I tried to give Patrick Leahy a Constitution today...

[LittleLightShining]

So today there was another event at the State House (in addition to the VT C4L convention). I'm not really sure what it was but it was some sort of recognition ceremony for some teenagers. Lo and behold! Who was there? Patrick Leahy, Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch. So I grabbed 3 copies of the Constitution and headed into the reception room.

My first target was Welch since he was the first one I could see. I walked over and stood waiting for him to finish talking to some kids and his secret service agents stopped me. I was informed that I should not make a scene because this was a special day for the kids. I asked him why he was assuming I was going to make a scene-- I just wanted to quickly give my representative a book. He apologized and let me wait.

So I got Welch's attention as he was finishing with the kids and shook his hand. I introduced myself and handed him a copy of the Constitution, saying, "I don't think you've read this, here's a copy of the Constitution." He kinda looked at me funny and didn't really know what to say. Then comes Pat Leahy strolling over and I turned to him, extended my hand and said, "Senator, I was hoping to see you. I just wanted to..." (at this point he noticed the button I was wearing with the Gadsden flag on it and his whole countenance just turned evil) "... give you a copy of this Constitution because I think you might want to reread it." Oh he was so mad at me. He was absolutely indignant and said, "I am extremely insulted by this, do you know that I am the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee? I have read the Constitution many times!" He was getting loud and kind of in my face a little so I just lifted up my hands like I'm not trying to start anything, turned to the secret service guy so he could see it wasn't me getting angry and raising my voice. I said, "I was just trying to give you a copy of the Constitution'" and he says,"How dare you come in here during this ceremony for these kids and try to turn it into a political [something, I can't remember]" and I said, "OK" and I walked away.

I then went over to Bernie Sanders, he turned to me, we shook hands, I said, "Senator Sanders, I just wanted to give this to you, thought you might want to read it again," he smiled, thanked me and I went back to the convention.

Just a little vignette from today I thought you'd all enjoy :D

I'll post more about the convention soon. Kinda wiped out right now.

[Matt Collins]

Wow... what a jerk.

Senator Sanders handled it the best.

[tpreitzel]

Wowzers! :) Leahy should have been arrested for causing a scene. ;)

[LibertyEagle]

Good on you, LLS. :)

[Cowlesy]

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

Those situations are always so tough, I always have a zinger but I can't spit it out like "Really? Well your voting record doesn't make it seem like you do."

[LittleLightShining]

Wow... what a jerk.

Senator Sanders handled it the best.


Wowzers! :) Leahy should have been arrested for causing a scene. ;)

Welch is such a wimpy little coward. Leahy is pretty much pure evil and Sanders really is a man of the people, even if he is extremely misguided.

[LittleLightShining]

Good on you, LLS. :)Thanks :)

I only regret not bringing someone in with a camera. It was a really spontaneous thing, though.


Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

Those situations are always so tough, I always have a zinger but I can't spit it out like "Really? Well your voting record doesn't make it seem like you do."I didn't even want to go there. I just wanted them to remember a Vermonter handing them a Constitution saying they should read it. I didn't want to leave them with a bad taste in their mouth about it, just a polite request. I figured that was about the snarkiest thing I could do. They know I know that they know their records are crap.

[tpreitzel]

Welch is such a wimpy little coward. Leahy is pretty much pure evil and Sanders really is a man of the people, even if he is extremely misguided.

A spy cam would have captured the moment in vivid technicolor and audio. ;) Embarrass these jerks publicly.

[sluggo]

Excellent work.

Another good idea would be to hand them their oath of office and ask for their autograph.

[Old Ducker]

Nice work LLS, but when he yelled, "Im the chairman of the senate judicary committee and I've read it many times." You should have responded, "I suppose you just suffer from poor reading comprehension."

What an ass!

[LittleLightShining]

A spy cam would have captured the moment in vivid technicolor and audio. ;) Embarrass these jerks publicly.

Like I said, I regret not bringing a camera in... lesson learned.

Excellent work.

Another good idea would be to hand them their oath of office and ask for their autograph.That would have been great! Maybe I'll do that with the state legislators.


Nice work LLS, but when he yelled, "Im the chairman of the senate judicary committee and I've read it many times." You should have responded, "I suppose you just suffer from poor reading comprehension."

What an ass!Thanks :) Yeah, but then I would have given him exactly what he wanted. It's why he started getting loud with me in the first place. I don't have much but I do have some self-control :)

[Todd]

Even though Bernie Sanders is a socialist douche....he's at least a principled and honest one. Doesn't surprise me he was gracious..

[MsDoodahs]

Great job!

[klamath]

Sorry senator I was giving you the benefit of the doubt in that I thought you had forgotten some of the constitution but aparently not. I guess you willfully violated it.

[tpreitzel]

Like I said, I regret not bringing a camera in... lesson learned. Yep. Opportunity always knocks when it's unexpected. You've given me an idea, though. Maybe, we, the people, should assume the responsibility of testing our non-representatives self-control or lack thereof. Now, which button do I press? ;) Political Paparazzi ...

[LittleLightShining]

Sorry senator I was giving you the benefit of the doubt in that I thought you had forgotten some of the constitution but aparently not. I guess you willfully violated it.

That would have been perfect, actually.

[Matt Collins]

A spy cam would have captured the moment in vivid technicolor and audio. ;) Embarrass these jerks publicly.
They are only $90
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/656264-REG/Swann_SW234_PC2_DVR_421_PenCam_Mini_Video.html

[RideTheDirt]

thanks man I love to hear about things like this.

Edit: If you seem them again and they have violated the Constitution (which they will) ask them why they didn't do their homework. Bring a camera.

[LittleLightShining]

Yep. Opportunity always knocks when it's unexpected. You've given me an idea, though. Maybe, we, the people, should assume the responsibility of testing our non-representatives self-control or lack thereof. Now, which button do I press? ;) Political Paparazzi ...Ooooohhh! I like this :)


thanks man I love to hear about things like this.Glad to oblige!

[ItsTime]

Exactly what I would expect from the a Senator for the most corrupt state in The Union. The guy is a complete jack ass.

Good job being brave.

[ItsTime]

Did you have a camera? They have pen cams for like $40 :D

[Athan]

youtube it or it didn't happen!

[dr. hfn]

good work!

[LittleLightShining]

youtube it or it didn't happen!

I knew that was coming sooner or later :p

[LittleLightShining]

Just found this picture, kinda reminds me of the way he was talking to me:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/63157/thumbs/s-LEAHYCHENEY-large.jpg

eta it was somewhere between tthe one above and this one: http://www.yannone.org/BlogPics/PatrickLeahy2.jpg

[ItsTime]

Like most people in the Vermont legal and political system he believes YOU work for him.

[LittleLightShining]

Like most people in the Vermont legal and political system he believes YOU work for him.

Oh, definitely.

BTW, I spoke with Len Britton (http://lenbritton.com/)'s (Republican challenger to Leahy) campaign manager this morning and Len would appreciate me giving him the Constitution Leahy didn't want. I sent what I posted in the OP to a couple of groups and posted it on facebook and apparently it is starting to go viral in VT. The campaign manager had received it 8x via forwards in less than an hour of my having posted it.

I know it's a stunt but I'm game. Anything to shame Leahy. Plus Britton is for bringing the troops home from Afghanistan is looking into Letters ofr Marque and Reprisal as a way to deal with terrorism (thanks to a bug I put in said campaign manager's ear last week).

[JeNNiF00F00]

Just found this picture, kinda reminds me of the way he was talking to me:

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/63157/thumbs/s-LEAHYCHENEY-large.jpg

eta it was somewhere between tthe one above and this one: http://www.yannone.org/BlogPics/PatrickLeahy2.jpg

Evil man. Look at his eyes. Nothing is there.

[MsDoodahs]

Leahy needs to go.

[SL89]

Props! to you. Besides the fact that I never meet people in backwoods MT, I rarely have more than one copy of the constitution with me. Works well with laymen but, wow, you did well. Call the bastards out every chance you get.

[JeNNiF00F00]

You should have let him know that we are watching him closely. Just to give him something to think about.

[Matt Collins]

The real question is, did you shake his hand? ;):D:)

[LittleLightShining]

Evil man. Look at his eyes. Nothing is there.
That's nothing compared to looking right in them. Cold as ice.

Props! to you. Besides the fact that I never meet people in backwoods MT, I rarely have more than one copy of the constitution with me. Works well with laymen but, wow, you did well. Call the bastards out every chance you get.Well, we were having our VT C4L convention so we had a table with all kinds of goodies right there. I grabbed 3 and ran.


You should have let him know that we are watching him closely. Just to give him something to think about.I'm pretty sure if he didn't know before he knows now.


The real question is, did you shake his hand? ;):D:)
Of course I did.

[BenIsForRon]

Patrick Leahy was actually a decent senator during the Bush years. He led the hearings on Gonzales and he was one of the louder critics of the patriot act. He ended up voting for the bailout, though, and you really can't forgive someone for that.

Sanders is great, only problem is he'd like to see us become like a typical Western European country. He will be a great ally to help dethrone the elites.

[LittleLightShining]

Patrick Leahy was actually a decent senator during the Bush years. He led the hearings on Gonzales and he was one of the louder critics of the patriot act. He ended up voting for the bailout, though, and you really can't forgive someone for that.

Sanders is great, only problem is he'd like to see us become like a typical Western European country. He will be a great ally to help dethrone the elites.
Funny, my father in law was saying the same thing about Leahy last night.

It seems many in the Second Vermont Republic would like to see Bernie as president if we ever secede. If he is an ally, it would be so that he could become much more powerful. Don't get me wrong, I like him and tend to agree at least as much as I disagree with him. However I do feel that if he was concerned about dethroning elites he would fight harder for Vermont-- and by fighting harder I do not mean bringing in more subsidies for farmers.

This story has hit the VT blogroll: http://greenmnts.blogspot.com/2010/01/pat-sez-we-are-not-intimidated-by-thugs.html

[jmdrake]

Patrick Leahy was actually a decent senator during the Bush years. He led the hearings on Gonzales and he was one of the louder critics of the patriot act. He ended up voting for the bailout, though, and you really can't forgive someone for that.


That's cause it was the Bush years. Clearly he's a party hack. Had a few less voters been disenfranchised in Florida or a less chads been "hanging" Leahy would have been a sucky "Gore years" senator.



Sanders is great, only problem is he'd like to see us become like a typical Western European country. He will be a great ally to help dethrone the elites.

Sanders seems to be the senate version of Dennis Kucinich.

Side note: We should make this a meme. Go up and hand copies of the constitution to elected representatives we know violate it. Kind of a "wearechange" light. :)

[LittleLightShining]

Sanders seems to be the senate version of Dennis Kucinich.

Side note: We should make this a meme. Go up and hand copies of the constitution to elected representatives we know violate it. Kind of a "wearechange" light. :)
It's not a bad comparison...

I We should definitely be handing out Constitutions to these people.

And autographing the oath of office.