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AZ-GOP Wants Robo Calls Stopped... To Save Themselves Money
PHOENIX -- On Thursday, the day after the final presidential debate, the national Republican National Committee (RNC) launched one of the most wide-reaching robocall campaigns in election history.
Voters from Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Missouri, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Indiana, Delaware, Illinois, Georgia and even Canada have received pre-recorded, automated phone calls designed to frighten voters by tying Barack Obama to former member of the Weather Underground Bill Ayers. The robocall lasts about half a minute and includes the following:
I'm calling on behalf of John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans.
Another call said:
I'm calling on behalf of John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama and his Democrat allies in the Illinois Senate opposed a bill requiring doctors to care for babies born alive after surviving attempted abortions.
Both the charges are false: Obama merely sat on a committee with Ayers (both were appointed by a Republican who was a close friend of President Reagan), and Obama supports requirements to provide care to babies born (a law that was already on the books and did not require duplication).
According to Talking Points Memo, which has enumerated many of the robocalls, other McCain robocalls question Barack Obama's patriotism or make outlandish claims that Barack Obama and other Democrats "are not who you think they are." One robocall attempts to strike fear into the hearts of undecided voters by claiming that Obama only "says" he wants to keep America safe. One robocall ominously claims:
Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country.
Some reports indicated that McCain's robocalls to Minnesota may have been illegal because they did not comply to state laws in that state for pre-recorded, automated calls. Spokesperson Ben Golnik of the McCain campaign quickly issued a statement that each call made to Minnesota was made by a live person, a volunteer in spite of the high cost -- about ten times the cost of a robocall.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Republican Party sent out an email newsletter Thursday evening headlined:
Put an end to Robo-Calls From Campaigns Today!!!
ARE YOU TIRED OF AUTOMATED CAMPAIGN CALLS THAT INTERRUPT YOU DURING DINNER?
The answer, written in the body of the email, is not for the RNC to end the unwelcome, unpopular automatic dialers and digital recordings. Rather, it is a clumsy blackmail, a demand for the citizens on the receiving end to
Return your early ballot today!
Early ballot requests and returns are reported to political candidates and parties by Arizona's county recorders. Returning your early ballot will take your name off many call lists within a matter of days!
You'll also be helping Republican campaigns by saving them the time and money of calling you to ask for your vote if they know you've already voted!
In short, if you want to be removed from the Republican Party's call list -- vote today.
Before the slew of robocalls began this week, the McCain campaign had already placed more than three times the number of robocalls as the Obama campaign. In fact, the McCain campaign has called every battleground state, as well as some of the red states. Barack Obama has only placed robocalls in Missouri and Kansas.
Please help the Arizona Republican Party Barack Obama spread the word: The quicker voters return their early ballots, the fewer calls they'll receive this election -- and don't forget to ask voters to check the box for Barack Obama for President of the United States of America.
Follow Dawn Teo on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dawnteo
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The GOP machine is also sending this fake around to confuse voters (I just got it via CPAsforObama):
"New Election Day Procedures
Historically, Election Day in the U.S. is always the first Tuesday, following the first Monday, of November. That date would be Tuesday, November 4 in the year 2008. But with the voter turnout expected to be historically high, given the nature of this Presidential election, apparently there is a change taking place in this year's procedure.
Voting will take place over two days instead of just one. Everyone that appears at the polls Tuesday, November 4, 2008, will only be allowed to vote for Republican Party candidates. If you want to vote for a Democratic Party candidate, or a split party ticket, you are to appear at the polls on Wednesday, November 5, 2008. This is to eliminate long lines and delays in voting.
For some reason this procedural change has not been covered very well so far by the media. But I'm sure it will get more coverage as we get closer to Election Day(s). So that all of our votes can count, please pass this along to everyone that you think may want to vote for any Democratic Party candidates, including Barack Obama.
See you at the polls! "
DON'T MAIL IN YOUR BALLOT!!! Bobby Kennedy Jr. says, "Save the stamp and throw your ballot in the garbage for free." Walking in your ballot to the County Clerk is his #1 best advice for us to steal back our vote! Visit his website.
www.stealbackyourvote.org Find 7 ways to steal back your vote.
Watch on YouTube this BBC special: "Theft of the 2008 Election Part 1"
And remember,
FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS VOTE ON PROVISIONAL BALLOTS!
Make sure everyone you know is properly registered to vote, especially minorities, service men and women & financially challenged voters. DMV can issue temporary IDs and LDs with your current address if you moved before you registered. Vote early and take friends.
Yes we can!
DO NOT ROBOCALL ME. I MEAN ANYBODY. First of all, I just hang up. I don't like them.
I hope the Obama campaign is putting out flyers to dispel those rumors. In the meantime, money should be donated to a "Get Out the Vote" campaign. One could only hope that the McCain campaign spends their campaign into bankruptcy.
Let's see; these robo-calls seem to be annoying and alienating potential GOP voters, and often actually inspiring them to vote against McCain . . .and by encouraging early voting tends to help Obama,
They are a huge waste of scarce campaign money and a massive tactical blunder since some of the states being targeting are reliably blue already. . .
Most people don't give a rat's patoot about William Ayers; IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID! hence these robo-calls only make the GOP seem that much more out of touch. . .
Therefore I say, let 'em keep doing it! Give these idiots enough phone cord and they'll strangle themselves!
As usual...they don't care that the message is a bunch of lies, or that it could threaten Obama's family's safety. All they care about is the $$$$$$$$$$$$$!
McCain wouldn't be doing this if Obama had agreed to town hall meetings
blah, blah, blah
Obama, Biden '08
in a similar vein -- there is an RNC ad running in CA now for NO on 8!!!!!!
as Joe Biden's mom would say: "God Love 'em. They try."
The Grand Old Panic [GOP] are really scared. They haven't got a chance. I don't think there are that many ingronant people in the U S .
This whole thing is playing out like one of the old westerns I used to watch when I was a kid in the 50s and early 60s. Whether it was Gene Autry, The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, The Rifleman, or Gunsmoke, there were frequently episodes with a villain who was clearly, patently, obviously evil and self-destructive. You knew what he was doing and you got to see all of it in carefully laid out, predictable scenes leading to his eventual demise.
This election is beginning to feel the same. Although I don't believe in counting one's chickens before they vote (or should I say get tallied), I can't help but see the McCain/Palin ticket and campaign spasmodically lurching toward the finish line of November 4th, furiously and impotently thrashing about in disbelief of, and unwillingness to accept, the condition they find themselves. It would be a beautiful sight to behold were it not for the number of people who are supporting this tragic and dangerous farce.
The Death of the Bully Era!
Why McCain, Why? You need a hug..auh..it's okay.
http://www.yahoo.com/s/972222
Voters Sour On McCain
illinois???? i haven't gotten one, but if they are blanketing illinois, the az gop is right. what a colossal waste of money.
I've gotten robocalls in Illinois, but they're for Judy Biggert, not McCain. That Biggert, who represents one of the reddest Congressional districts in the country, is running scared this election warms the cockles of me heart, even though I doubt Scott Harper can beat her. But I've contributed some money to his campaign to improve his slender hopes.
ALL CAPS-ANGRY: MY NEIGHBOR GOT A MC CAIN ROBO CALL AS I WAS VISITING HER,AS WE ARE BOTH SENIORS LIVING IN THE DESERT ON THE COLORADO RIVER-CALIFORNNIA SIDE. THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I'D HEARD OF THESE 'CALLS' AND SHE WAS PISSED,EVEN BEING A REPUBLICAN,SO I ENCOURAGED HER TO VOTE FOR OBAMA. THAT VERY DAY, MY PHONE STARTED RINGING MORE THAN USUAL,,AGAIN AND AGAIN,BUT I USUALLY UNPLUG MY PHONE DURING SCAMMERS-HOURS AND TELL FRIENDS TO E MAIL ME. . THESE ROBO CALLS WERE ALSO... DURING THE 'NO CALL' HOURS THAT SCAMMERS ARE TERMMED 'ILLEGAL' TO CALL,SO WHATS THE DIFFERENCE? MC CAIN HAS STOOPED TO A NEW 'LOW'....AND ALL ANY DEMOCRAT NEEDS TO DO,IS USE 'SENIOR DISGUST'.... TO SWAY REPUBLICAN FRIENDS,VIA THESE DESPERATE CALLS,TO VOTE-OBAMA,AS THE ROBO CALLS ARE PISSING EVERYONE-OFF,IT'S DOUBLED THE SCAMMER CALLS,AND REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN IDIOTS ARE NOW AMONG THE RANKS OF SLEEZY SCAMMERS,IT'S ONE AND THE SAME.THIS WILL BACKFIRE-BIG-TIME!!
RESULT; MORE REPUBLICAN-SENIORS FOR OBAMA ........
Another HuffPo blogger told me about an email campaing aimed at getting the GOP to stop these calls.
Please send them an email today. It takes 2 seconds.
Here's their email:
gop.comp.com
Here's a copy of my msg to them:
I am writing the GOP to respectfully request that you stop the practice of ROBO calling voters and playing a message that links Barack Obama to terrorists and terrorism. None of this is true, everyone knows it, especially the GOP. When this race is all over, I suspect the GOP will be handed a report card for its performance. This will reflect its performance over the last eight years and its despicable tactics over the last months of this campaign. Attempts a dividing this country by spreading hatred and bigotry is not the way one should remember a political party, but it is now the mantle of the GOP. How long do you suppose the GOP will have to wear, and hard do you suppose it will be to live it down? A decade? Two? Three?
Don't know if it will do any good, but I sent in my e-mail too. I actually trembled while I wrote it because this sort of hateful, below-the-belt, slime tactic makes me quake with anger.
Remember how during the 2000 election George Bush's campaign smeared John McCain in South Carolina with push polls, flyers, and emails, claiming that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock? Pissed me off that they did that! It helped Bush win because it frightened all of the uninformed racists. Sadly, it seemed to work.
McCain said, "I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those." I guess Senator McCain is reserving his own special place and doesn't want to be left out!
I live in the Raleigh NC area. On Wednesday I called the RNC in D.C. to have my name removed from their mailing list. I was told I might still receive a few more "pamphlets". I told them that with every additional mailer or hateful commercial I see on TV I move one more step away from voting for Elizabeth Dole. (I'm not voting for her anyway). I followed up with emails to the RNC, to John McCain and to Elizabeth Dole. I have resent the email every day since to all 3 with additional comments about the mailers and robocalls I've gotten every day since. I stated that they are going to also lose every state race much less McCain if they keep it up.
Thanks Debbie. I hope you don't mind, but I copied your intelligent message to the GOP in my own email to gop.comp.com & signed my name. I think that's the least that the laziest of us can do to protest this abominable practice. Joe
Great I am doing it too.
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