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Santorum Defends Robocalls To Democrats
Hugh Pickens writes "The LA Times reports that Rick Santorum defended his robocalls urging Democrats in Michigan to vote in today's critical primary, a tactic that has come under withering criticism from rival Mitt Romney as a 'terrible dirty trick' and a 'new low for his campaign.' Santorum says he reached out to Democratic voters, who can vote in the primary, to show that 'we can attract voters we need to win states like Michigan,' and noted that the former Massachusetts governor has wooed Democrats in the past and used Santorum's own words endorsing him in the 2008 race on a robocall of his own. 'I didn't complain about it. I don't complain. You know what, I'm a big guy. I can take it.' Romney crossed party lines himself to vote for Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic primary over Bill Clinton in order to cause mischief for the general election. 'In Massachusetts, if you register as an independent, you can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary,' said Romney, who until he made an unsuccessful run for Senate in 1994 had spent his adult life as a registered independent."
This has no place on /.
So he didn't "cross party lines" then, did he?
If I get a robo call, I simply will not buy your product (or vote for you). No mater what the options are, I avoid people and products that try to annoy me.
But then if you buy into Santorums position that education is for snobs and if your not rabidly pro Christian your anti religion robo calls may work on you.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I think the act of reaching out the Democrats in and of itself is a non-issue.
If the message was "hey, I'm wanting to reach out to you because..." it'd be one thing. A "vote for me" message.
However, the message of the call is "Let's send Mitt Romney a MESSAGE!" A "vote against him" message.
IMHO, this is not quite the scandal everyone seems to be whipping it up to be, it's just "in your face" negative campaigning.
Can we talk about what candidates would do about Syria, now? Or maybe African genocide? How about finance reform? Hungry for real issues.
/me sips his coffee and ponders a new sig...
... or are you just hanging your hat on the word "robo" as an excuse for starting another generic my-party-is-better-than-your-party flamewar?
My roomba got a robo call once telling him to vote skynet.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I got one a couple of days ago and listened to end in the vain hope there would be an unsubscribe. The girl who made the recording was listing famous republicans who endorsed him. It was obvious at one point that she got to people she did not know as she stuggled to read some of the names.
I wish I had recorded it.
Since he says that half of the euthanisias in my country are against the will of the person dying, I'd like him to come over here, so we can add him to his own statistic. It seems he's going to be worse than Bush jr. WW-III anyone?
he does froth doesn't he.
Why would Santorum want to engage Democrats in the Republican primary. He's the fringe right wing candidate. Romney is nigh indistinguishable from the Democratic incumbant. If a Democrat shows up at the Republican primary, the odds are very good that he'll vote Romney.
The only way I can see a Democrat voting for Santorum in the primary is to help Obama win in the general election. Is Santorum banking on his own unelectability to win the primary? Or is that reading too much into this?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Personally I think they should do away with "special rights" of parties, etc.
There is nothing in our constitution that creates- or gives special rights to political parties. There is nothing about our brand of democracy that benefits from having parties. George Washington actually called them a bad idea and thought the US should stay away from them.
The government by including party affiliation on ballots- and helping organise- and give public spaces to primaries are interfering with fair elections- it gives an unfair advantage to the two largest parties and does not give a level playing field.
Being a two-party system the majority of the population are pressured into voting for one of two ideologies. "an independant or a third-party can't win" is a common belief... certainly it is made harder by states allowing people to vote "straight-party ticket". This makes it harder for independants or third parties to be elected.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
WW-III anyone?
I believe Santorum prefers to call it The Tenth Crusade.
Calling on Democrats to come out and vote in the GOP primary? Might be a trick, but not something to get worked up over.
Making robocalls, to anyone, ooooh now that's dirty. That deserves a beatin'
Republicans in Michigan crossed party lines to give Jesse Jackson the win back in 1998, and also for the Gubernatorial primaries to vote for Geoffrey Fieger in 1998. Democrats in Detroit were urging their voters to turn out for Ron Paul today, which is what Daily Kos should have supported too if they had half a brain. Ron Paul pulling off an upset in Michigan would have really threw the GOP primaries. A Rick Santorum victory, not so much.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
I doubt Santorum could find the Netherlands on the map. I doubt he could find Europe on a map.
Partially because his maps all depict a flat earth with "here be dragons" written on either side of the United States. The bible doesn't authorize a globe- so the earth must be flat.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Perhaps all the Democrats should heed Santorum's call to vote in the Michigan Republican primary - and vote for Ron Paul. :-)
That will show 'em.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Operation Hilarity
Of course, you shouldn't be eating it.
That's what the conservative party of Canada is alleged to have done in over 30 ridings (districts) during the last Canadian federal election.
Yup, and in my riding too. We may have by-elections, stay tuned. It really pissed me off when the Conservatives got a majority. Among other things they're trying to fuck up the internet and expand the prison population.
Please don't confuse the right-wingers with facts.
No matter who is in the White House, there's a very good chance WWIII will be started on his watch. There's not one plausible candidate, D or R who doesn't have warmongering with Iran as a major part of their foreign policy platform.
If anything, Obama is a bigger threat to world peace than Santorum. The cult of personality behind him has made most voters oblivious to the fact that he has doubled down on all the worst offenses of the Bush administration. Obama could ask for any power whatsoever, and the so-called "moderates" would hand it over to him just because he's "not Bush".
I'd be extremely surprised if we didn't see an Obama reelection shortly followed by a propaganda blitz extremely similar to what we saw in the lead up to Iraq. And he'll get away with it, because people are more concerned about their team winning, than not being hypocrits.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
All of the euthanasias in the US are against the will of the person dying, we just use the euphemism "death penalty". I'm constantly amazed at how the side that's "Pro-Life" is so intent on killing adults.
Most ignorance is vincible ignorance. We don't know because we don't want to know. --Aldous Huxley
Obviously he shouldn't be using a petroleum based lubricant.
Santorum. He's too dumb to know that Democrats who vote for him want him to win because he's a freaking fruit basket. Either that or he does know that and he's smarter than all of us. Maybe he has footage of Romney breaking some obscure old testament thing that would get him stoned by a tribunal of elders if America was run the way in should be.
Of course, he hasn't actually started any wars on his watch, unlike, say... every other US President going back to Carter. (No, a handful of drone strikes in Libya and Somalia don't count.) He did end the war in Iraq and is ending the war in Afghanistan. He got Bin Laden with a minimal incursion that didn't become a full-blown invasion.
He's talking tough on Iran, but is showing no signs of actually planning for a military operation there. The budget cuts to the military show that.
Reality conflicts with your fear-mongering and false equivalency.
You catch enchiladas by picking them up behind the head and holding them underwater until they don't kick anymore -VeGas
No, a handful of drone strikes in Libya and Somalia don't count.
I think if a drone struck your home, you might have a different opinion on whether that's an act of war. Although, Libya would be a rather minor transgression, if he hadn't violated the War Powers Act by staying there past the deadline.
He did end the war in Iraq and is ending the war in Afghanistan.
Yeah, he ended the Iraq War on the exact date Bush set, and was trying to stay longer. If you're happy that the Iraq war is over, you can thank the Iraqis for kicking us out. Obama had nothing to do with it.
I'll believe that Obama is ending the Afghanistan war when the Afghanistan war actually ends. He could have left when he killed OBL. I don't know what he's waiting for, but it's unlikely it will ever come. Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. Cut and run at the first opportunity is the only reasonable option.
Yes, BHO killed OBL, but he's also killed american citizens. Even juveniles. I'm far more frightened of living in an America where the president can have citizens assassinated with no oversight or detained without habeas corpus than I am of living in the same world as OBL.
Reality conflicts with your apologetics.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Well, you have to figure in that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich have voted the same way quite a few times, and Dennis Kucinich is probably has one of the most solid liberal voting records of anyone in Congress. Of course, we also seem to live in an era where having an isolationist foreign policy, voting to reduce spending, wanting to shrink the government, and respecting the Constitution are good ways to get thrown out of the Republican party.