DIRTY TRICKS….The latest campaign trick from the fine folks in the Republican Party is to make repeated robo-calls to voters that sound as if they’re from Democratic candidates. Do it often enough and voters will be so pissed off at their local Democrat that they’ll just stay home instead of bothering to vote. Clever, eh?
TPM is all over this if you want the details, but here’s the gist from a House race in New Hampshire:
Incumbent Republican Congressman Charlie Bass denounced the calls yesterday and said he tried to get the NRCC to put a stop to them. But a spokesman for the NRCC said the automated phone calls would continue indefinitely.
“The calls will continue as planned,” said Alex Burgos, a spokesman for the NRCC, the national group charged with electing Republicans to the House. “They are done independently of Charlie Bass’s campaign. He has nothing to do with them.”
Ignore the question of whether Bass is denouncing the tactic or merely “denouncing” the tactic. Instead just think about what’s going on here. In every election, there have always been individual wingnuts who go over the edge with desperate campaign tactics. It happens on both sides. This time, though, the desperate tactics are coming straight from the Republican central committee. What’s more, there’s not even a hint of embarrassment. In fact, they sound pretty proud of themselves.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
