I won lunch with Mary Landrieu tonight!!

[yankeeinlouisiana]

I was at a silent auction and one of the items that were auctioned off was a lunch at Ruth Chris' Steak House with Mary Landrieu.

There were two other bidders and you could tell we all really wanted to win. But I placed the highest bid, so now I get to go to lunch with Mary!! Yeah for me!!

:woohoo:

Now I have to figure out what am I going to say/talk to her about.

I want to be respectful, but I haven't been very happy with the way she has been voting lately.

Any ideas?


:think:

[Spirochete]

1. What was second prize?

Dinner and a movie with Mary Landrieu? hehe

[yankeeinlouisiana]

2. No, I'm quite excited about meeting her.

Hey, it's hard being a democrat down here!

:-)

[ReadTomPaine]

15. Please don't fawn over her...

She's just another person. Given her current record, she *needs* to have someone sit her down and eloquently explain just how furious a lot of people in her own party are with her votes.

RTP

[Neecy]

53. well...

The dinner sounds good, I'm not sure about the company.

Why don't you ask her why she screwed not just her party but the entire nation with her ANWR vote?

Sorry, but she infuriates me.

[blitzen]

3. tell her that I....

a Baton Rouge Dem who has voted for her several times, will never, ever, ever vote for her again (ANWR). She has aligned herself with those who value self-interest over the common good. I wouldn't mind the steak at Ruth's Chris, though.

[Hissyspit]

4. Bankruptcy Bill!!

Terrible thing for her to vote for... (I am remembering that correctly, right?)

And isn't Ruth's Chris Steak House running ads with Sean Hannity as spokesperson?

[yankeeinlouisiana]

10. Unfortunately, yes, you are remembering correctly.

I think she should introduce legislation to reign in the credit card companies and help out the people who are in debt.

I'll mention that too!

[yankeeinlouisiana]

5. I was going to bring that up.

I called her office regarding that and I told them that I really saw no reason why I should vote for her in the future. But here's my opportunity, and I want to make it a good one!

[ReadTomPaine]

6. Here's one - Bankruptcy bill

"How were you convinced that an increase in the margin of profit for credit card companies was worth going against the will of the Democratic Party establishment and deeply upsetting your constituency and democrats across the country in general? There are people who will commit suicide over medical costs because of your decision in years to come. Catching a few frauds hardly seems worth the high cost to people's lives or the trust many have lost in you."

RTP

[yankeeinlouisiana]

12. That's a great one!

Can I use it verbatim?

[ReadTomPaine]

16. Happy to assist - please use as you like! n/t

[FreedomFry]

7. What an opportunity.

Just before lunch is over, please ask her why she doesn't just turn Republican and get it over with.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

11. My husband is betting Mary won't make it

past the salad course.

:rofl:

But I'm sure we'll have a very nice lunch.

;-)

edit: spelling

[Carolab]

8. Ask her if she'll pick up the tab.

And leave the tip.

Then tell her you feel ripped off because she's abusing her taxpayer-paid position by FAILING her constituents.

[Carolab]

9. Dupe

eom

[Vadem]

13. Tell her that many of her supporters who have sent MONEY...

for her reelection, will never again send MONEY for her reelection, since she has shown us that she is NOT for us Democrats, by voting for the bankruptcy bill, the drilling in ANWR, and so many other Repub lite bills. We need to elect a DEMOCRAT from LA and I WILL NEVER AGAIN SEND DOLLARS TO THAT DINO!

[Hissyspit]

14. Sorry to rain on your parade, yankeeinlousiana! I would go...

if I won. To talk to her seriously.

Plus: Filet Mignon, Medium Rare.

Plus: She's Hot.

But, really, she's a big disappointment so far. Look over some serious issues here at DU and then bring them up at dinner. She needs to hear it. What committees is she on? Your report afterwards will make a good post.

[BlueEyedSon]

17. Isn't lunch at night called "dinner"?

[Syrinx]

19. only if it's eaten at night,

I think. ;)

[ReadTomPaine]

24. So you can have lunch and dinner at the same time..

... if you make it at noon and eat it at night? ;)

RTP

[Syrinx]

38. well, you're getting into sensitive territory

But I wouldn't disagree, especially re. Mary. But I think we're talking past each other, regarding the auction and the actual dinner, but maybe we can discuss it down at the Y. :P

[MoonGod]

33. When I used to visit relatives in Texas...

... it was the other way around, actually:

Dinner was the meal that we ate around noon.
Supper was the meal in the evening.

*shrug*

[pacalo]

18. Please remind her that she gained a lot of admirers when she showed

her spunk during the Democratic filibuster designed to block WhatsHisFace's ultra-right federal judge nominations. Then tell her we need to see the same spunk in speaking out against each deplorably bad decision made by this administration.

Voting to promote neocons instead of getting rid of them isn't showing the same spunk. It suggests a lack of principle, a lack of backbone, & a lack of regard for what's best for our country.

Mary Landrieu has a lot to prove to me.

[ReadTomPaine]

20. Here's one for ANWR

“Your ANWR vote was a big blow to the Democratic Party. Keeping ANWR alive was a symbol of our unity against the republicans, as the oil supply is so limited there as to be inconsequential either commercially or strategically. Ecology may not be as big a concern with voters here as it is in other parts of the country, but loyalty and common sense are very highly valued here. How could you help the Democrats lose face on this issue after such a stinging election defeat? You made us look weak and divided in front of the entire nation. Republicans win because they are very disciplined and on message, not on the basis of their politics. Since this was a symbolic issue and not a practical one, why did you help Republicans instead of us Democrats?”

RTP

[mattclearing]

49. I was going to say something along these lines.

You have to ask her this. I'd just as soon kick her and Lieberman out of the party for stuff like this.

[the_spectator]

21. She is SO HOTTTT!

I'm so jealous - get her drunk and see what happens! She has to be the best-looking politician out there (except for Gov. Granholm!)

[BlueEyedSon]

23. Steph Herseth is MUCH cuter.

Although, did you see Debbie Wasserman Schultz kick ass the other day re: "Terri's Law"?

[the_spectator]

25. I did see Wasserman Schultz - not bad -

but my dream date would still be Landrieu and Granholm at once (leaving all politics aside.)

[ReadTomPaine]

26. Well here they are - let everyone decide on their own!

Steph Herseth



Debbie Wasserman Schultz



Jennifer Granholm



Mary Landrieu


RTP

[the_spectator]

29. nice pic of Landrieu

Bad pic of Granholm though - she's much cuter than that. I remember watching her speech at the convention: even though it was painfully stiff, she spoke like a particularly uninspired grade school teacher, one was simply captivated by her nevertheless.

[ReadTomPaine]

34. Hmmm.. these might be better..

Jennifer Granholm


and



Have to say most of the photos I've seen are like the one posted earlier..

RTP

[BlueEyedSon]

32. I have a thing for brunettes. nt

[Comicstripper]

52. On the Republican side:

We have Ms. Mary Bono...

[Vadem]

28. Hot......my ass! What kind of bullshit is this malarkey???? n/t

[the_spectator]

30. see post # 26 n/t

[flygal]

22. Oh I can't wait for your full report!

She spoke at a Navy Ball I attended and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz she was totally catering to the repugy audience and shrub. She was so null and void. Hope you have a good chance to get some info on why she voted the way she did.

[Swamp Rat]

27. Tell her we want health insurance, jobs, more teachers,

and fix the goddamn potholes in New Orleans! x(

[ReadTomPaine]

37. LOL, there's a lot to fix in New Orleans!

It's amazing how poor the infrastructure is in that city, as well as the level of corruption in the police force. And thanks to the huge unfunded mandate burdens put on places like NO in particular, the budgetary vise-grip is crippling.

RTP

[QC]

31. Tell her a bunch of anonymous types on a message board somewhere

don't like her because she doesn't vote the way they want her to every time, even though doing so would destroy her political career and those anonymous types don't vote for her anyway, much less shell out a few bucks every six months or so.

That'll put the fear of God in 'er!

Edit: shel --> shell

[Helga Scow Stern]

35. Ask her how it was touring the tsunami-stricken areas w/ Frist.

Did he really always make sure there was plenty of devastation behind him when he was photographed?

Were they really wasting valuable aircraft availability to jet around for photo-ops?

Don't be obnoxious, of course. But you could just ask her what it's like hanging out with Frist.

[brettdale]

36. cool let us know what happens

Lets us know what you asked her and how she responded.

[ConsAreLiars]

39. Talk to her about "realpolitik"

See if you can get her to talk about winning elections, compromises, how power works, the limitations on what she can do, and how all that meshes with her goals and what she hopes to accomplish. This assumes she is a sincere person doing the best she can for the greater good. A good starting point - assume the best - but if she is just a crass opportunist this will probably come out in evasions and doubletalk. Looking forward to a report on how it goes.

[housewolf]

40. Talk to her about election reform

Tell her that our electoral process has lost its credibility since 2000, in large part because of the use of insecure electronic voting machines and tabulators and the huge number of voter fraud issues in 2004.

Explain to her that the electoral process belongs to the people and should not be wholey given over to private interests, particularly when owners and stockholders of such companies are major campaign contributors to one party or another.

Explain to her that when it comes to elections, proprietary software and systems that cannot be tested or audited by the public's representatives that have been proven to be non-secure is against the public's interest.

Explain to her that credibility in our electoral system is the foundation of our democracy and that the incredibility of our electoral system undermines our entire system of governanace.


If you get a chance to talk to her about another matter, talk to her about the issue of corporate influence in government and the "revolving door" system. Corporations can afford to hire highly-paid people to push their agenda in Washington whereas we, the people of the country, do not have the ability to do that therefore corporations have much more influence upon legislators and legislation that the people do. In addition, there is a system in place where legislators, their aides and presidential aides "cash in" on their government service by moving from government service into the lobbying business where they take advantage of the contacts they made while in government service. In effect these people are turning against working for the public good to being lavishly paid to use that experience to work against the public good and for private interests.

Good luck, hope you have a great time.

[fujiyama]

41. Ask her

about why she feels she's a Democrat.

Ask her for what cost is she willing to sell out the poor, the disenfranchised, and everyone else that should be the base of our party, for some contributions from credit card and oil companies.

Ask her how selling out the poor and the middle class and catering to the wealthy will help Democrats' chances in red states.

Tell her that as much as you understand the political realities of being from a conservative that you still feel let down and ignored when she basically gives a rubber stamp to the first several months of the Bush administration's agenda.

[cap]

42. era and how to sell it in Louisiana

eom

[oscar111]

43. BANKRUPTCY BILL!! complain and urge a corrective bill from her

eom

[oscar111]

44. Paper Ballots - Canadian Model

if it works for Canada, it can work for us.

ALL vote machines add complexity .. which can hide tricks.

Even "reform" machines like the VVPT.. with paper receipts for audit, are no good. Only elections with big margins ever get audited. To steal, just arrange for your boy to get over three percent surplus of votes. Big margin, No audit. VVPT suddenly no protection at all.

Most democracies have NO machines of any kind.

Canadian Model: pure paper, no machines.

{it is also cheaper: no buying machine, no trucking, no storage, no upgrade costs}

[anarchy1999]

45. Congrats and Good Luck!

If I'm not mistaken she voted for drilling in Alaska. That was my final straw with her. I think I'd want to know why.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

46. Kick!

For the late Saturday morning crowd.

:-)

[amazona]

47. congratulations!

I don't think it's realistic to get into the ANWR or bankruptcy bill votes. She may be making strategic trade-offs there which could be important to protect Louisiana interests.

My worry is I wonder if federal money is being cut back from Louisiana as much as it seems to me. The whole FEMA mess...it seems like the feds are looking for ways to cheat this state out of our emergency aid. The feds killed the rapid rail that was supposed to go from the airport in Kenner to downtown New Orleans. I have heard talk of big cuts in coastal erosion aid. I've heard so much of this bad news over the last 4 years I've kind of shut down but I bet you could get lots of examples from the Louisiana forum.

I would love to know if she is able to share her plans for getting more federal money back into this state. It will be tough without Breaux. I feel Vitter is useless. Our state has been spoiled in the past with some good Senators doing good jobs at getting our fair share of funding, but with a weirdo like Vitter dragging us down and the whole Republican attitude of "screw Louisiana," it just worries me.

I may be especially bitter because FEMA denied federal emergency status to the storm which hit my parish hard, Tropical Storm Bill in 2003. In years gone by, such a storm would have merited federal recognition.

But it isn't just about FEMA and coastal erosion. I hear the stories and rumors of federal cut-backs coming from all directions.

In any case, I really think the tack to take is to ask about how she plans to help the people of this state get a bigger piece of the pie.


On Edit -- I am pretty upset about FEMA popping up and suddenly demanding millions back from Louisiana which has already been spent! They do not seem to understand that flood damage, mitigation, etc. is a real issue here. If they want a coastline, and they want people to live on it and work on it, they need to treat us like human beings and not assume we're all welfare parasites. SOunds to me like FEMA is using the excuse of "we don't like your paperwork" to put an unfair burden on the state.

Link to today's article on the FEMA mess:

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-2/111242521247370.xml

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[leesa]

48. Ask her why she wants to hurt us by voting for things like the bankruptcy

bill. Ask her who she works for.

[Rose Siding]

50. Thank her for what she's done right

Support for military benefits, and her KILLER speech in the judicial overnight filibuster last year come to mind.

She infuriates me sometimes but she's been real consistent on those two issues- in that GOP-called media fest, Hatch tried three times to steal the floor from her and she *hollered* "NO I WILL NOT YIELD". She was wonderful.

She REALLY messed up on ANWR and bankruptcy (most recently)

[ReadTomPaine]

51. Yes, thanking her for her role in the judicial filibuster is important..

.. and it's a perfect counterpoint to ask why she made the disappointing votes she did in those other issues later. It both encourages her to do the right thing in the future, and opens the door to ask some of the tough questions later.

RTP