The Republican Party Loves Democracy

- Not.

Take a look at what the NRCC is doing across the nation.

The NRCC nationwide has set up a series of "robo-calls" designed NOT to spread a Republican message (either the real Republican idea, "limited government, low taxes" or the Bush-Cheney version, "a vote for the Democrat party is a vote for the terrorists"), but to piss off voters enough that they won't vote for a Democratic candidate.

Here's how Talkingpointsmemo describes the calls:

What we're seeing is an apparent coordinated effort from the NRCC -- the House GOP committee -- to place calls that appear to be from the local Democratic candidate and then automatically call the same number back as many as seven or eight times each time the caller hang-ups. If the caller listens to the whole message it goes on to bash the Democratic candidate. But if the caller hangs up prematurely, the computer calls right back. Hang-ups are the achilles heal of robo-calls. So this seems to be an attempt to cover for that weakness by making those who hang up think the Democratic candidate is basically harassing them with phone calls. The GOP wins either way.

They just love Democracy, don't they? No debate on the issues, just dirty tricks to supress the vote - they must really trust their message, huh?

Talkingpointsmemo has more:

What is there to do about it. As described, the calls appear to be in violation of federal regulations which mandate that these calls clearly identify their origin. The repetitive call back may also be a violation in different states. The New Hampshire AG apparently just intervened to force the NRCC to stop the calls in that state.

This report from the AP has more:

FCC rules say all prerecorded messages must "at the beginning of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call." During or after the message, they must give the telephone number of the caller.

So it may be an illegal tactic? From the Republican Party? No frickin' way!

It's happening in Philadelphia. It's happening in Kansas. It's happening in Connecticut. It's happening in Indianapolis (where it really looks like they're illegal - the Republican AG even says so):

[Indiana Attorney General Steve] Carter, a Republican, has taken action this year to put a stop to automated telephone calls, saying an Indiana law barring them does not exempt political campaigns and parties.

But when have notions of illegality ever gotten in the way of the party of Warrantless Domestic Surveillance? Waterboarding? Abu Ghraib?

Robo-Calls - another, possibly illegal Republican Dirty Trick from the guys who claim to be more patriotic than you.