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Santorum Defends Robocalls To Democrats

Posted by timothy on from the license-and-registration dept.

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."

6 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. Stop it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This has no place on /.

    1. Re:Stop it. by icannotthinkofaname · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Slashdot doesn't keep me minimally informed on political issues, then how am I going to know how much each candidate hates my freedom? How would I ever have known who was a traitor and who was against SOPA?

      --
      Let q be a radix > 1. I am in ur base-q, killing 10 d00ds.
  2. My roomba by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

    My roomba got a robo call once telling him to vote skynet.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  3. Re:Robo-calls make me avoid your product. by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seconded. And imagine the calls these people must have received:

    "Hi there Democrat voter, have you ever thought that you might like Santorum? A lot of people who at first found the idea repulsive were glad they tried playing on the other team and haven't gone back. I'm here to convince you that what would make America great, is a big heaping helping of Santorum."

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  4. Re:How is this good for Santorum? by Skapare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Democrats would cross over to vote for Santorum just to sabotage any chance for Republicans to beat Obama. Santorum has no hope in the general election while Romney actually has a slim chance.

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    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  5. Re:Robo-calls make me avoid your product. by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is just part of the Republican Party's unconscious effort to self-destruct.

    I'm not sure it's unconscious. I think they may be running a longer game. When McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, I couldn't help wondering if he was deliberately throwing the 2008 election to Obama. Perhaps he saw the biggest economic shitstorm since the Depression approaching, and knew that it would be blamed on whoever was in office.

    If the GOP actually nominates Santorum, this will no longer be an unlikely-sounding conspiracy theory, but an irrefutable fact. It will mean that the Republicans are absolutely terrified of something that they're reasonably certain will happen in the next four years, and that they don't want anyone from their party in the Oval Office when it does.

    I'm not going to vote for Obama again, either way, but I'm glad I'm not in his shoes.