Dave Fucking Reichert ruined my goddamn story.

A dozen or so constituents—many of them unemployed—had crowded into the cramped reception area of the silver-coiffed congressman's DC office, only to be told that he was "unavailable." "Could we make an appointment?" one constituent asked. "No," she was told, Reichert's scheduler was unavailable, too.

Apparently, they'd have to make an appointment to make an appointment.

It was a great start to last week's labor-sponsored, Occupy-themed Take Back the Capitol protests in the other Washington, in that it was the perfect opportunity to portray Reichert as the out-of-touch backbencher that he truly is. Delegations from 46 states marched from "The People's Camp" on the National Mall to congressional offices, where they showed up unannounced on their representatives' doorsteps.

Nobody expected a warm welcome from Reichert and the other Republicans.

A couple floors down, Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) locked his door, taping a hastily printed note to the front declaring, "Only scheduled appointments will be admitted today," a stark contrast to the fancy brass plaque announcing, "Welcome, Please Come In." After more than three hours waiting outside the locked office of Representative Elton Gallegly (R-CA), protesters noticed the congressman sneaking out a side door. "Merry Christmas," he said to one constituent, before refusing further conversation: "I met with you just now—I wished you a Merry Christmas," Gallegly explained as he disappeared into an elevator. And staffers at the offices of Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) had one citizen arrested for trespassing.

Later that night, the loathsome Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL) would disdainfully tweet: "My office was invaded by the Occupy Protesters today & all I saw were $1000 laptops & vomit on the carpet. Thank God for #febreze."

Ha-ha! "Febreze." Funny.

At first, the delegation at Reichert's office received similar treatment. "You are welcome to wait out in the hallway," Reichert's receptionist offered, but with Capitol police combing the halls, threatening to arrest anybody who sat down, they decided to stay put. A diverse cross section of working-class Washingtonians squeezed into the plump leather sofas in Reichert's reception area or onto whatever spare bit of floor space they could find. Then, absent their congressman, they proceeded to tell each other their poignant stories of lost pensions, lost benefits, lost income, lost jobs, lost houses, lost educations, and lost dreams.

An out-of-touch congressman refusing to meet with unemployed constituents: It had all the makings of a great story.

And then, a half hour in, Reichert ruined everything by appearing in the doorway and inviting the crowd out into the hallway to talk.

Goddamnit.

And man, did Reichert talk. And talk. And talk, and talk, and talk. Fifty-four minutes of bullshit and biography later (did you know he was a sheriff?), the battery on my camcorder ran dry, but Reichert was still talking. But for all the talk, did Reichert do any actual listening?

Several times throughout his hour-long, largely one-sided conversation, Reichert suggested that the protesters needed to learn his record. "I voted against TARP" (the Troubled Asset Relief Program), Reichert repeated whenever anybody brought up the inequity of the Wall Street bailout, as if TARP alone constituted the bulk of the protesters' complaints. Yeah, sure, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!" is a standard refrain of the Occupy movement, but to relentlessly focus on the first clause while ignoring the second is to completely miss the point. Reichert's constituents didn't travel 2,400 miles to complain about TARP, they came to plead for the same sort of compassion Congress showed the big banks.

But Reichert didn't seem to hear it. His answer to saving Social Security? Reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent. His answer to joblessness? More free trade. His answer to declining wages and benefits? Increase corporate competitiveness through a foreign profit repatriation tax holiday.

Uh-huh. Nobody came away impressed with Reichert's pat Republican answers.

Perhaps if Reichert and his Republican colleagues actually sat down and talked with constituents, instead of just talking at them, they might start taking the occupiers' concerns a bit more seriously. recommended