John HarwoodVerified account

Hi, John. As I answered elsewhere: Journalist married to a senator here. Our rule for ourselves: When we are out in public we belong to the public. Is this sometimes uncomfortable? Sure. We remind each other: Look what we get to do in this life.

I love John’s reporting but agree with Connie on this one. Especially when constituents are often ignored through other channels. Cough cough @SenToomey

People are holding their elected officials accountable in personal ways because the news media is shirking its responsibility to do so. Massive Trump fraud disappears from headlines in days. Child concentration camps never hit the front page.

If journalists hounded our elected officials through the halls of Congress on the issues that matter, regular citizens wouldn't feel the need to do so in restaurants. People are frustrated and angry, and the news media has to shoulder part of the blame.

Respectively I disagree. How many of these cowardly politicians are refusing to hold town halls or debates? How many of their local offices have their VM full so constituents can’t leave messages or turned away at their offices? They have forgotten that they’re political

servants. When they refuse to meet with the people, we have every right to confront them. I am not condoning violence. But if big donors can pay thousands to sit and eat with McConnell, I think those with smaller bank accounts should confront him where they find him.

John, this is what happens when corruption flourishes and countless people are deliberately denied the right to vote. People get pushed to extremes when traditional means of exercising their power are increasingly stripped away.

And those telling the people who have been robbed of their power to stay quiet and polite are doing the work of the oppressors. The GOP would like nothing better than for us to be polite little church mice while they stomp all over us, cheating to control all the levers of power

Our politics is completely broken because McConnell and his entire party sold themselves off to all their donors and lobbyists. He stole a Supreme Court seat from Obama, forced an unqualified nominee through for another seat, and gave billionaires a huge tax cut. (1/2)

He also wants to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He is waging class warfare on middle class Americans and aiding and abetting Trump's corruption by letting him keep his tax returns private. (2/2)