated in a way that can immediately appear on posters.)
c. Immediate Committee hearings on judicial nominees who have not gotten them, and immediate floor votes on those who were highly qualified but were savaged by Leahy's Committee by votes of 10-9. The themes of this effort are: "Justice / for the Judges / Means Justice / for America" and "'Highly-Qualified' / Is Fine With Us"
4. Before we go public, I think we should have a thread on FR chaired by Jim Robinson, to set our themes and approaches. There's been substantial trashing of Trent Lott on FR such as Trent ("Vacant") Lott, and references to "a spinal transplant." He's there, he's going to stay there, and we have to work with him and through him. On rhetoric and approaches, I think we should have guidance from JimRob before we go public. (I confess my own guilt in this matter.)
5. In addition to FReeping Lott, we should FReep the media. Again, we have to get our act together and be ON MESSAGE before we do this. I think the first demonstration outside Lott's office will get more press coverage than our Rallies on the Mall have done, for two reasons -- this is the FIRST such demonstration directed at Lott, and it is a man-bites-dog story because we support Lott and yet are demonstrating to push him to do certain things. The media FReep should be three days before the office demonstration, to get the word out.
6. Last but by no means least, we need to talk to the American people about the agenda in the Senate. We have a medium to do that -- talk radio. We should target the whole spectrum from the top national hosts like Rush, to the regional leaders like Jerry Agar, 50,000 watts in the afternoon out of Raleigh, NC. Again, we MUST be ON MESSAGE before we do this. A thread on FR on the day selected could allow FReepers to report in, as they make it on-air on various shows. The talk radio FReep should be two days before the demonstration, to encourage participation by all who can make it.
Because there is a critical role in this for JimRob, I have flagged him with this response. Also, because the FR Network might want to be involved, I have flagged Bob J. I think I've identified the three main issues -- reorganize the Senate now, pass Homeland Security and the other captive bills, and get some judges confirmed. (We might specifically focus on Dennis Sheed, to pay a last compliment to Strom Thurmond.) But, the discussion thread I propose might result in changes in priorities. To hold our focus, I suggest that we come out of that discussion with a bullet list of no more than three items, and guidelines on language to be used in the demonstration and in the FReeps of Lott, of the media, and of talk radio.
Once we have our program set, then we should seek out our natural allies among other interested organizations, both to help in getting the word out, and to pump the numbers in the demonstration itself.
Hope these thoughts are useful.
Respectfully Submitted,
Congressman Billybob
I don't know if he is still, but Doctor Raoul used to be a heavy hand in the D.C. chapter. I'd like to see what he has to say in this regard.
I want to address each of your points later, btw, when I have time.
Thanks!!!