I was really proud to be a Republican today. The House Republicans stayed on the floor to protest the Democrats leaving Congress for a five-week vacation without considering energy legislation. Finally, Republicans acted like Republicans and stood up for a good cause. Quite literally.

I want to write up a longer post tomorrow when I've had time to figure out just why this struck such a chord with me and where I think the enthusiasm and energy should go in the future. So in the meantime, let me recommend the following.

• The brunt of the reporting was done via Twitter. Look at the Twitter-wide discussion and also the feeds from politicians in the middle of the fray (I mentioned them all here). For a little Friday humor, I'd recommend the Twitter feed from" Speaker Pelosi"--clever minds at work?
• The DAG team was up with video and audio clips since we all got involved--and made phone calls to Pelosi's office to ask for a vote on energy legislation. Check out David's call to Nancy Pelosi and my impromptu video discussion with Elizabeth, who has guest posted here. That video discussion also featured my pledge to donate to any candidate carried out by Capitol Hill police; unfortunately, no one was (that I know of now).
• Watch the evening news and see if the story finally hit the "mainstream media." What was an online frenzy all day has just started hitting radio and television in the past few hours. As I wrote in a post on TechRepublican: this revolution was not televised.
• And for the love of all that is good in the world, if you didn't get the reference in the title of this post, go watch the movie this weekend.

This morning the House of Representatives adjourned until September 8. In doing so, it adjourned before it considered any energy legislation to support offshore drilling and drilling in ANWR so that we could pay less at the pump.

The House Republicans were/are angry. Really angry. Because they think (rightfully, I believe) that most Americans support offshore drilling and want Congress to, y'know, just consider it. Maybe. Because that might be in their job description or something.

Instead, the Democrats in Congress successfully blocked attempts to consider energy legislation and bounced from the House ASAP. I like to think of it as cops busting a house party (parents and future employers: I only know about such things from movies). Except now the American people are the cops, the Republicans are the kids looking innocent in the front yard, and the Democrats are sprinting through the woods.

But thanks to the internet, Republicans are fighting back. Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) has been on Twitter, a micro-blogging site, since this morning. What he's reporting now (and it is reporting!) is that although the Democrats turned off the lights and left the building, the Republicans are still inside demanding a vote on energy.

It probably won't work but I love the spirit and I love the idea: "when they turn off the mike, we can still communicate." Who says the internet isn't the future of politics?