Nancy Pelosi: I'm here, have a nice vacation!

A new intern in the office today. I showed him the ropes, but he couldn't come to the Capitol because he doesn't have his badge yet. So I dropped him off at the deli and went to the Capitol myself to see what the House Republicans are getting up to.

I'm sure people who haven't yet stopped watching mainstream media are well aware that the Republicans have taken over the vacated House floor. Or maybe not; there's no video allowed in there so maybe the television has dropped the issue. Anyway, the impressive impromptu speeches that began on Friday restarted in earnest on Monday and have carried on today. In a bizarre twist, this minority leader is setting the "schedule" in the Hall of the House, but as I noted in the previous Wikinews article, there is no decorum and no procedure for these speeches. As I entered the galleries, which were considerably emptier today, John Carter (R-TX) had just gotten up to speak. He had a sore throat and was losing his voice, but carried on unscripted about how much we could help the American consumer by starting offshore drilling today. It was somewhere in between watching an impassioned House debate and a campaign rally, and indeed he seemed to have returned to the floor out of a sincere desire to give Republicans something to be proud about, and not just to throw a Big Oil-funded temper tantrum as the Democratic leadership insists. He made several interesting points:

• He ought to be at home right now: his wife and kids haven't seen him during the long Congressional session.
  
• He wished there were some Democrats here to debate. Yes, debate is the lifeblood of all politicians. ("Well, man," thought I, "they're at home with their spouses and kids... you're putting in overtime.")
  
• Since cameras, notebooks, and recording devices are not allowed, C-SPAN is turned off, and the reporters' galleries are closed, he is relying entirely on word of mouth from the folks like me in the visitors' galleries to tell our friends and blog about what they're doing on the floor. It seems like an earnest enough request to me. It's not like if the press is come in and take notes on every word of their five-hour talking sprees; yes, the person sitting next to me was cupping her hand around a pen and scribbling on a scrap of paper from her pocket, but she was clearly an aide. Reporters hate doing that kind of stuff these days.

The actual issue, of offshore drilling, strikes me as faulty but not for any environmental reason. We need to put off offshore drilling for wholly economic reasons. If you think $4/gallon gas is bad, wait until it's $8/gallon. Republicans are our national id, demanding we do everything we can right now, but looking towards the long view, if we can learn how to be thrifty now and cut down on luxuries, then if things get worse (and they inevitably will, at some point) we're good for the long haul.

Of course, no politician wants to tell their constituency to suck it up. Instead Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) came on and talked about how real Americans were now panhandling her at gas stations...