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Two Call Center Workers Quit Jobs Rather Than Recite McCain Ayers Slime
Reading McCain's Ayers slime from a script into the phone was too much for one young woman, reports West Virginia's Charleston Gazette:
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..."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."
A man in Wisconsin also quit his call-center job over the Ayers call, local news there reports.
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Nice to see some young Republicans out there that have a conscience.
October 22, 2008 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
How do you conclude that these people are Republicans? I didn't see any reference to their political affiliation in the articles.
That said, I applaud their principles right along with you.
October 22, 2008 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
My bad, I thought that maybe these were McCain volunteers and didn't realize that they were referring to call centers. Having used to work for one (in an IT capacity) I realize that those that place the calls don't get a choice in what they're asked to recite.
October 22, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
No problem.
What they did was pretty awesome regardless of what party they belong to. Giving up your gig is a risky thing these days.
October 22, 2008 10:20 AM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed. Especially for a college student trying to pay ever increasing tuition. Something, by the way, that Obama addresses in his economic plan -- damn his socialism!
October 22, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
If you want to see some Republicans with a conscience, watch this:
http://www.americannewsproject.com/node/158
October 22, 2008 10:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
That was good. McSame has caused this and I hope he gets to see it. when I was a kid I didn't haqve a choice as to what school or church I went to.To asume that Barack is a Muslim and base that on why you shouldn't vote for him,is obsurd!!! I thought the reason that the Pilgrams came to this country was for Religious Freedom? Now McSame and Failin' have drudged up nothing but devision and hatred in an already volitile society. One that was built on racial hatred. It's no wonder that they're losing. They deserve nothing else but to lose.
October 27, 2008 7:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans or not, there seems to be a bit of a backlash against the nasty rhetoric out there:
Check this out.
http://thepajamapundit.com/
October 22, 2008 11:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
THIS
October 22, 2008 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
IS
October 22, 2008 10:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
EXCELLENT
October 22, 2008 10:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
Dear little baby Jebus: Thank you.
I feel like I'm living in America again.
October 22, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
NEWS
October 22, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quick, give these people jobs at the Dept of Justice! In the new Obama/People's DOJ!
October 22, 2008 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
FOR
October 22, 2008 10:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
ALL OF US
October 22, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238985.php
That's good news for John McCain.
John
October 22, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama should get out in front of this and denounce this silliness.
October 22, 2008 10:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why in the world would this be Obama's responsibility?
Do you think for a second that McCain would 'denounce this silliness' if Al-Q had come out and said they wanted Obama to be president? They'd make a freaking ad out of it and spend every dime of campaign money they had left on it.
Screw it. Let McCain be Al-Q's candidate of choice. O's campaign doesn't have to say a word about it.
October 22, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Because in doing so it would highlight McCain's pettiness, and show Obama is above politics when it comes to al Qaeda. Besides it's the decent thing to do.
The McCain Camp will try and spin it as saying "Al Qaeda is smart, they don't want McCain, so they're saying they want him - it's reverse psychology to trick American voters. Don't be fooled by al Qaeda!"
Obama should wait until McCain tries to spin it and quickly release a statement that says "Barack Obama and John McCain will both work to destroy al Qaeda, and what they say has no weight or bearing on our election" or something to that effect.
October 22, 2008 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
While he or several of his surrogates are at it, maybe they could even remind voters of the GOP talking point about that Hamas "endorsement" of Obama.
October 22, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain camp has called for a press conference specifically to address the endorsement
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/mccain-holds-conference-c_n_136850.html
October 22, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
The McCain Camp will try and spin it...
See the other thread. The McCain camp went batshit crazy over this, while trying to avoid talking about it.
The nice thing about this story is that it might take some thunder out of a OBL message if it comes down the pike in the next week or so. Obama can say that AQ can't seem to get their story straight on whether they want McCain to win to keep the war going or me to win to end the war.
John
October 22, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Over and over and over again. As many times as possible in as many media as possible. Until it sinks in irrevocably.
October 22, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I did not post the link but posted its content highlight last night on the other thread, "Obama Camp To Unleash..."
October 22, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry to have messed up the thread...
October 22, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
NEWS
October 22, 2008 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is already causing additional job losses.
October 22, 2008 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
THIS IS
-wait-
NEWS-
-hold on-
FOR-
goddammit!
October 22, 2008 10:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
On the bright side for McCain, this at least shows he didn't outsource the calling to India...
October 22, 2008 10:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Can't we get a thread about Palin, again, not knowing what the VP does?
Matthews was just flabbergasted last night. It was hilarious.
October 22, 2008 10:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Keith was flipping last night, too. Especially because it was the fourth time she had spoken about it, and had gotten it wrong each time.
October 22, 2008 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I missed Tweety. KO was funny. That it has legs is seen this morning because Schuster is still talking about it, especially in light of:
* where Palin ranks in the WaPo Poll in the "What Worries You About McCain" question
* the $150K in wardrobe charges
Unless something else pops up, today is going to "burn off the clock" with the MSM talking about Palin on topics that only re-enforce the negatives about her.
I can't imagine the Obama Campaign is happier.
Mix in the Bush Admin rolling out a release on the Big Financial Meeting that comes after the election. If likely gets a "WTF... aren't we getting rid of you before then" reaction from voters. Just another thing to remind people what a jerkoff Bush has been, and that perhaps they want Obama to crash that party as the President Elect.
John
October 22, 2008 10:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah everyone is now asking if she's doing that on purpose to try to position herself as the most powerful VP next to Cheney ever.
October 22, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
She is the type of person who the adage "absolute power corrupts absolutely" was meant to warn us about. She is attracted to this power like a moth to lightbulb on the backporch.
October 22, 2008 10:39 AM | Reply | Permalink
Corrupts, but definitely doesn't freakin' EDUCATE!
October 22, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Cheney's been the one coaching her...
"The rain in Spain falls..."
October 22, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's staggering.
[T]heyโre in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.
October 22, 2008 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
There are two ways to view it. 1) She hasn't read the Constitution, even after getting hit with the issue of what VP before; or worse 2) she really does know but doesn't care what the US Constitution says.
October 22, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or she believes in Cheney's ethos - the VP is a free-agent who answers to no one.
She wants to say the Executive controls the Legislative.
She may well think that's how it should be, ala Cheney.
October 22, 2008 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now, now, it's probably just a result of her mishmash of college attendance in between beauty pageants that has her all confused. I'm sure that if someone would've asked her turn-ons that world peace would've been in there somewhere.
October 22, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bachmann now has regrets. It's all Chris' fault.
October 22, 2008 10:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, instead of "Vote for me because I think Obama is Anti-American" she's going with, "Vote for me because I'm stupid"?
Okay...
October 22, 2008 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Palin's rewrite: Vote for me because I am stupid for real America because my real America is stupid.
October 22, 2008 10:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
October 22, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how many other "traps" she's walked into. What a candidate!
October 22, 2008 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
I have to wonder who dragged bin Laden out of his palatial hideout in Saudi Arabia to make a tape endorsing John McCain.
LMAO! Did we need any more proof of how much Cmmdr Coocoo and Karl Rove don't want McLame to win?
October 22, 2008 10:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Palin is not stupid. She understands what the Constitution says. The reason it seems odd that she could get it "wrong" four times is that from her perspective she got it right. She wants to be President, and if not President, then a VP who expands the traditional VP role to exercise "authority" over a Democratic led Senate. Hence her references to "flexibility" in the Constitution to accommodate a more powerful role for a VP if she "chooses". In short, Cheney on steroids.
October 22, 2008 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes she is too stupid.
She's common garden variety dumb. And no one is going to be able to convince me otherwise.
October 22, 2008 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm reasonably positive she has no idea what the constitution says - she's going strictly by what she has been told by the handlers who put her name out there as a possible VP candidate.
October 22, 2008 10:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with Tena.
I think she read (or, more likely, heard) the term "President of the Senate" and interpreted it to mean "in charge of the Senate." I don't think it shows a thirst for power (although, I'm sure she has one) as much as it shows just a general lack of intellect.
October 22, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Me too. Palin is not a hard worker. She likes to socialize. Campaigning, for her, is the ultimate social fix. She doesn't waste time on essentials like the Constitution.
October 22, 2008 10:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
She can get with the senators and work out good policy.
no you can't, you stupid fucking bitch.
It just breaks me heart that someone is running for VP of the US and doesn't know one goddamn thing about the constitution or the SCOTUS.
Not one thing.
October 22, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
That any campaign would have selected a VP in the way a movie or TV show would pick someone for an acting slot is so mind-boggling, so cynical. It is beyond belief! What a bunch of short-sighted sociopaths!
October 22, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
When you run a campaign like you'd run a low grade media company, you are scraping the utter rotten wood of the bottom of the barrel!
October 22, 2008 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
If O were to compete in AK, it'd certainly be better than McCain competing in PA.
----------------
Ivan Moore Research Oct. 17-19.
Alaska
McCain 53, Obama 42
Sen: Begich (D) 46, Stevens (R-i) 45
At-Large: Berkowitz (D) 51, Young (R-i) 43
----------------
Muhlenberg College
Oct. 17-21
Pennsylvania
Obama 52, McCain 41
October 22, 2008 10:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
The absurd part is the media's attempts to spin this as a horse race, when the polls show O closer in Alaska than McCain is in PA. But, of course the media is in a tizzy wondering if this "PA Strategy" could work. (It can't).
October 22, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Lots of off-topic stuff here. Now, if it were me being asked to read that crap, I'd do it in a YouTube-worthy way that would probably get me fired. That way I could at least collect unemployment. Quitting is for chumps.
October 22, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
I did not understand what you are calling "off-topic stuff." Off from what? Politics, election?
October 22, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I believe the topic was call center workers quitting rather than disseminate McCain/Palin bullshit. Not politics in general, Sarah Palin's wardrobe, her views on the responsibilities of the Vice President, or whatever else you all want to talk about. I don't know TPM's policy about what constitutes an open thread, but I don't think this one was one of those.
October 22, 2008 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
I believe the topic was call center workers quitting rather than disseminate McCain/Palin bullshit. Not politics in general, Sarah Palin's wardrobe, her views on the responsibilities of the Vice President, or whatever else you all want to talk about. I don't know TPM's policy about what constitutes an open thread, but I don't think this one was one of those.
October 22, 2008 2:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
O brother.
You want to find me a political comments board where everyone stays on topic all the damn time?
The most wonderful thing about these boards is the conversation and how it branches.
You don't like it - get off line.
October 22, 2008 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
We "misunderestimate" Gov. Palin at our peril. There's a difference between lack of knowledge/innate curiousity and lack of intellect. George Bush is not "stupid" either, by the way. Palin is a smart woman with natural political instincts that quite frankly rival Sen. Obama's and Bill Clinton's. But she has had little exposure to national issues and, given her lack of curiousity, no reason to master such issues until recently. Had she been groomed further in advance and had the economy not tanked, this would all be playing very differently.
October 22, 2008 11:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Really?
Yeah, it's been way perilous "underestimating her" so far.
nitwit. I've been told over and over since she was nominated that we underestimate her at our peril. Well you know what - I underestimated just how stupid she is.
She's stupid.
October 22, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Tina Fey is hotter.
October 22, 2008 11:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
And Tina Fey would make a much better VP.
October 23, 2008 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Political instincts that rival Obama or Clinton's? No offense, but are you insane?
She appeals to a very small subset of the ever-shrinking Republican party. She could never dream of rallying the kind of support Obama or Clinton have. She's all about craven identity politics, an Us vs. Them mentality that only resonates with the most rabid of rightwingers. Her political instincts are as fine-tuned as a sledgehammer.
October 22, 2008 11:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
To say nothing of the fact that polls show she's a bigger drag on McCain than BUSH!
October 22, 2008 11:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
In your premature triumphalism you are completely missing my point. It would be almost impossible for a Republican candidate for Prez to win in the current environment. But they, and she, may be back. She has a broad populist appeal to a fringe element of the electorate ... which you can basically say the same of the current President ... who's been in office for 8 years.
October 22, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, if your theory were true, wouldn't her "intellect" have provided a clue that she should have been "groomed further"?
And, I'm sorry, but winking and playing the role of Hee-Haw cornfield girl does not equate to "political instincts".
October 22, 2008 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Um, gee...no. Not even close.
The woman is a "moran" of the highest caliber. She reminds me of the Dark Knight in Monty Python - lots of promises to kick ass a second time, even when she has no limbs and is an empty suit.
If the Repubs are that desperate for leadership in four years, they deserve what they get.
October 22, 2008 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, gee...no. Not even close.
The woman is a "moran" of the highest caliber. She reminds me of the Dark Knight in Monty Python - lots of promises to kick ass a second time, even when she has no limbs and is an empty suit.
If the Repubs are that desperate for leadership in four years, they deserve what they get.
October 22, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
And yet, McCain has no problem with the accusation.
October 22, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
In this economy it takes a lot of guts to give up your job for a principle.
The other thing I find interesting about this story is that the McCain campaign is using call-center workers to do exactly what a robocall does -- call, spit out a message to whoever answers, and hang up. Presumably they're doing this in places where robocalls are illegal.
And don't most campaigns have either volunteers or their own paid staff making phone calls?
October 22, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is there a way to contribute to the unemployment funds of these two brave souls?
October 22, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Outstanding!
October 22, 2008 3:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
She has a broad populist appeal to a fringe element of the electorate
That doesn't hurt you? Wow, Cirque de Soleil could use you.
October 27, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
You don't mind if I borrow that line, do you?
It's like a rhetorical Mobius strip.
October 27, 2008 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
How come there is no record of this story at the website? check out http://wvgazette.com/ and see for your self.
October 28, 2008 12:54 AM | Reply | Permalink