Republicans Protest Over Offshore Drilling Via Twitter

Partisan pranks kept Republican Representatives at the House in protest of the Democrats’ vote to leave for summer vacation without calling a vote on offshore drilling, Politico reports. Democrats voted to adjourn at noon but Republicans refused to leave, staying even after the lights and microphones were turned off.

There was no shortage of dramatics as Republicans entertained reporters and tourists in the gallery and online supporters using Twitter. C-Span cameras were turned off but Rep. John Culberson (R-Tex.) kept his twitter stream updated from his Blackberry. Culberson tweeted: “Here is a powerful use of social media – when they turn off the mike we can still communicate.” He and his fellow conservatives left tweets bashing Pelosi and demanding a vote on drilling. Colberson even shot and posted video interviews via Qik videos in the congressional hallways.


Rep. Devin Nunes paraded around with a picture of a VW Bug with a sail attached to it calling it the Democrats’ answer to high gas prices, says Politico. We’re still waiting for the e-mail forward of that one but check out our rendering in the meantime.

Democrats were silent throughout the antics. Only later did Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami say Democrats have “offered real solutions to bring down energy costs, promote renewable fuels and energy efficiency and promote oil production right here in America.”

Like a bunch of Internet commenters raging against a blog post, the Republicans might have generated lots of digital noise, but they didn’t wind up getting their vote.

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