This Friday, March 26 happens to be Nancy Pelosi's 70th Birthday!
Given how much serious ass she kicked in herding cats, twisting arms and otherwise corralling 219 Democrats into passing the most sweeping (if flawed) overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system in 45 years, I thought it would be a great idea to do a repeat of the famous 2004 Barbara Boxer Rose Campaign to celebrate Speaker Pelosi's 70th birthday.
***This is a cut & paste of Brainwrap's Roses for Pelosi Diary, because it has fallen off the rec list and we're still a day away from these roses getting delivered. Full credit to Brainwrap, who has done all the work in making this happen. I just donated my diary space to get this back on the rec list. BIG thanks to Brainwrap for the doing the legwork in getting this started, and BIG thanks to all the folks who have donated their $10 to show Speaker Pelosi how awesome she is.***
So, I took the easy route: I simply contacted the same national florist delivery service that was used 6 years ago, got a callback from Tina at Coast to Coast Florist, and lo and behold, we're all set!!
SO, here's the deal:
Coast-to-Coast Florist is gonna give us the same special pricing that they gave for the Boxer campaign: Just $10 to send 3 roses direct to Speaker Pelosi's Washington D.C. office!
To add your order, simply call: 1 866 596 1860. You can send more than 3 roses, but it's a flat $10 per batch of 3. They'll take your name and credit card info, and you'll be all set.
They can take orders right up through Thursday evening. All roses will be delivered to her D.C. office on Friday, as a combination Thank You/Happy Birthday from those of us who admire her amazing accomplishment in pulling this thing off.
To help spread the word, link back to this diary, or to the official link on Coast to Coast's website.
Other ways to say thanks:
Join the facebook group wishing Speaker Pelosi a happy birthday and thanking her for healthcare reform. (Must log in after following link.)
Write hera thank you note.
Donate money to the Speaker.
Donate to other candidates that supported HCR. If you’re not sure who needs support this diary will help.
Update: A FAQ based on questions from yesterday's thread:
How many roses are we up to, and will you keep a tally?
--as of today, we were up to 1,600 roses. I'm supposed to hear from them this morning with an update, and will check in from time to time through Thursday evening. For comparison's sake, for the Barbara Boxer campaign, a whopping 4,500 roses were sent! I'm not saying we should try and beat that number, just mentioning it for interests' sake :)
How about the wording of the card, the timing of the delivery to her office and so forth?
--I'm supposed to discuss these things with the florist on Thursday afternoon. They wanted to wait until then to get an idea of how many roses will actually be delivered--if it's a couple hundred, it's one thing; if it's several thousand ala Boxer, it would require more coordination (for instance, we'd almost certainly have to give one of her staffers a heads up before cramming thousands of flowers into the cubicles lol).
Are you gonna notify the press?? This could be a huge P.R. thing for the Speaker!
--On Thursday I'll also discuss the press notification situation with them. If it's only a few dozen, no one (besides her and her staff) will care, but if it's a zillion roses, the local news loves stories like that. It'd be a great P.R. thing for her as well, showing that, contrary to what the press (and GOP) would have you believe, there are plenty of people who want HCR and who support Nancy Pelosi. No doubt the florist will appreciate the free publicity as well!
Can I place my order after hours?
--Yes, Coast to Coast has made arrangements to accept orders 24 hours a day through Thursday evening , so you can call in your order any time between now and then!
Can I use PayPal?
Not for this particular campaign. Again, I'd just call them up at 1 866 596 1860.
What about an order receipt?
From Coast to Coast:
"If they want a receipt they just have to let us know and we can email it right away."
It sounds like they're a fairly small operation, but they're extremely responsive, and they're legit.
Plus, in their "hold" phone ad voiceover, they mention that "Our mission is to say "Yes we can!" to our customers." Draw your own conclusions lol...
For those who have pointed out that, as nice as roses on her birthday are, donating to her campaign would be a more practical/useful thing to do with our money, I say this: Yes, you're probably correct, and yes, I strongly urge people to also donate to her re-election fund--or to other deserving candidates--but it never hurts to also show a non-financial gesture of thanks to someone who's doing their job well.
Update: I also wanted to call attention to Steven D's diary, which goes into the back story about just how much credit Speaker Pelosi deserves for this victory. I don't agree with every decision that she's made--in fact, I've strongly disagreed with her on many issues. HOWEVER, given what an unholy mess the whole HCR process had become, and given the realities of where things were at both politically and procedurally, it's absolutely astonishing that she pulled this off, and she should be commended heartily for doing so.
Besides, it's always a nice thing to give flowers to a grandmother* on her 70th birthday! (Although I'm sure Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh will smear me for doing so lol...)
*Yes, that's right--she has 5 kids and 7 grandchildren. Look at that pic above and tell me you'd ever guess that.
Update x2: We got a shout-out from TPM! h/t to The BBQ Chicken Madness (at the bottom):
Meanwhile, progressives are pushing an online campaign to send 3 roses for $10 to the speaker's office this week in honor of Pelosi's 70th birthday on Friday. They claim they are up to nearly 1,000 roses ordered.
Update x3: OK, we're starting to get a bit of blogosphere momentum now: There are links or reposts of the diary on OFA, Patrick Henry Press News, D.U. and Crooks & Liars now.
DruidQueen's comment: I will not post the other updates from Brainwrap's diary, you're welcome to take a look yourself. I've posted the pertinent stuff for ordering the roses. Again, big thanks to Brainwrap for organizing this. I will make updates to the amount of roses as they come in.