My Dinner Last Night With Visiting US Reps (CODEL Pelosi)
So, last night I had dinner with a Congressional Delegation here to visit President Karzai.
The dinner opened with Speaker Pelosi telling how the military will be affected/supported by the House and some of the facets of HR1. I have a video of the end piece that I'm still trying to upload to YouTube.
I spent the majority of the dinner with the NJ Representative from the 8th district (not mine since I'm in the 3rd) Bill Pascrell, Jr. He was VERY nice and funny. He was also very frank. I had several questions and he was more than willing to answer. Unfortunately I left the notepad with the questions specifically for him at work so I had to go with general questions.
For instance , I was curious about the 11 Democrats that voted against HR1 aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I knew who they were but I was interested what his view on it was. He referenced the Blue Dogs (Fiscal Conservative i.e Republican Lite) Democrats, which I knew about, but that only accounted for about 6 of them.
I was interested in the other five or so who the headlines described as "vulnerable." I wanted to know his impression. He essentially said that they were freshmen members who thought that voting against aid for their districts, in the form of the stimulus, would make them look better at home.
In other words they were Democrats elected in conservative districts and they are preparing for the next election. Gee, what a surprise.
I just wanted to confirm that.
We weren't supposed to ask about politics so I snuck in a few other questions and then moved onto lighter topics. For instance I shared my future goal of becoming a Global Despot. A lovely conversation ensued.
We argued over whether Fordham, which he attended, or Rutgers, where I attend, had the higher rated law school and bet a dollar on it. I wasn't sure so we withdrew the bet but I promised I would check Newsweek's ranking to see who was right.
Well Newsweek website isn't opening up but Top Law Schools is and is ranking Forham 27 and Rutgers 77...I lost by alot LOL. http://www.top-law-schools.com/rankings.html .
I'm okay because Rutgers is a damn good school and I'm not going to law school anymore anway LOL.
We posed for some pictures Rep. Pascrell, the Captain from PA, and I.
We had a bit more discussion, where I shamelessly inquired after intern positions, and then we jumped into a group picture with the female Reps visiting: Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), and Rep. Rose DeLauro (D-CT).
Since I was standing right there I asked the Speaker for a picture together.
After the picture she reached out a hand and thanked me for my service. I took her hand and and leaned in to hug her (I'm from the South...we hug). The moment I touched her hand I realized she was coining me.
To explain the military has a tradition involving coins. The way I heard the story a flying unit during WWI or II had coins made especially for them and everyone flew with them. One pilot gets shotdown and is captured. I don't remember all the details but in an attempt to prove he's American he pulls out the coin and one of the individuals recognizes it having worked with the unit before. They arrange for him to return to his unit. For some reason I'm thinking it was WWII and France. I'm sure every service has some version of that story.
I suppose I could google the story...but it's not that serious.
Anyway coins, or round metal objects R.M.O, are a military tradition. I was surprised the Speaker of the House had a coin but there was it was with the Seal of the Speaker on the front and her signature on the back.
It's a nice coin. Everyone, even those with some serious Pelosi issues, acknowledges that.
It was a nice dinner and good time was had by all. The last CODEL I attended was pretty formal. At this one Madame Speaker led in singing all the service songs...which was pretty fun.
I also got a picture with Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA). She kindly posed when I ran up on her and asked for a picture.
I didn't manage to get a picture with Rep. Rose DeLauro. She was SUPER nice and funny.
I haven't heard how the visit with President Karzai went today but that is another blog entirely.
Siobhan
Kabul, Afghanistan 21 February 2009 1704pm
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Comments
You asked great questions, and absolutely you should get an internship!
Thanks for posting this.
I figure I might as well put that political science degree to some sort of use.
Perhaps I'm planning to pull a Lelouch (anime reference to Code Geass)
The pictures are nice and writing interesting. You should get the intern job.
And really - I love the pics. All are keepers. And I gotta say, I looooooove Nancy Pelosi. I can't get enough of hearing "Madame Speaker'.
@ Waking: Congressional Delegations often visit deployed locations and have meals (breakfast or dinner) with the troops. Whenever you see "So and So is meeting Karzai or Talibani" they likely had a meal with servicemembers at the local camps. They also travel to various forward operating bases (FOBs).
Typically the service members from the Rep or Sen. states are the ones invited. These days they publish the list of attendees and everyone can sign up on an excel spreadsheet. The group picture was just the female military attendees. The guys were taking the pictures LOL. Rep Pascrell, though not from my district, was from NJ so I attended because of that.
I also get invited when SC (my place of birth) reps visit but I would only show for Clyburn (D-SC) since I would just berate all those Republicans for their voting records.
I quite like how the pictures came out. The photographer with them (a Navy Captain who is a part photographer; I just found out he got picked up for Admiral) also promised to email me ALL the pictures he took of the event.
I, unfortunately not being from Illinois or Nevada, did not make the list last July for the CODEL Reid visit which featured then Senator, now President, Barack Obama.
Thanks for answering.
I hope and pray for your service there to be uneventful and you return home safely.
Good luck with the whole "vietnamization" thing. It worked great in the 60s so I'm sure it'll work just as well today. Keep your head down.
Stay safe over there. My buddies on the ground keep telling me that things are getting worse, especially in the south and east.
That 'edit comment" function might be useful here.
Thanks for giving us peek into your fabulous world. I had never heard of 'coining' that was amazingly cool. Great pics too! Rated!
Great photo with Madame Speaker Pelosi. I've never quite understood why the right so demonized her. At her worst she simply acquiesed a little too easily to the Bush administration. You'd think the right would be happy to see that.
@ Stellaa: Hoorah indeed for the California Delegation
@ Joe: I do have to pay up. The next time I run into him I’ll cough up the dollar. I wanted to make sure everyone could see it all.
@ OE: Oh I don’t post anything that could be an OPSEC issue so that isn’t a probable. A lot of people are aware of this blog…this was my (lurking) refuge during the election cycle when I got tired of brawling.
@ Gordon: As a service member constantly under the threat of an IED or SVBIED attack I don’t find your comment amusing at all. Perhaps you don’t realize CODELs stay on military installations or are traveling the same roads as the military members here and as such have the same chance of being attacked as we do. Perhaps you also don’t realize that the convoys they’re being escorted by are run by military members.
Afghanistan (and Pakistan) cannot be allowed to continue as failed states from which terrorists organizations can launch attacks because they don’t like our way of life. That is vastly different from the Vietnam war. The previous adminstration took their eyes off th goal here and that's why we have the current situation.
All I can see is that you clearly have no regard for the risk of loss of life, limb, or injury that service members face on a daily basis while deployed. Your “keep your head down” as an afterthought can be kept to yourself.
Your comment has been deleted.
@ Ardee: Oh it’s no problem. Members of Congress have dinners like that with their constitutes I believe.
@ Edgar: It is quite a nice coin. I got one from the Canadian General I work for the other day so I think I’ll post pictures of that and the one I got from Admiral Mike Mullen. They took your liberty in Australia for a visit? Well…it is the Navy…LOL
@ Waking: Done and Done
@ Verbal: Thank you
@ Irritated Mother: Thank you for the compliment
@ Olga: Aww, thank you so much. It was a nice experience.
@ One: Yup, coining is a nice tradition. Of course you can buy a lot of different coins online too (I think)
@ Susanne: Thank you for the compliment. Oh, I’m pretty sure about law school. I’m currently having a crisis of academia right now too LOL.
@ Ice: What branch of the service were you in? I’m currently at a joint assignment and over the last year I’ve gotten coins from a Navy Senior Chief (E-8; The CSTC-A Chief Mess Coin), a Canadian General (future Deputy of the Land Staff), The Commanding General of CSTC-A (Army 2 Star), the Chairman of the JCS (Admiral Mike Mullen), the regular CSTC-A coin, one from someone on ISAF, and Nancy Pelosi’s Speaker of the House coin. Back in high school my drill team was invited to perform at the Pentagon for the incoming Deputy Secretary of State and he coined all of us too.
At home I have a massive coin collection which is sitting on my desk at work. At my first assignment one of my going away gifts was a coin holder, that everyone signed, because I had so many coins laying on my desk.
The right hates her because she’s a “California Liberal.” Her voting record and following Bush’s directives doesn’t matter at all.
@ Randy: I’m happy now that Ms. Pelosi is making herself heard. The last two years of Bush wasn’t much different from the first six.
@ Al: Who needs politicians for that? I do that all on my own.