Won't Shovel The Sleaze Anymore

One lady has had it.

Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama.

McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee were paying for the calls, according to a "work paper" handed to Cole and her co-workers at the Weston offices of 1.2.1 Direct Response, a company based in Philadelphia.

"I was working at the call center," Cole said. "We got a campaign ad talking about how Obama had been part of terrorist attacks on the Capitol, the Pentagon and a judge's home and had ties with Bill Ayers.

"Last Thursday, I told them I did not want to read it," Cole said. "They said, 'Either you read it or you go home.'

"I told them I wasn't going to read it. They made me go home without pay for the rest of the day."

The most notable part of this, actually, is that McCain's hiring phone callers. The Obama campaign is entirely volunteer-driven.

There are also the robocalls, of course. And in the latest, Rudy Giuliani makes an appearance (as if his Presidential campaign didn't sap every ounce of his credibility) claiming that Barack Obama opposes jail time for murderers.

Hi, this is Rudy Giuliani, and I'm calling for John McCain and the Republican National Committee because you need to know that Barack Obama opposes mandatory prison sentences for sex offenders, drug dealers, and murderers.

It's true, I read Obama's words myself. And recently, Congressional liberals introduced a bill to eliminate mandatory prison sentences for violent criminals -- trying to give liberal judges the power to decide whether criminals are sent to jail or set free. With priorities like these, we just can't trust the inexperience and judgment of Barack Obama and his liberal allies. This call was paid for by the Republican National Committee and McCain-Palin 2008 at 866 558 5591.

He opposes mandatory minimum sentences, and I think only in nonviolent cases. That's been spun out to "the blacks will be roaming the streets and out of jail free!"

Also, the McCain campaign is smear texting.

Know the facts: Call 641-715-3900 ext. 83682
Then please fwd this 2 your phonebook they need 2 know.
You will Lose your freedoms this November 4th if you don't know!!!!

The phone number leads to the Bill Ayers robocall. It's reverse smearing!

I guess when human beings not named Rudy Giuliani won't do your dirty work, you have to bring the callers to you instead of going to the callers.

Pathetic.

UPDATE: There are now four Republican Senators on the record denouncing these robocalls and asking them to stop in their home states. Talk about a FAIL.

UPDATE II: The last refuge of a scoundrel, etc.: Elitist Obama will take your guns away. It was inevitable.

Free WiFi In Phoenix Int'l!

Very exciting. Email doesn't seem to be working though. Let's see what's on the Internet!

Mark Halperin, in case you didn't know, is the dumbest man alive, but fortunately, he's not running Democratic campaigns, though his mindset is pervasive. I think Obama is less concerned with what the opposition is going to say about him than your average Democrat (oh noes! Rev. Wright! Bill Ayers!).

The WaPo reported that Obama's campaign overloaded the text message network, leading to some supporters not getting their announcement. But the LAT reported the opposite. They probably should have sent it at midday Friday, but you can always second-guess these things, and anyway it'll be a real boon to build their texting list going forward. In fact, they might use it as early as this Thursday.

Joe Biden got the call for VP during his wife's root canal.

John McCain is digging such a big hole on this POW defense he's going to hit China. Even MoDo is starting to mock him for this. Apparently the McCain campaign thinks it's a winner.

Advisors say if Obama gets "nastier" on that issue that opens the door for them. Advisors say the "Rezko deal stinks to the high heavens." They will be prepared to show McCain's "home" in Hanoi by using images of his cell. They claim they have not overused the POW element and insist they have "underused it." They say Americans think most people in presidential politics are wealthy and will point out that Obama "made himself a multi-millionaire after he entered public life."

OK, it worked in 1982 when you said it in a debate ONCE. It's now beyond parody.

Florida and Michigan will have full delegations at the convention.

OK, my battery stinks.

Kewl Kidz

Setting aside the merits of Joe Biden for a second, late last night as the news nets were announcing the pick David Shuster said something like "Barack Obama has now betrayed his supporters by not giving them the first opportunity to hear his choice..."

Simply an amazing statement on a variety of levels. Actually, who betrayed the public is you, the media, again, because you just couldn't stand not being insiders for ten minutes and waiting out the pick and maybe using those resources of staking out potential candidates' homes and working the phones on, I don't know, illegal wars and torture. The press only breaks out their investigative skills every four years so they can scoop their competition by 20 seconds. Would it have killed them to embargo the story and let the campaign play it out the way they wanted? Would it have mattered to anyone?

This secret was so tantalizing to them, making it necessary to marshal the full resources of the American media, while eight years of secret government and secret law received no such attention. The discovery of the pick was an end in itself, justifying their clubby, insider self-images as the coolest kids in the room. And then, after they've undermined the rollout, they blame the candidate.

It's going to get lost because it happened so late at night, but it was a shining example of how the media works.

...Brilliant. The LA Times ran with a Tim Kaine pick (they got it right in the print edition). They broke their word to their subscribers!

Innovations

The Obama campaign's old-media strategy has been fairly stale, but they are implementing some very innovative practices that look to the future of campaign communications.

I think the Kerry campaign announced their Vice Presidential selection via email, but Obama is taking this a step further by texting the announcement. It's a gimmick, to be sure, but the goal is to obviously sign up a list of a million or so texters to deliver instant communications throughout the election season. More and more young people are using text messages as a primary form of communication, so this is simply smart. I could see them doing "text banks" to put messages out or GOTV.

The other innovation, which they've done consistently since the primaries, is this idea of mass phone banks, which will get a new makeover in Denver.

On Thursday, August 29, 80,000 people will line up to enter Invesco Field in Denver. Greeting them at the gates will be a squadron of federal agents with magnetometers. Security is important; everyone will be carefully screened.

Even with a few dozen magnetometers, though, the queues will be long. 80,000 people will be antsy, sweaty, excited, bored. Presciently, Obama's convention planners realize this.

They're drafting a plan to pass out thousands of cell phones, and with them, lists of persuadable voters from their database along with their home telephone numbers. The idea is to encourage the line-waiters to use their time productively and in service to the cause. One giant phone bank, in other words, waiting to pass through the mag lines.

That's a brilliant idea. Campaign events don't necessarily turn voters around; but they aggregate masses of supporters in one place, and that makes them a perfect time to engage them in mass action. Obama's campaign has really innovated in this area, creating almost flash mobs of citizen participation. With Obama's strategy predicated on massive turnout, this is actually crucial to victory as well.

Meanwhile, at the Old Fart Saloon, this enthusiasm is wanting on the Republican side.

Republicans aren’t exactly planning to avoid the convention in droves. But compared to past conventions, lawmakers, lobbyists and candidates aren’t beating a path to St. Paul either.

Of the 12 Republicans running in competitive Senate races — five of whom are incumbents — only three have said they will be attending the convention. Six are definite no-shows, and three are on the fence.

“Nobody likes a funeral,” said a Senate Republican press secretary who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing “the overall climate of general malaise about the party” as the reason for hesitance on the part of Republicans.

I know the media wants everyone to believe this race is close, but the enthusiasm gap makes it hard for me to believe.

UPDATE: I missed this the first time around (h/t kos):

"I would definitely say that people aren’t as excited about going to Minneapolis as they were about going to New York City," said Matthew Keelen, president of the Keelen Group, a D.C.-based lobbying firm. "Minneapolis is a nice city, but it doesn’t quite have the environment and reputation of a New York City, and I think 2004 was a unique convention and a lot of it had to do with where it was," he said.

They hate middle America. No good cigars or lobbyists there, I guess. What a bunch of hypocrites.