Don't call us...
Updated on 29 October 2008
Felicity Spector listens to some of the more outrageous automated campaign phone calls.
They're the calls that are driving voters mad: automated messages delivered by telemarketing firms, not to flog double glazing or life insurance but politics, usually in the form of attacks on a candidate's opponent. Sarah Palin's already annoyed her handlers by going off script, describing the calls as 'irritating'.
But some of those calls aren't just irritating, they're downright outrageous. TalkingPointsMemo reveals that some 40 workers in a call centre in Indiana have walked off the job rather than read the script they say they were given by the McCain campaign.
Two workers at the Lake County centre, and one of their parents, said they felt the script was 'nasty' and didn't want to read it even though they were warned they wouldn't be paid if they refused.
Nina Williams says her daughter told her the script described Barack Obama as "coddling criminals" and that he'd voted against "protecting children from danger". "A lot of people left", said the daughter. "They thought it was disgusting".
The telemarketing company, Americall, hasn't commented.
But from the disgusting to the downright ridiculous, and a fabulously named Republican candidate in California's first district, Zane Starkwolf (crazy name, crazy guy!) has been defending a robocall sent out by his supporters this weekend.
Sensitive readers might not want to listen in as it's more or less a sex call, complete with young woman, panting and moaning in a breathy voice.
If you can bear it, listen to it here as the caller urges listeners to vote against Starkwolf's opponent, longtime Democratic incumbent Mike Thompson.
"Mike Thompson has been a BAAAAAAAAAAD boy" she moans. "We all said no to the bailout, but Thompson backed Bush. Just like he did with the Patriot Act, uhhhhhhhhh, vote YESSSSSSSSSS for Zane"...
Starkwolf himself insisted his campaign worker had merely been a tad "overly enthusiastic" and "I believe it is good to get enthusiasm back into politics".
Yes, Zane, enthusiasm. Not porn. That X you put on the ballot paper isn't meant to stand for X-rated.
