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November 06, 2006

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Really eager to see what anodyne coverage this gets from the NYT et al.


I don't quite get the tactic, though - in one of the races the call starts off saying, "Here's some information about [Democrat X]", at which point the callee is supposed to think that someone is calling on behalf of X?

Rilke: in one of the races the call starts off saying, "Here's some information about [Democrat X]", at which point the callee is supposed to think that someone is calling on behalf of X?

Yes, and evidently it works.

It likely would for me, too, if I'd just been woken up. The one thing I'd remember, as I fell back into sleep, was the name the caller had used - [Democrat X]. Even if I were wide awake, my usual reaction to robocalls is to put the phone down as soon as I can tell it's a robocall - and again, the thing that would stay with me was the name of the candidate. It certainly wouldn't spontaneously occur to me that the robocaller was funded by the opposing party.

Hilzoy: They care about power, and they will undermine our democracy before they let the voters pry the reins of power out of their claws.

Yes. And by Thursday, we will have heard again that the Republicans have held both houses* - and there will be reports coming in of electoral chicanery, and there will be plenty of people, Democrats and Republicans, to argue that such reports should be ignored (since they certainly won't be investigated by the Republican Party, who are the only party that count) and everyone should concentrate on "the next election". And so it goes again.


*If I'm wrong about this, I'll cheerfully eat crow.

This is why the answering machine was invented, isn't it?

I've gotten a large number of robocalls about Ric Keller, but not so much all piled in on the eve of the election; rather more spread out over the last few months. None of them claim to be from the local DNC branch, but none of them are, ultimately, complimentary to Keller.

It'd be nice if I could charge for incoming calls. I could always reimburse friends and relatives, while sticking it to telemarketers and political organizations.

How else can a party truly get a mandate for deceptive governance?

It'd be nice if I could charge for incoming calls. I could always reimburse friends and relatives, while sticking it to telemarketers and political organizations.

Neat idea. Now if only you were still a member of the kittenmob, I'd suggest this would make a great open thread topic... ;-)

you can't blame the NRCC, after all Family Values are under attack.

i've only received one robocall, from a retired admiral telling me not to vote for ... some Democrat. i guess that confirms that this part of NC doesn't really have any close races.

Speaking of deception:

THE PRESIDENT: So when you get home this evening and you're sitting around the table -- anybody here got four kids? (Applause.)

I'll use you as an example. There you are at the table -- you got five, okay. Five, okay. She's got five kids. So when you get home: one, two, three, four, five, times $500. That's $2,500. That's your tax increase if you vote Democrat. That's your tax increase if the Democrats take over the House of Representatives. That $2,500 may not seem like a lot to people in Washington, but it seems like a lot to me and Jim Ryun, and that's why we're going to keep your taxes low.

They care about power, and they will undermine our democracy before they let the voters pry the reins of power out of their claws.

I think this is right, and I think it's the fundamental difference between modern-day conservatives and pretty much everyone else.

They are not interested in governance per se. They are not interested in a give and take of points of view. They are not interested in small or weak government.

They are interested in a powerful and unaccountable government which will enforce what they believe is the Right Thing, whether the rest of us want it or not.

They are extraordinarily undemocratic, and unapologetically so.

The only way these folks can be made accountable, at all, is by taking power away from them.

Yes. And by Thursday, we will have heard again that the Republicans have held both houses

I think it's likely that Democrats will see gains in both houses. It's possible, but far from a given, that they will achieve a majority in the House. A majority in the Senate is, I think, unlikely. If they gain a majority in either house, it may not be a commanding one.

Whatever happens, we can be assured that, on November 8, conservatives will be hard at work preparing for 2008.

This is going to go on for a long time.

Thanks -

They are extraordinarily undemocratic, and unapologetically so.

they are soulless. they should really be deported, banished, sent to Devil's Island.

"since they certainly won't be investigated by the Republican Party, who are the only party that count"

Actually, they might well "investigate", and come up with "solutions" that actually are tuned to depress turnout of Democratic constituencies.

“They are interested in a powerful and unaccountable government which will enforce what they believe is the Right Thing, whether the rest of us want it or not.”
This is, IMHO, pretty accurate. The Republican Party, as presently constituted, has been the enemy of democracy and representative government for the past several years. And this goes beyond dishonest and manipulative attempts such as described in this post, or other voter suppression techniques.
On one level it became evident in the 2000 election in Florida where they went against every principle that the Republican Party has stood for in taking their case to the Supreme Court. And if you think about it, the only reason they would do so is if they felt they would lose a recount. (I am sure that other arguments can be made, but they make little sense to me.)
But it is also apparent in how they have run Congress, refusing proper deliberation of legislation, keeping votes open well past the normal allowed time to bribe members to change their votes, closing down or not allowing the minority to hold hearings, destroying the integrity of the ethics committee, etc.
Cheney even admitted to this in his interview with ABC. It doesn’t matter what the American public thinks, we will continue in Iraq because it is the RIGHT THING to do.
Because they are doing the RIGHT THING the end justifies the means, manipulation, distortion, lies, voter suppression, deceit are all allowed. Otherwise the American public might actually think about what they are voting for or against and kick them out of power. And if that happens, who could lead them to the Promised Land?
Before anybody brings up examples of things that some Democrats have done, let me admit that I do not think all Democrats are pristine and pure. But what we are seeing is a national program, spread across all layers, down to the local level. This is not a series of disconnected, isolated incidents. It is driven from the top.

Another argument for ditching the landline and going cell-phone only: No phony robo-calls.

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