My call from the McCain campaign
October 16th, 2008,I was eating my lunch today when the phone rang. It was a live person calling on behalf of John McCain. She was reading from a script and said that Barack Obama had “worked closely” with “domestic terrorist” William Ayers.
I interrupted her and said, “That’s a lie.” To my surprise, she departed from her script and said, “I know. I’m being paid to do this. I don’t know what else to do.” Then she resumed her script, and I hung up before she could finish.
It was an odd call, mixing the fever of our political campaign season with the desperation of our economic downturn, and, for me, linking McCain to both of those states of mind - feverish and desperate. I feel sad for the woman making those calls and angry at John McCain and his campaign.
I wish I had stayed on the phone to get more info about the organization calling. When I checked my caller ID, it said only “out of area,” and I could not find a number.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I was shocked to find a voice-mail with the same message when I went home for lunch today. I don’t remember ever being called by Republicans and am not sure how or why I ended up on their list. Since you were called also maybe, in their desperation., they’re widening their range. The message was the same as you described, and they left a number for the Republican National Committee. I called it and complained about the message they had left and asked that they stop calling voters with this misinformation.
I too was angered by the phone call. I deleted the message but if I remember when I get home I can hit “redial” and write down the number.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Thanks, Kathy! Interesting that you too were called.
October 16th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
A couple of weeks ago I had some voicemails from the McCain campaign, and the callers had Indian accents (as in, from India.) I think they’ve hired some virtual assistants to make McCain calls from there. I have a REALLY hard time believing that anyone who has immigrated to this country is volunteering to make calls for that campaign.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Bill:
Ayers is from Chicago; in the mid-1980’s, YOU spent a year in Chicago.
And I think the American people deserve to know the whole story.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
We’re not alone, according to this article in the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/16/massive-rnc-robocall-may_n_135348.html
Interesting that it talks specifically about Minnesota and the differences in the law regarding robocalls. You and I (I think) heard from a live person and perhaps that’s why.
And here’s the call back number for the RNC from the message: 202-863-8500.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Wow. I’m amazed and disgusted. There’s a ton of coverage today on Talking Points Memo (a liberal blog) on other robocalls. I’ve had a number of hangup “out of area” calls lately. I wonder if they’re related.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I received the same phone call last night, and was completely disgusted by how low the campaign would go. Very offensive.