Pelosi Turns Out The Lights But GOP Keeps Talking

Paging Mr Smith. Paging Mr. Smith. Paging Mr Smith. Paging Mr. Smith. Jimmy Stewart was a Republican, he would be smiling down from Heaven at the fight the Republicans put up agsinst the Dems about this.

House Dems turn out the lights but GOP keeps talking
Politico
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House, turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, arguing that Pelosi’s refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy. They have refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion passed at 11:23 a.m., and they are busy bashing Pelosi and her fellow Democrats for leaving town for the August recess.
At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on and the microphones were turned on shortly afterward.
But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one was witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left.
Only about a half-dozen Republicans were on the floor when this began, but the crowd has grown to about 20, according to Patrick O’Connor.
“This is the people’s House,” said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.). “This is not Pelosi’s politiburo.”
Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, and reporters were kicked out of the Speaker’s Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers.

“You’re not covering this, are you?” complained one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans “morons” for staying on the floor.

Update: The Capitol Police are now trying to kick reporters out of the press gallery above the floor, meaning we can’t watch the Republicans anymore. But Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is now in the gallery talking to reporters, so the cops have held off for a minute. Clearly, Democrats don’t want Republicans getting any press for this episode. GOP leaders are trying to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters aren’t kicked out.
Update 2: This message was sent out by Blunt’s office:
“Although this Democrat majority just adjourned for the Democrat 5-week vacation, House Republicans are continuing to fight on the House floor. Although the lights, mics and C-SPAN cameras have been turned off, House Republicans are on the floor speaking to the taxpayers in the gallery who, not surprisingly, agree with Republican energy proposals.

“All Republicans who are in town are encouraged to come to the House floor.”

Update 3: Democrats just turned out the lights again. Republicans cheered.
Update 4: Republican leaders just sent out a notice looking for a bullhorn, and leadership aides are trying to corral all the members who are still in town to come speak on the floor and sustain this one-sided debate.
Also, Republicans can thank Shadegg for turning on the microphones the first time. Apparently, the fiesty Arizona conservative started typing random codes into the chamber’s public address system and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing Republicans brief access to the microphone before it was turned off again.

“I love this,” Shadegg told reporters up in the press gallery afterward. “Congress can be so boring. … This is a kick.”

Update 5: The scene on the floor is kind of crazy. Normally, members are not allowed to speak directly to the visitor galleries, and visitors are prohibited from cheering. But in this case, the members are walking up and down on the floor during their speeches, standing on chairs. The visitors are cheering loudly. Some members even brought in visitors, who are now sitting on the House floor in the seats normally filled by lawmakers, cheering and clapping. Very funny.
Democrats faced a choice here: Should they leave the cameras on and let Republicans rip Pelosi & Co. on C-SPAN, or should they leave the cameras off and let the Republicans have their “tantrum,” as one Democratic aide characterized it, with the cameras off? So the cameras are off, but Republicans, and the crowd, are clearly enjoying the scene.
Update 6: Republicans are literally hugging each other on the House floor. Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), not normally known as a distinguished orator, just gave a rousing speech, accusing Democrats of stifling dissent. He referenced President John Quincy Adams, who returned as a House member after being defeated in his presidential reelection bid. Waving his arms and yelling, Manzullo brought the crowd (including a lot of staffers shipped in by GOP leaders to fill up the place), and he left the floor to hugs from his colleagues. You don’t see that up here every day.
Update 7: Rep Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) just pretended to be a Democrat. He stood on the other side of the chamber and listed all of the GOP bills that the Dems killed.

He then said, “I am a Democrat, and here is my energy plan” and he held up a picture of an old VW Bug with a sail attached to it. He paraded around the House floor with the sign while the crowd cheered.

Update 8: It’s over.
Right at the stroke of five Georgia Rep. Tom Price announced that House Republicans were ending their impromptu protest on the floor of the chamber, ending a five-plus hour rebellion with a round of “God Bless America.”
The assembled tourists, aides and members in the chamber gave Price and his compatriots a standing ovation. They left the chamber to shouts of “USA! USA! USA!”

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Wild Thing’s comment……..
Leave it to the Dems to turn the lights out in DC. I called C-Span and they said the House (Pelosi) will not send the feed to them. That if they did they would have put it right back on.
“This is the people’s House,” said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.). “This is not Pelosi’s politiburo.”
I would love to give him a bigi hug. Here is his website:
http://mccotter.house.gov/HoR/MI11/Home/
Boehner’s office, they said that the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE is responsible for turning off the mics and the lights!!I
Boehner’s office: (202)225-4000
This needs to be played on every radio station in America this month.
http://johnboehner.house.gov/UploadedFiles/07-30-08AdjournmentVoteJAB.mp3
Mike Pence
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said he was “not leaving until we call this Congress back into session and vote for energy independence…..Mike was one of the organizers of the protest, said up to 40 of his fellow Republicans were prepared to keep the talk-in going. ”
“Gesturing toward the tourists still filling the visitor’s gallery above, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said: “Tell your friends the Republicans refuse to go quietly!”
http://mikepence.house.gov/blog/
http://mikepence.house.gov/
Nancy Pelosi is holding this entire country HOSTAGE to her environmental marxism!!
Nancy I’m trying to save the planet email ….
http://www.speaker.gov/contact/
Pelosi phone #
202 225 0100
U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3
Section 3. He [the President] shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States
Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee (RSC), and Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN), former Chairman of RSC, today urged President Bush to call for a special session of Congress after the House adjourned without allowing a vote on comprehensive legislation to develop more American energy and help the millions of Americans currently feeling pain at the gas pump.
The text of their letter is below:

The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
The House of Representatives has not taken a vote since January 2007 that would expand domestic energy production. All the while, Americans are hurting. Every time they go to fill up their cars, trucks or tractors they feel the pain at the pump. High gas prices are harming the vitality of our families, the elderly, small businesses, and family farms. Each and every American is affected.
Today the Democrat controlled Congress adjourned for a five-week vacation without taking a vote on bipartisan measures that would lessen our dependence on foreign oil by allowing more domestic drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. In fact, they adjourned without even allowing time for debate on the subject of drilling.
On July 14, 2008, you took the strong action of lifting the executive order that had banned offshore drilling. In so doing, you said that allowing offshore oil drilling is “one of the most important steps we can take” to reduce the burden of high gas prices. Now, all it would take is an act of Congress for that drilling to begin.
Since Speaker Pelosi has decided not to keep the House in session to allow this vote to take place, we urge you to use the power vested in you by the Constitution to convene an immediate energy special session of Congress. Under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, you have the power ‘on extraordinary occasions’ to convene the Congress.
We believe that the energy emergency that has increased the pain felt by Americans when they purchase $4 per gallon gasoline is an extraordinary occasion. We urge you to immediately bring the Congress back into session to do its job and give the bipartisan, pro-drilling majority a vote.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.

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Republicans KNOW the country is FED UP with the attitude of Queen Pelosi and King Reid! This is going to point out IN REAL TIME just who in Congress cares and who doesn’t! GOD BLESS THESE BRAVE REPUBLICAN REPS!!!
What is the cost of the Democrat “No Domestic Energy Policy?”
No domestic drilling.
No new refineries.
No new nuke plants.
No new dams for hydro-electric.
No coal.
No shale.
Deplete the SPR.
Let Iran get nukes.
Let Iraq fall to Iranian domination.
No Canadian tar sands oil.
All of that puts the U.S. in a position that war for oil or complete economic collapse will be our only choices. You can’t frustrate every source of domestic energy without consequences. Our enemies will blackmail us
to the extent that we are vulnerable to blackmail.

…..”Perhaps you and I have lived with this miracle too long to be properly appreciative. Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction, It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again. Knowing this, it is hard to explain those who even today would question the people’s capacity for self-rule. Will they answer this: if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? Using the temporary authority granted by the people, an increasing number lately have sought to control the means of production, as if this could be done without eventually controlling those who produce. Always this is explained as necessary to the people’s welfare. But, “The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principle upon which it was founded” [Montesquieu]. This is as true today as it was when it was written in 1748.” – Ronald Reagan, California and the Problem of Government Growth, January 5, 1967

….Thank you Mark so much for the article.