Price: It’s true that he said that, yes.

I gave you a star, but I like your analysis so much that I wanted to give you more props in a comment. I think you are spot on here. There are plenty of theories on how to fight Trump (or any bully), I’m partial to the strategy of rhetorically mocking a bully until they lose any semblance of cool and embarrass…

One difference in this instance is how trivially easy it is to prove the lie is a lie. Trump’s lies are Orwellian: black is white, up is down, wrong is right. In fact, his lies are creating the foundation for a Stalinist take on “reality.”

This was a conformation hearing for the budget director that the Senate is required to have. Merkley was not taking time up that would or could have been used on “more important” things. It’s not even as if this is taking up the attention of the full Senate.

You should care when your president uses the press secretary to stand in front of the world and lie because his ego is so fragile he can’t stand being sub-par.

No, it doesn’t matter exactly what you say - they’ll record your call and your position on the issue in their system no matter what. The person answering the phone is not a legislative staffer; it’s an intern/staff assistant, so don’t be intimidated!

It’s important to call out the lies of the administration.

How many minutes do you spend talking about issues?

Yes, there are. And we should poke and prod at every single one, regardless of size. If you let him get away with the small lies, he’ll be emboldened with the big ones.

Trump. Will. Not. Let. This. Go.

You don’t care about being willfully and obviously lied to by your government? It doesn’t bother you that on his first full day in office, Donald Trump sent out his press secretary to berate them for reporting accurate facts, to repeat obvious falsehoods, to issue annoy so veiled threat, and then to walk out without…

An excellent point.

So I made my first call to my senators today (Kaine and Warner), and it made me realize I barely knew what I was doing. Is there a script you should follow for when you get a staffer on the phone? Are there specific phrases that maximize the effectiveness of your call?

Of course they do. Yet this is a candidate for a high-ranking post in our government — it may be mere political theater and it’s possibly as useless as punching a Nazi, but I think it’s more morally important as a demonstration that each of these small “petty” things all DO matter in the ethical agglomerate.

Yes. Those things are also going on. But Bannon is not before this committee - Mulvaney is. Forcing him to tacitly acknowledge the lies of his new boss for one brief moment does not stop the other work that needs to be done. Indeed, forcing these officials to confront the truth is itself worthwhile (as petty as this…

Nobody gives a shit how many people attended either inauguration (except Trump of course).

The ultimately point of this was to address this administration’s rampant bald-face lies and claims of “alternative facts”.

It matters because the trump administration conducted its very first press conference on the premise of a blatant lie. A lie about something so pathetically stupid.

It’s important to call out the lies of the administration.