Tweet
With most analysts predicting a Democratic takeover of the House on Tuesday, the GOP is clearly running scared. Sadly, there's nothing scarier than a scared GOP. Currently, the NRCC has launched an operation to robocall voters in many close elections, and pretend to be calling from the Democratic campaign. If the voter hangs up, the robocall will keep on calling six or seven times. If the caller doesn't hang up, the robocall will segue into Republican talking points (and maybe outright lies). These calls seem to occur most often during dinner or late at night.
I bring this up for a couple of reasons. First, if you recieve one (or eight) of these calls, don't believe the script. Second, at what point do you cross the line from running a negative campaign to running a criminal campaign? In New Hampshire, these calls are illegal, and could cost the NRCC fines ranging to $100 million. But outside NH, they seem to be legal. And the Democratic campaigns simply cannot respond. In my district (NY 19), we are already talking to people who are mad at us for the calls. And while we can convince the people who complain to us that the calls aren't from us, how many people are out there who either will become less likely to vote, or will vote for our opponent, because of GOP deception and cheating?
I wonder, are there any lines that the GOP will not cross to stave off defeat? (there was a letter sent out to hispanics on california saying that if legal immigrants showed up at the polls to vote, they would be arrested, even if they were registered to vote) If something is not outright illegal, does that make it an acceptable practice in a campaign? Do politicians have a responsibility to their constituents and to the idea of Democracy, or is the only thing of importance the win?
Some people believe that this is inevitable, that politicians are all dirty crooks desperately trying to look less slimy than the other guy. I think that they are only because we let them. I think that if we care at all about the health of our electoral system, we should reject candidates who embrace such tactics.
I bring this up for a couple of reasons. First, if you recieve one (or eight) of these calls, don't believe the script. Second, at what point do you cross the line from running a negative campaign to running a criminal campaign? In New Hampshire, these calls are illegal, and could cost the NRCC fines ranging to $100 million. But outside NH, they seem to be legal. And the Democratic campaigns simply cannot respond. In my district (NY 19), we are already talking to people who are mad at us for the calls. And while we can convince the people who complain to us that the calls aren't from us, how many people are out there who either will become less likely to vote, or will vote for our opponent, because of GOP deception and cheating?
I wonder, are there any lines that the GOP will not cross to stave off defeat? (there was a letter sent out to hispanics on california saying that if legal immigrants showed up at the polls to vote, they would be arrested, even if they were registered to vote) If something is not outright illegal, does that make it an acceptable practice in a campaign? Do politicians have a responsibility to their constituents and to the idea of Democracy, or is the only thing of importance the win?
Some people believe that this is inevitable, that politicians are all dirty crooks desperately trying to look less slimy than the other guy. I think that they are only because we let them. I think that if we care at all about the health of our electoral system, we should reject candidates who embrace such tactics.
Comment