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Last week, I was watching free baseball (Sox vs. Mariners, extra innings) when the phone rang. It was a curious invitation: Would I like to join a telephone town hall meeting with my congressman, Paul Kanjorski?
Boy howdy! There’s nothing I like more than the opportunity to switch seats and become a caller instead of the host of some gabfest. I was in faster than you can say “Ma Bell.”
You may wonder why the esteemed congressman would call the home of one of the few “known Republicans” in all of northeastern Pennsylvania proper. Was he reaching across the aisle? Creating a unity coalition? Randomly dialing until he got someone who wanted to chat? Wrong number?
I’m sure the answer is none of the above. You see, I am in a mixed marriage. My husband is a registered Democrat. Conversely, he hates to talk on the phone, even to Washington and most likely especially to Washington. He watches a lot of news television and does a fair amount of yelling at the TV from his chair, but sitting on the other end of a receiver listening to Mr. Paul just isn’t his thing. Plus, the Red Sox were in extra innings.
So, the fun began. If you wanted to ask a question, you had to hit star and then you could talk to a live human being, but not the congressman. The first thing I didn’t like about the “telephone town hall” was the fact that Congressman Kanjorski has a screener who asks questions about your question.
Aren’t the Democrats all about freedom of speech? What’s with the filter before you could get your question asked? This is sort of Orwellian. Imagine what would happen if Congressman Kanjorski’s least favorite president, George Bush, tried to pull this kind of stunt. It would evil him up a few pegs in the congressman’s book. It would be censorship. That’s a word our Democratic friends throw around quite a bit. So, what makes this so different? By the way, there was not ONE testy caller. Why doesn’t my day go like that?
This brings us to control of the medium and the message. Some of the congressman’s appearances recently have received oodles of hits on You Tube, and not because he’s dancing in front of Kingston Corners or near The Luzerne Borough Municipal Building. One shows him explaining the Democratic skill of “stretching the truth” in order to win seats in the 2006 election cycle. By jingo! It worked!
The second shows a testy exchange between the congressman and some overly inquisitive fellow who just wants to know if Kanjorski meant what he said about the truth stretching. Why some many questions, pal?
But the telephone town hall gives Congressman Kanjorski the chance to not have to directly confront overly zealous people who might not be as cordial as they are on the phone, especially if their questions are screened.
And, mine didn’t have a prayer. I knew it. They knew, too, even though the guy in Washington called it a good question. He said I could call (202) 225-6511 if my question didn’t get answered. It’s probably for a pay phone behind the Lincoln Memorial, so I didn’t bother.
Our congressman was in rare form that night. He talked about those “terrible tax cuts for the wealthy.” Since the Henrys received a tax cut, I should probably be sipping champagne out of a dress shoe right about now, but we really aren’t part of the limousine crowd. The congressman is, according to a Washington newspaper, so he must have received this “terrible tax cut.” Hopefully, he gave it back.
He spoke of some plan to give 80 percent subsidies to home heating oil customers if they would pay the other 20 percent. That sounded pretty sexy, but I was wondering what would happen to the suckers with natural gas, electric or coal. Would they have to shiver? I don’t know the answer because it was a one way discussion.
Some of the talk was apocalyptic. “Right now, we’re on a course for disaster,” he intoned before recommending that people should not get too depressed. He advised them to consult their clergy members if there was despair and to buy less. “Grit your teeth,” he encouraged.
And I did. There’s just something that smacks of Ann Landers when your congressman tells you to buy fewer pairs of jeans.
Peppering his discussion with mild profanity (age discrimination is “a damn shame” and although he can’t help everyone find a job he “will sure as hell try”), the congressman encouraged people to lay off the credit cards and promised to tamp down excessive interest charges with a legislative remedy.
Some things pleasantly surprised me. The congressman actually supports Anwar drilling, saying it can have a minimal environmental impact. He also touted nuclear power and the safety of that much-maligned industry.
Surprisingly, 89 percent of the citizens who heard the message said they found it useful. I was wondering why they normally find the work of congress (9 percent approval rating) so abysmal. Maybe the soothing sounds of their congressman’s voice made it all better. If it were only that easy. Words just won't cut it anymore, however. |
Rush Limbaugh
