Friend of Media Nation John Doherty posts this in the comments:
here in Boston suburbs, I just got “push polled” on the election.
Oddly, they identified the candidates by party first “Republican Scott Brown” *, etc. and then asked if I supported either one (no mention of the faux Kennedy libertarian).
When I said Coakley (in fact, I already voted absentee in case of bad weather), they asked if it would change my vote if I knew Coakley supported “tax payer funding of abortions”.
Call came in around 8:40 Sunday night from DC number: 202 461-3440.
Reverse lookup tells me it’s a landline in Westchester, DC and is unpublished.
* odd because GOP label is pretty toxic here.
This is so mind-blowingly stupid that I have agree with John that it’s “odd.” My guess is it’s some right-wing organization working not just independently of Brown, but against his interests. Apparently they haven’t heard that Massachusetts isn’t Alabama.
I tried calling the number and got a busy signal.
Instant update: A poster at Universal Hub says the calls are connected to Americans in Contact PAC, a right-wing group.
Still more: Just saw a link on Twitter about push-polling linking Brown to “hate groups.” This is really getting ugly.
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Some more here – it’s a group called Americans in Contact PAC, whose mission “is to identify social and fiscal conservatives throughout America and engage them at the Grassroots level in the political process of elections and legislation…” Oh, and to fight “taxpayer-funded abortions.”
Anyone gotten any pro-Coakley push polls? A friend of mine got one from “McGuire Research”, supposedly of Colorado which asked “knowing that [list here] hate groups support Scott Brown, does that affect whether or not you will support him”?
Adam Gaffin rocks. Got the same call – was out – said they may call back. Anyone who pushes me in a directon I don’t want to go in, just hardens me. Hell, I won’t subscribe to Netflix because their ubiquitious popups are so aggravating. That “If you knew…” doesn’t even require that the statement be true, with the “If”. They could very well ask: “If you knew she was a mass murderer…”
I’ll vote for Coakley. Having said that, I would have preferred Khazei or Capuano. Helped by an abbreviated primary campaign, she slid into it without much effort. I voted for Capuano b/c I believe he is a fighter in the Kennedy tradition. Guess I’m old school.
I mentioned this call on twitter and all the brownies started off about how he’s pro-choice. Huh? He’s beholden to these extreme right wing groups. But, I hope they keep making these calls. It annoyed me enough to donate more $$ to Martha Coakley. I figure, I’m not the only one.
“This is really getting ugly.” No.
Ugly was Bush vs. McCain in the 2000 Republican presidential primary in South Carolina. Lots of stuff, including push polling that McCain’s adopted, Bangladesh-born daughter was an illegitimate black love-child. That primary was a smear-fest for the ages.
Brown’s push polling is only a little bit ugly by comparison, especially since the nature of the misrepresentation is the national Republican party-line — as well as a few Democrats — on the language of Congress’s two health care bills.
I got this one, too, same number and it was Americans in Contact PAC. they claim no allegiance to any candidate as part of the routine.
It’s automated with a pause for your answer, but all it does it wait to hear some sound so that it goes to the next pre-recorded statement. It actually reacted to me coughing, answering “cockroach pie” and swearing.
Oh Scott, you’re going to lose a few Beefcake covers over this one.
Dan —
I got the anti-Coakley push poll last night, which is odd, because I’m a registered D, which seems to me to be a waste of time and effort. (Shouldn’t they ought to be push-polling Independents or R’s? Politics is hard!) Ignoring the fact that someone was paying to lie to me on The Lord’s Day — Shame, shame — I’d like to say that I’d like to hear someone say they actually GOT the calls about Brown and the hate-group. The crackaloon law professor from Cornell says he heard from some anonymous woman, etc. etc.
@Charles Pierce: I’d like to hear from someone who actually got an anti-Brown push call, too. In weighing unsubstantiated claims versus my friend @John Doherty, a recipient of an anti-Coakley call, I considered leaving out the unproven allegation. I figured I’d give it a mention, but here we are a day later and there are still no details. Hmmm …
I got the push-poll call last night as well. I indicated that I’m voting for Coakley, that I would continue to support her despite the “flaws” told to me by the recorded voice. I also said in response to the questions that I was a registered Republican, a tea party supporter, male, and over 50. The last four items are false, but what the hell.
I got the anti-Coakley push poll last night. Same number. It was rather fun.
It said Coakley supported using “taxpayer money” to “fund abortions nationwide” if I recall the quote, then said Brown “feels like you do,” totally anti-choice. (And totally not how I feel.) It asked if that made me less likely to vote for Coakley. I said no.
It then asked if I supported the “government health care program” (again, that likely is not an exact quote but is close enough) that would cost more than the human imagination can embrace, destroy the economy, and cause the Earth to crash into the Sun. I said yes.
Then it started going to to demographic stuff, so I hung up.
The Cornell professor is the one behind “Mustard-gate.” Not to be taken seriously.
I got the abortion-themed anti-Coakley call just now. Good times. Scott Brown “feels like [I] do?” Really?
No. Not really.
My “partner” and I both got anti-Coakley push polls tonight – 1/12.
I received an anti-Coakley push poll tonight. I find it suspicious that the earliest reports of anti-Brown push polling (e.g., look for the web pages from 1/8/2010 on a Google search for “coakley push polls”) are from out of state blogs/sources and that they pre-date reports of anti-Coakley push polling by a couple of days. Surely Massachusetts residents would voice their own concerns early?