The weather was miserable on the Hill today - about 45 degrees and drizzly. I knew all the Representatives would most likely be taking the tunnel when votes were called, so I trekked over to the Senate side.
It ended up being a good day. I was able to briefly interview Lindsey Graham and Mark Pryor. On the flip, I'll fill in the details.
I first ran into Lindsey Graham. The man is not in a good place right now. Almost all Democrats hate him, notwithstanding his bipartisan wimperings regarding climate change legislation, for his support of Bush policies up and down the line. From torture to wiretapping to war to judges to social issues (including gay marriage), Graham has been a loyal member of the Republican caucus.
But now... because of his rumblings about supporting Climate Change legislation... and his love of John McCain... well... Republicans across the country are hating on him too.
But there is one thing...
There are oft-repeated and loud whisperings that Lindsey Graham is a gay man.
So a lot of gays were really surprised when Graham went after Judge Sotomayor on the basis of anonymous grumblings of attorneys that had appeared before her. Their complaints were ridiculous, amounting to little more than she had an uneven temperament... Leaving aside the fact the Justice Scalia is as mercurial as they come - he even wrote in a recent decision that flatulence could be considered a pollutant - and nobody seems too concerned about his "temperament", it was notable that Graham would be the one to go after Sotomayor armed with little more than anonymous rumors.
So I asked about the conflict. And I asked if he'd comment on the rumors swirling in his wake - rumors concerning his sexuality. And I asked where he stands on Don't Ask Don't tell. (video at the link)
Next up was Mark Pryor. He's not been a big player in the health care debate, but he is from Arkansas (as are Blanche Lincoln and Mike Ross), and he's known to be one of the most conservative members of the Democratic Senate caucus.
So I asked him if he'd join with Republicans in filibustering a Senate health care bill if, say, it contained a public option. (video at the link)
A comment on my title...
Last night I posted a diary about being repeatedly detained by Capitol Police at the behest of Virginia Foxx and other Republican lawmakers. In the comments of that diary, someone asked me how law school was going. I mentioned that I graduated, tried to give activism a shot, but couldn't find any institutional support for my work, so I plan on taking the bar and becoming (probably) a divorce lawyer.
The response was unexpected and extraordinary. Over the next 24 hours, I received over $300 in direct donations through the paypal form at my website. Moreover, TheCrookedDope was visited by several thousand people.
You will notice that I did not embed the YouTubes in this diary. The reason for that is that I'm holding out hope that between donations and advertising, I may yet be able to continue working as an activist.
Look - this isn't intended to be a sobbing GBCW diary, and I hope you don't take it as such. The simple fact is that I've got 2 kids, a wife and over $180K in student loan debt. I think my work in the George Allenand Virgil Goode races was productive, I was proud to glom onto Spocko's coattails when the KSFO story made headlines, "Hannity Sucks Ass" was fun
and so was inciting Bill O'Reilly to call out the Fox News Police. Forming the largest group on MyBO.com(the GetFISARight group) ended up in disappointment for us all, but it had to be done. And the birther videosBrett Vaughn and I conceived and produced were useful in terms of exposing exactly how crazy a place the Republican Party is in right now.
So, anyway... I think it is only natural for anyone that has had the fun and success that I have had fighting the good fight against dishonest "conservatives" to want to be able continue doing this kind of work... But life is what it is. As long as the folks that run our esteemed left-leaning organizations remain risk-averse and unwilling to fund bloggers, activists, social engineers and culture-jammers... well... unless we develop a different model, those of us that do this kind of stuff will come and go as life permits.
Ah... Did you catch the key words? "Unless we develop a different model"... Well, some folks have. Like Kos. Atrios. Jane Hamsher. They are all funded by a contributions from the netroots and/or advertising. Sooooo... That's why I did not embed the videos. I want to earn your eyeballs. I want you to start visiting TheCrookedDope. While you are there, I hope you will consider dropping a coin or two into my PayPal hat located on the side bar. I really, really, really hope a few of you will consider "subscribing" and choosing to make recurring donations.
In return, I promise that I will do my best to cover the Hill like no other reporter (except maybe Rachel Maddow). If you have questions you want asked of certain people, I'll do my best to do that for you. I know many of you would like to see an improved product from me. I promise to listen to your criticisms and strive every day to do a better job than I did the day before. In short, with your traffic and/or support, I'll work my ass off to be YOUR reporter on the Hill.
Finally, there is this: I want you to know that I know that to the extent I've been successful, success has come in no small part because of this community. CallingAllWingnuts would never have been born without y'all... This blog - this community - on several occasions launched my effort into the larger press; whatever I was working on got noticed here first. And notwithstanding certain disagreements (the trip to O'Reilly's home comes to mind), I've always known the people that hang out here share my core values and play on the same team I do. When my leg starts trembling and a tremor creeps into my voice as I go toe to toe with a bad guy, I've always known who I'm working for. So however this works out... whether or not I can make a go of this... Thank You, DailyKos.