GOP's dem voters suppress phone bank

[clevin]

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO33180/
see, this is another thing dems can't do, coz they are not that shameless, GOP is calling dem voters to demonize dem candidates and try to prevent them from voting. GOP only care about wining, ethic is not on their list,
its time for the country's true majority-independence and dems- slam these stupid pigs on the face, and tell those christian far right that they are not the majority and they can stop trying to force their "Values" on other people's face.

[Queso]

The latest polls seem to be swinging back towards the GOP, so their tactics are obviously having some effect. Ring round everyone you konw who will vote Dem in the morning and make sure they go. You can guarantee the Republicans will be doing the same.

[dsnort]

[url]see, this is another thing dems can't do, coz they are not that shameless,...

Horse hockey. On election eve 1994, democratic operatives for Florida Gubernatorial candidate Lawton Chiles engaged in a last minute phone campaign calling senior citizens and telling them that Chiles' oppponent, Jeb Bush, would cut their SS and Medicare, even though Bush had never proposed any such thing.

The dems are just as crooked as the rest of them.

[clevin]

wow, sorry i failed to find a link for the case you listed.
anyway, I assume what you said is true, then there is still a choice this year, is it? Build a country of christian-conservative? or move back to the middle?

[Swarmlord]

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO33180/
<snip> ...the country's true majority-independence and dems- slam these stupid pigs on the face<snip>.

Is that how the majority of Americans feel about those that have different values and opinions? Nice.

[Queso]

Is that how the majority of Americans feel about those that have different values and opinions? Nice.
Sadly yes. I'm expecting the USA to split into two countries within 30 years. Currently neither side has even the slightest respect for the other, and it appears the political split is roughly geographically based.

The worrying thing is, if this does occur, it will either degenerate into another US Civil War, or leave the Neo-Cons in permanent control of the world's largest surviving nuclear arsenal. Based on the logic that the likeliest candidate California secedes, the loss of it's electoral votes to the Democrats would mean a permanent Republican presidency, where pandering to the Bible States is paramount, and there's no way the Bible States would allow a peaceful secession unless they retain the vast majority, if not all, of the American armed forces. If the seceding state or states attempt to take military hardware anyway....well, we've been there before.

I hope I'm just painting a nightmare scenario, but the polarisation of American politics is heading in this direction already and I don't see how the two sides can be brought back towards co-operating with each other.

[Thomas Veil]

Is that how the majority of Americans feel about those that have different values and opinions?Not really. That's how they feel about people who don't want other people to have different values and opinions.

[hulugu]

Is that how the majority of Americans feel about those that have different values and opinions? Nice.

While Clevin's statement could be more precise, I think it's obvious he's not talking about the average voter, but rather the leadership of the GOP and many of those currently in office.

I think one can describe a difference between those galavanting morons in Washington whose incompetence is steadily becoming legendary, and those who believe in the Republican party or are conservative voters.

Now, I will question the attentiveness of a current Republican voter who would still ascribe to their party fiscal responsibility or anything else the GOP used to stand for, and wonder about their ability to absorb information if they continue to vote Republican considering the wide-range of ways in which the GOP has screwed up in the past six-years.

However, I wouldn't insult them, I would just want to ask questions.


The problem is, the GOP has used attack ads and division is such a way that this country feels divided. Even the red-state versus blue-state is a lazy way of describing a country that is essentially shades of purple. We generally agree, but the Republican leadership has tried poisoned the political debate in this country with divisive language. One of the great ironies of this age was a poll in which 50% of people agreed that George Bush was a uniter.

Slate has a good piece (http://www.slate.com/id/2152671/) on this.

[Thanatoast]

Is that how the majority of Americans feel about those that have different values and opinions? Nice.
That's how I feel. The Republicans have lost all my respect and those who vote for them earn my scorn. I'm done trying to work with the neo-cons and the fundies. If the moderate Republicans had any morals then they'd stand up to those in their party who advocate war, torture and theocracy. The Democrats are just as spineless but at least they're not openly pushing to bankrupt the country fiscally and morally.

I hope I'm just painting a nightmare scenario, but the polarisation of American politics is heading in this direction already and I don't see how the two sides can be brought back towards co-operating with each other.Why would I want to co-operate with someone who's writing torture legislation? How am I supposed to reach a compromise on a bill that negates equal protection under the law? Why should I be civil to legislators and voters who stump for laws that push christianity on people and authorize invasions of other countries?

[zimv20]

daily kos (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/6/1717/68014)


VA-Sen: Voter suppression in Virginia

Republicans are so afraid to run on their merits that they continue to resort to dirty tricks.

Listen to this robocall (http://www.webbforsenate.com/media/phone_message.wav) (.WAV) being sent to Virginia voters:

Tim Daly from Clarendon got a call saying that if he votes Tuesday, he will be arrested. A recording of his voicemail can be found online at: www.webbforsenate.com/media/phone_message.wav

The transcript from his voicemail reads:

"This message is for Timothy Daly. This is the Virginia Elections Commission. We've determined you are registered in New York to vote. Therefore, you will not be allowed to cast your vote on Tuesday. If you do show up, you will be charged criminally."

Daly has been registered to vote in Virginia since 1998, and he has voted for the last several cycles with no problem. He has filed a criminal complaint with the Commonwealth's attorney in Arlington.

More from the Webb campaign (from an email):

Widespread Calls, Allegedly from "Webb Volunteers," Telling Voters that their Polling Location has Changed.

A couple of examples:

a. Norman Cox has been registered to vote in the same location in Arlington since 1972. Someone from a 406 number (in Montana) called to tell him that his polling place has changed. [Note: The Webb Campaign is NOT making any such phone calls.] Cox said he believed that he was being mislead and the caller hung up.

b. Peter Baumann in Cape Charles, VA (North Hampton) got a similar call from a "Webb volunteer" saying his polling location had changed. He said: No, I'm a poll worker and I know where I vote. The girl--who was calling from California--hung up.

The Secretary of the State Board of Elections Jean Jensen has logged dozens of similar calls, finding heavy trends in Accomack County (middle peninsula) and Essex County (outer peninsula) [as reported by the counties' registrars].

3) Fliers in Buckingham County Say "SKIP THIS ELECTION" (paid for by the RNC) have caused many in the African American community to call the Board of Elections to see if the election is still on. The full tag line says: "SKIP THIS ELECTION... (and then in smaller print): Don't Let the Tax and Spend Liberals Win."

4) Voter Machine Problems.

a. On many ballots in heavily Democratic neighborhoods, Jim's name is cut off. The ballots say: "James H. (Jim)" with no Webb.

b. New reports that ballots in Essex County have Jim's name split on 2 pages. The "James H (Jim)" on one page, "Webb" on the next.

c. Reports of voting machines in Isle of White that do not provide a clear image of the ballot, making voting a challenge.

hey dsnort, care to defend any of that?

[obeygiant]

daily kos (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/6/1717/68014)



nevermind

[pseudobrit]

daily kos (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/6/1717/68014)


hey dsnort, care to defend any of that?

everyone does it

that's just politics

whiners

just making it up like Michael Moore

[pseudobrit]

Yeah the guy who runs that site was in the army, so obviously, he's stupid.

?

[solvs]

nevermind

If you don't like them, there are plenty of other sources (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hs=xJe&hl=en&lr=lang_en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aunofficial&q=republican+robocall&btnG=Search). And for the record, most of us would be just as pissed if Dems were doing this, just like we were when William Jefferson was caught, even if they tried to say they were just doing it because the other side was. 2 wrongs don't make a right. But where the Dems are doing the usual spinning and lying, the Reps have once again brought this to a new low.

Sure the Dems are guilty, as they have been been in the past, doesn't make what the Reps are doing ok.

[Thomas Veil]

More....

New Telemarketing Ploy Steers Voters on Republican Path
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Published: November 6, 2006

An automated voice at the other end of the telephone line asks whether you believe that judges who “push homosexual marriage and create new rights like abortion and sodomy” should be controlled. If your reply is “yes,” the voice lets you know that the Democratic candidate in the Senate race in Montana, Jon Tester, is not your man.

In Maryland, a similar question-and-answer sequence suggests that only the Republican Senate candidate would keep the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. In Tennessee, another paints the Democrat as wanting to give foreign terrorists “the same legal rights and privileges” as Americans.

Using a telemarketing tactic that is best known for steering consumers to buy products, the organizers of the political telephone calls say they have reached hundreds of thousands of homes in five states over the last several weeks in a push to win votes for Republicans. Democrats say the calls present a distorted picture.

The Ohio-based conservatives behind the new campaign, who include current and former Procter & Gamble managers, say the automated system can reach vast numbers of people at a fraction of the cost of traditional volunteer phone banks and is the most ambitious political use of the telemarketing technology ever undertaken.

But critics say the automated calls are a twist on push polls — a campaign tactic that is often criticized as deceptive because it involves calling potential voters under the guise of measuring public opinion, while the real intent is to change opinions with questions that push people in one direction or the other.

The calls have set off a furor in the closing days of a campaign in which control of Congress hinges on a handful of races.

Late last week, Representative Benjamin L. Cardin, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Maryland, demanded a halt to the calls, saying “this sort of gutter politics” was distorting his record. Some political analysts said the practice could mislead voters and discourage them from taking calls from more objective pollsters.

Andrew Kohut, a longtime pollster and the president of the Pew Research Center in Washington, said the automated calling “smells like a push poll, it feels like a push poll, so I guess we have to call it a push poll.”

But Harold E. Swift, one of the organizers of the Ohio group, said he viewed the move beyond phone banks or simple taped attack messages as a “very sophisticated approach to voter education.” The goal, he said, is to “make people aware of the candidate’s stand on the issues that are important to them.”

Mr. Swift said his group, Common Sense Ohio, is a nonprofit advocacy organization and is financed by wealthy Republican donors. A sister organization, Common Sense 2006, has received a donation from the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee, an affiliate of the Republican Governors Association. Under federal law, the groups are not required to disclose their donors publicly or reveal how much money they have raised.

Mr. Swift acknowledged in an interview that if some critics thought the group’s polling approach seemed deceptive, “I grant that they can reach that conclusion.”.....
NYT (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/us/politics/06push.html?_r=1&ei=5094&en=286769ab0fcdbc7a&hp=&ex=1162875600&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1162879647-MpyGHkgqFOgrmuR857/rng)

Voter education, eh? http://users.adelphia.net/~tjveil/images/yeahright.gif

[Queso]

Love the "issues that are important to them" bit. Nothing about the outsourced economy, the shambles of Hurricane Katrina, a failed war in Iraq, civil liberty hijacking, the biggest budget defecit in American history, etc.

Yeah, I can see how those just aren't important to voters :rolleyes:

[Thomas Veil]

[obvious joke] You suppose that Swift guy owns a boat? [/obvious joke]

[bowens]

I've gotten the same type calls from democrats. Both sides do it. Some people just choose to ignore one side.

[it5five]

No, people don't choose to ignore one side bowens. What happens is one side is absolutely disgusting about how they supress voters and lie to voters.

I think you're missing the point of the article.

Yes, both sides have automated calls; it's the Republicans that are giving their calls this facade of a poll then saying nasty things about the opponents depending on the answer. I can guarentee you haven't recieved that type of call from a Democrat, because if it was going on, the right-wing media would be all over it.

[mdntcallr]

telemarketing is also like strategic polling. where people ask questions designed to elicit certain responses. any number of the question paths would be designed to lead people republican.

this type of electioneering ought to be outlawed.

[Thomas Veil]

this type of electioneering ought to be outlawed.I agree.

[solvs]

I've gotten the same type calls from democrats.

Are you sure it wasn't a Rep pretending to be a Dem? Both sides make calls, in this case only one is doing so as deceptively, not to mention calling you back afterwards. People have been calling the Dem candidates telling them to stop calling them when they never did.

I just heard some conservative radio announcers are asking their listeners to call the Dems' phone lines and clog them. Apparently there's a sharp increase in prank calls. I'll post a link if I can find one. I hope the Dems don't start doing this too, because as I said, 2 wrongs don't make a right.

[solvs]

this type of electioneering ought to be outlawed.
The way they're doing it, it is. They could be fined up to $500 per call if found to be fraudulent, like when they call back if you hang up or they pretend to be from the other candidate. There are a lot of loopholes though. No one really expected anybody to do this on such a widespread level. :rolleyes:

[zimv20]

as i predicted, the GOP apologists are as shrill as ever. "dems are just as bad!"

give me a break.

[zimv20]

wash post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110700740.html)


Sample Ballots in Pr. George's Misidentify Candidates

Inaccurate sample ballots describing Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele as Democrats were handed out to voters in at least four polling sites in Prince George's County this morning.

The ballots were distributed by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Erik Markle, one of the people handing out literature for Ehrlich, who is seeking reelection, and Steele, the current lieutenant governor who is campaigning to replace retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D), said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia.

After a two-hour bus ride to Maryland, Markle said the workers were greeted early this morning by first lady Kendel Ehrlich, who thanked them as they were outfitted in T-shirts and hats with the logo for Ehrlich's reelection campaign. Nearly all of those recruited, Markle said, are poor and black. Workers traveled to Maryland in at least seven large buses.

Ehrlich said he wasn't aware of the hiring of workers from out-of-town.

(more)

nice trick for the GOP to get themselves elected -- pretend they're democrats.