Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives (46 page)

“Whatever you say”
: Conservatives for Congress Committee in Tucson ad, posted May 21, 2010. Anonymous assailant: Dan Nowicki, “Vandal hits office after Giffords’ vote,”
Arizona Republic,
March 24, 2010. Crosshairs: SARAHPAC map posted on Palin’s Facebook page, March 23, 2010. Giffords response: Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie interview with Giffords on MSNBC, March 25, 2010. Kelly ad: posted on Jesse Kelly campaign website.

“Listen, young lady”
: Interviews with two of the attendees.

“absolutely the Tea Party”
: Chris Cillizza, “Raising Arizona,”
Washington Post,
March 15, 2010. “Gabrielle is not like other”: Giffords for Congress ad videos and speech transcripts. Debate with Kelly: YouTube of Sierra Vista debate, October 20, 2010.

she discussed the matter with Pelosi
: Interviews with Pelosi and Giffords aides.

“there’s a big difference”
: YouTube video of Giffords on election night, November 2, 2010.

CHAPTER SIX: THE INSTITUTIONALIST

Boehner had been at his home
: Interview with two Boehner staffers. Pelosi and Christmas tree: Annie Groer, “Rep. Giffords voted against Pelosi for House Speaker [
sic
]—but that was SO last week,”
Politics Daily,
January 13, 2011. “I am horrified”: Boehner statement, January 8, 2011. “And frankly”: Transcript of phone call, January 9, 2011.

In 1808
: Benson John Lossing,
Harpers’ Popular Cyclopaedia of United States History from the Aboriginal Period to 1876
(New York: Harper, 1881), p. 481. Sickles versus Key:
New York Times,
February 28, 1859, April 13, 15, 16, 27, 1859. Ryan assassination: Report of a Staff Investigative Group to the U.S. House Committee
on Foreign Affairs, May 15, 1979. Capitol shooting: Martin Weil, “Gunman shoots his way into Capitol,”
Washington Post,
July 25, 1998. Anthrax: Tom Daschle, “The unsolved case of anthrax,”
Washington Post,
October 15, 2006. Shuler threat: Interview with Shuler, March 3, 2011. Markey: Interview with Markey, July 12, 2011. Udall: “Mark Udall receives death threat at Denver office,”
Huffington Post,
May 25, 2010. “I know many”: YouTube video of Boehner statement, March 25, 2010.

Chaffetz came to Boehner
: Interview with Chaffetz, July 8, 2011.

“I stand opposed”
: Scott Lilly, “Republican earmarks: Fool me twice?”
Huffington Post,
March 11, 2010.

F
OR A
M
AJORITY
: Quoted from the thirty-seven-page document. Majority leader vote: Interviews with four attendees. 122–109: Ken Rudin, “The Boehner upset,” NPR, February 3, 2006.

C
ANTOR
R
ULE
: Author personally observed. McCarthy and Boehner to Tea Party: Interview with McCarthy, May 5, 2011. Pledge: Pledge to America website. “out of touch”: Dan Balz, “Boehner defends criticism of financial overhaul as excessive,”
Washington Post,
June 30, 2010. Noem:
Argus Leader,
October 20, 2010.

“end earmarks”
: Jake Sherman, “Cantor calls for earmark moratorium,”
Politico,
October 13, 2010; Cantor, “A step towards curing Washington’s spending disease—eliminating earmarks,”
Politico,
October 13, 2010.

“by being led”
: Interview with Lott, May 13, 2011.

CHAPTER SEVEN: STATE OF THE WEINER

“Am I to understand”
:
Congressional Record,
January 7, 2011. “And just a word”:
Congressional Record,
January 17, 2011. “You know”:
Congressional Record,
January 19, 2011. (Author personally observed all of these.) “House Mouse”: YouTube video of Weiner floor statement, April 1, 2011.

had predicted on CNBC
: Weiner on CNBC, August 17, 2009. “I don’t think”: Meredith Shiner and Maggie Haberman, “Left laments Barack Obama’s move to center,”
Politico,
January 24, 2011.

“a pyromaniac”
: YouTube video of Weiner-McCaughey debate, October 5, 2009.

January 25
: Author personally observed.

CHAPTER EIGHT: MADAM MINORITY LEADER

“win the future”
: State of the Union address, January 25, 2011. Retreat: Felicia Sonmez, “Obama pays short visit to House Democratic retreat,”
Washington Post,
January 21, 2011.

a self-styled messaging coach
: Author personally observed.

Shuler had called her
: Interview with Shuler, December 21, 2010.

$65 million
: “Anti-Pelosi ads break records,” CNN, November 8, 2010.

“we have to pass”
: YouTube video of Pelosi speech, March 9, 2010.

“I know how to win”
: Interview with Pelosi, July 19, 2011.

the whip race
: Marc Sandalow, “House Democrats pick S.F.’s Pelosi for minority whip,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
October 10, 2001.

“felt like a ten-pound anvil”
: Zachary Coile, “Pelosi sketches strategy on key issues,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
January 22, 2009.

“brain dead”
: “Pete Stark: Dem moderates ‘brain dead,’ ”
Politico,
August 27, 2009.

The unemployment figure
: Peter S. Goodman, “Joblessness hits 9.5%, dampening recovery hopes,”
New York Times,
July 2, 2009.

House Democrats caucused
: Interviews with five attendees.

CHAPTER NINE: CONTINUING RESOLUTION

“Tantalus Club”
:
Oswego Daily Palladium,
March 18, 1902;
Washington Times,
December 18, 1902;
Washington Herald,
February 1, 1911; “The small talk of Washington,”
New York Times,
April 7, 1904, February 29, 1904; “British Ambassador a hit,”
New York Times,
December 19, 1902; “Tantalus Club forms a Cabinet,”
Washington Times,
February 3, 1905; also copy of Tantalus Club menu at the Shoreham, 1907.

Duncan deposited it
: Author personally observed.

Grover Norquist
: Jonathan Strong, “Conservatives push ‘anti-appropriations committee,’ ”
Daily Caller,
October 19, 2010. RSC letter: “Rep. Jeff Duncan invites cosponsors to bring back the Byrd Committee,” January 24, 2011. Cantor: pen-and-pad transcript, February 8, 2011.

the Triangle
: Author personally observed.

At the end of January
: Interview with Duncan, February 16, 2011, and with two other attendees. $100 billion versus $32 billion: Andrew Stiles, “Cutting the full $100 billion,”
National Review Online,
February 10, 2011.

“This new number”
: Interview with Labrador, September 23, 2011. “I will not lose me”: Elise Viebeck, “Lifetime of grief management readied Southerland for Congress,”
Hill,
October 17, 2011.

“Look”
: Interview with Duncan, February 16, 2011. “That’s the coward’s way out”: Interview with West, February 15, 2011, verified by two other attendees.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy
: Interviews with McCarthy, December 21, 2010, and March 23, 2011; see also Draper, “How Kevin McCarthy wrangles the Tea Party,”
New York Times Magazine,
July 13, 2011. McCarthy backstory: Interviews with McCarthy, March 23, 2011, and mother Bert McCarthy, March 24, 2011. “Watch this guy”: Interview with Lott, May 13, 2011. “You can’t have”: Interview with McCarthy, March 23, 2011.

a meeting with the Cardinals
: Interviews with seven attendees.

“Do we just”
: House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee hearing, April 1, 2011.

“I am trying to support”
: House Appropriations financial services subcommittee hearing, February 11, 2011; also interview with Yoder, February 17, 2011.

“This is a rather literal”
: Flake press release, September 28, 2007.

“Transparency and openness”
: Hoyer pen and pad, February 15, 2011.

“What are we doing”
:
Congressional Record,
February 15, 2011.

Pelosi was watching the tally board
: Author personally observed.

Jeff Duncan also wanted
: Interviews with Duncan, February 16, 2011, and March 14, 2011.

Blake Farenthold had been
: Interviews with Farenthold, March 3, 2011, and April 13, 2011.

“I go to bed”
: Boehner on C-SPAN video, June 12, 2007.

“this outlandish massacre”
:
Congressional Record,
February 17, 2011.

“looks and talks”
:
Washington Post,
January 9, 1956. “If I can be half the man”:
Detroit News,
January 22, 1956. Civil Rights Act:
Detroit News,
March 28, 1956. Cabaret tax:
Detroit Labor News,
March 1, 1956. Taft-Hartley:
Machinist,
March 29, 1956. FDA:
Detroit News,
January 25, 1956.

CHAPTER TEN: MOMENT OF SILENCE

“Mr. Speaker”
: Author personally observed; also
Congressional Record,
March 1, 2011.

Walter Jones was
: Interview with Jones, March 8, 2011.
Mother Jones:
Robert Dreyfuss, “The three conversions of Walter B. Jones,”
Mother Jones,
January/February 2006.

Sam Johnson was escorted
: Author personally observed; also
Congressional Record,
February 17, 2011.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: BLACK REPUBLICAN OUT OF FLORIDA

Josiah Walls
: Samuel Denny Smith,
The Negro in Congress, 1870–1901
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1940), pp. 75–78; Peter D. Klingman,
Josiah Walls: Florida’s Black Congressman of Reconstruction
(Gainesville: University of Florida Presses, 1976). “Sir, the Negro”: Smith,
The Negro in Congress,
p. 138. “I cannot live”: “Southern Negro’s plaint,”
New York Times,
August 26, 1900. De Priest: Elliott M. Rudwick, “Oscar De Priest and the Jim Crow restaurant in the U.S. House of Representatives,”
Journal of Negro Education
35, no. 1 (Winter 1966), pp. 77–82.

desire to be a player in the CBC’s
: Interviews with West, February 15, 2011, March 2, 2011, April 8, 2011, April 26, 2011.

a town hall in Pompano Beach
: Author personally observed, February 21, 2011.

CPAC convention
: YouTube video, February 21, 2011; also interview with West, March 2, 2011. Sinise: Interview with West, March 29, 2011. Borgnine photo: Author personally observed. Beck: Glenn Beck radio show, April 11, 2011.

For a Tea Party icon
: Interview with West, March 2, 2011. Heritage Action: Heritage Action website (West scored a 74). Frank:
Congressional Record,
February 17, 2011. “I have never seen”: West press release, February 18, 2011. “Barney Frank at midnight”: Interview with West, March 2, 2011. West legislation:
Congressional Record,
April 4, 2011. State of the Union notes: Author obtained a copy. White House reception: Interview with West, February 15, 2011.

flew to Atlanta
: Interview with West, April 8, 2011; also Kyle Wingfield,
“Allen West on growing up in Atlanta, and ladders versus hammocks,”
Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
March 25, 2011.

CHAPTER TWELVE: RADICALIZATION

Duncan was now sitting through
: Interview with Duncan, March 14, 2011.

There was a single mosque
: Interview with Duncan, March 14, 2011; interview with Oglesby, April 19, 2011. New Jersey case: “Cain claims Muslims tried to influence sharia law in OK and NJ,” Politifact Georgia, July 27, 2011.

In early March
: Transcript of Committee on Homeland Security hearing, The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community’s Response, March 10, 2011.

Sheila Jackson Lee
: Interview with Duncan, March 14, 2011.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: WOMAN OF A CERTAIN RAGE

The legendary Houston
:
Jet,
November 30, 1972. “epitome of the new politics”:
New York Times,
October 23, 1971. “militancy is expressed”:
Sepia,
October 1972. LBJ and Mills:
Washington Star-News,
January 14, 1973. Rodino currying favor: Lawrence E. Taylor, “Sketches of members on Judiciary panel,”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
April 21, 1974; also interview with Jordan’s AA Bud Myers, May 1, 2011. “brightest member”: Taylor, April 21, 1974. Jordan and National Archives: Mary Beth Rogers,
Barbara Jordan: American Hero
(New York: Bantam, 2000). Jordan’s speech: YouTube video, July 25, 1974. Outside: Interview with Myers, May 1, 2011. Retirement: Jordan statement given to
Time,
January 6, 1978; Rogers,
Barbara Jordan.