Tired of tweeting "fuck you" to Congress? Sick of mowing the Mall? Maybe it's time to knock back a few beers, and THEN try reaching your representative. A new website, Drunk Dial Congress, helps you do just that.Launched last night, the site asks you to plug in your phone number. A couple seconds later, you'll get a call from a slurring dude who says the government shutdown has made him want a drink."When I drink I like to tell people what's on my mind," it says. "We're going to forward you to a member of the House of Representatives so you can tell them what's on your mind and tell them to get back to work."Seconds later, I was on the phone with a kind aide of Representative Paul Broun, an ultra-conservative congressman from Georgia. Broun, a member of the House science committee, is the representative who Bill Nye once called "by any measure, unqualified to make decisions about science, space, and technology."Nye's comments may have been aimed Broun's way because the congressman once said that evolution and the Big Bang theory were "all lies straight from the pit of hell."Anyway, Broun's most recent statement on the shutdown said that "House Republicans have opposed a government shutdown from the beginning," and that "Senator Reid has been as responsive as a granite statue." He would have been an ideal guy to yell drunkenly at. but unfortunately, I wasn't drunk at 9:30 AM.Drunk or not, I didn't end up speaking to a congressperson.The site was set up by Revolution Messaging, a progressive group that does things like this from time to time. In the past, they've pushed health care reform, designed ads for liberal candidates, and that sort of thing. Inspired by news stories about representatives drinking while the shutdown clock was ticking down, someone at the firm thought it'd be a good idea to call members while buzzed. Since launching at midnight, the site has facilitated about 1,000 calls.Each time I tried "Drunk Dialing Congress," I got a Republican rep, and then I was spam filtered out, but Keegan Goudiss, a partner at Revolution, says that all House members are included in their database."I can tell you it picks a random zip code in the US and inputs in our system then gives them a call," Goudiss said. He admits the idea is silly but thinks it could ultimately have an impact. "We think calling a random member of the House is good because then they'll be getting calls from all over the place. Having worked on the Hill, I can tell you that phone calls are one of the things that we think members will actually pay attention to."If you're so inclined and don't have a rant of your own prepared, the site gives you some talking points: Shout about the PandaCam shutdown, bitch about the berating of National Parks Service Rangers, or whine about the defunding of cancer research.Either way, it's clear who Scott Goodstein, Revolution Messaging's CEO, blames for this mess: “House Republicans in particular deserve to be screamed at,” he said. “And if they don’t like it, all they need to do is allow a vote on a clean CR, just as they should have from the beginning … We’re hoping this site will help furloughed workers keep their spirits up."
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