It's a Candidate Calling. Again

Washington Post ^ | 11/7/06 | Charles Babington and Alec MacGillis

[steve-b]

This year's heavy volume of automated political phone calls has infuriated countless voters and triggered sharp complaints from Democrats, who say the Republican Party has crossed the line in bombarding households with recorded attacks on candidates in tight House races nationwide....

An Ohio woman, who did not leave her name, called The Washington Post in tears yesterday, saying she could not keep her phone line open to hospice workers caring for her terminally ill mother because of nonstop political robo-calls.

Pamela Lorenz, a retired nurse in Roseville, Calif., called her own experience "harassment as far as I'm concerned" and said, "If I were voting right now, the opponent who's doing this, he'd be off my list for throwing that much trash."

Hour after hour and day after day for two weeks, Lorenz's home has received the same NRCC recorded message attacking Charlie Brown, the Democrat who is challenging Rep. John T. Doolittle (R) in a hard-fought battle in northeastern California....

[dogbyte12]

It apparently was happening in NH and Indiana, but it's been stopped.

Who else here is happy today is election day because the ads are over?

The last week, we didn't get any commercials except congressional attack ads from both sides, over and over and over again.

The ads have basically been running since labor day. I am not exaggerating that saying there was only 1, that is right, 1 policy issue, proposal brought up in the dozens of different ads run. They were all, you are sleazier than me.

The one policy proposal by the challenger btw was to give tax breaks to veterans. That was all the issues being discussed for 3 months. Makes me want to bury my head in the sand.

[FoxInSocks]

I saw some drivel in the Washington Post by a guy who tried to defend robo-calls. "The writer is an account manager at the Mack-Crounse Group, a Democratic political consulting firm."

Here's the end of it. The last paragraph contains a particularly ridiculous argument. Oh, preceding the column were four letters from readers annoyed by the calls -- nobody submitted a letter in support of this practice.

"Robo-dials can be inconvenient, and I know there are times when mistakes are made and your phone rings at a strange time, but typically these calls take 30 seconds, and they represent the freedom of speech that our country was founded on.

<snip>

"So, before getting too upset about the robo-dials that you are no doubt being bombarded with this weekend, think about what they are: a political campaign spending a small amount of money to use one of the few mass-education tactics available to reach out to you and get (or keep) you involved in the electoral process.

"Instead of hanging up on the call, realize that this is American democracy in action and that there is nothing wrong with an automated call requesting that you participate. After all, many sacrifices have been made over the course of American history to preserve our right to vote. A phone call or two reminding us to exercise that right is certainly something we can all live with."

[A Citizen Reporter]

"and they represent the freedom of speech that our country was founded on."

Uh no, the constitution does not guarantee you a right to 'market' to me on my private telephone line.

[Kimmers]

I agree...when caller ID says out of area or unknown I press talk than off so the darn thing quits ringing!!!!!

I am on the do not call list but they still come through....

[TBP]

Our governor has called me twice, as hve Rudy giuliani and Sarah Brady (about a local legislative race. She helped me figure out who NOT to vote for.)

[TBP]

Nobody has a right to complain about their house getting called unless they are on the "do not call list".

I hvae all my numbers on that list and I still get them.

[3niner]

Nobody has a right to complain about their house getting called unless they are on the "do not call list".

Political calls are exempted. Obviously, that needs to change.

[sauropod]

Political calls are exempt from the "do not call" list.

[BMIC]

Me too. The do-not-call list only works for some calls. Thanks to Caller ID, I only answer if I recognize the person who's calling.

If I don't know you, then if I'm in a really good mood I MIGHT let you leave a message on the answering service. Otherwise, you're SOL.

[outofsalt]

I had a live person call asking for support for George Allen and Joann Davis. I enthusiastically thanked the nice lady and told her they would need a rope and a truck to keep me from voting. I also had a nice conversation with Rudy for thirty seconds (turned out it was a recording).
I mostly hang up when it's a recorded message. I didn't get any from the Dims though I would have talked to them for as long as they could bear to hear me tell them what whiners and losers they are!

[antisocial]

Ha! I've gotten one call from Bill Clinton, two from Laura Bush, one from Rudy, one from Gov. good hair, two from Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, two from Tx. RR commish., Two from Agri. commish, One from Comptroller candidate R. -All recorded
Plus several from my R. State rep. actual calls.

All this is extremely aggravating.

[outofsalt]

I've gotten 1,0000000000 emails.