Well, now, this is just childish: it appears that the NRCC — that would be the Republicans, kids — has orchestrated a nationwide campaign to annoy people into voting against Democrats by repeatedly telephoning the same households over and over with recorded messages that appear to be made by or on behalf of Democratic candidates. It sounds like a desperation tactic to me, and a pretty damn silly one, too, but there is anecdotal evidence that it may be having an effect. The mainstream media has thus far ignored the story, but thankfully Josh Marshall (among other politi-bloggers) has been on his toes; scroll back through his archives to see how the situation developed.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I despise this kind of sleazy, prankish nonsense, and I despise it even more when it appears to actually work. I fantasize about the day when we may witness some dignified, grown-up political discourse in this country. In the meantime, keep in mind that if you’ve been getting a lot of annoying “robocalls” over the past few days, the blame may not fall where you think, and anyway there are more important things to consider when you cast your vote tomorrow…
Nothing shocks me any more. Well, one thing would shock me: actual political discussion.
Eh, we wouldn’t know it if we heard it…
I haven’t had any Republican Robots masquerading as Democrats call but have had repeated robocalls (both parties) for the last two weeks to both my cell phone and home phone. It’s a financial and political mess these elections. I’ll be glad when today is over and the mail on my doorstep returns to credit card apps.
My guess is that the NRCC isn’t bothering with the “masquerade” calls here in Utah because there’s never any question of how elections here will turn out. The problem seems to be mostly in the midwest and east.
I’ve been lucky on the phone-call front, myself – I haven’t had a single political call of any kind. Of course, I rarely answer my phone…