This sentence makes absolutely no sense:

"I have a recording of a pre-recorded phone message from DNC counsel Joe Sandler which contains the same sorts of disclaimers (including placement) as NRCC calls."

try proof reading before posting an article...

I got one of these calls yesterday, for candidate John Garamendi, here in California. I didn't recognize the number so I let my voice mail take it.

When I got around to listening to it, my first thought was, "Well, I'm not going to vote for him NOW."

This is more of the typical Republican behavior designed to suppress the vote and steal yet another election. It is clearly fraudulent. They cannot win on the issues and on Iraq so they have to resort to illegal and annoying activities to push likely Democratic voters to stay home. Disgusting.

These Republican robocalls begin by saying they're "about" a Democratic candidate. They're designed to fool voters into believing they're being harassed by the Democrats rather than the true source, the NRCC!

Nothing new here. Just the same old dirty Republican tricks. If they can't win, they cheat. Wake up America, the Democrats are the party with moral authority, not the corrupt Grand Old Police Blotter.

Why would DNC counsel Joe Sandler have pre-recorded phone messages? I don't think anyone is going to vote based on what the DNC counsel thinks. I don't understand what they are talking about.

The NRCC has a nationwide campaign to suppress the vote, and judging from his response letter, Don McGahn, their general counsel, apparently thinks it's all a big joke.

What a pompous response. We'll see if he's laughing tomorrow night.

Why do Republicans hate democracy so much?

What's missing from this story is the fact that these Republican-funded calls say that they're from the Democratic candidate, and are meant to convince the voter that the Democratic candidate is harrassing them with repeated phone calls. It's a mendacious new form of voter suppression, and it's getting very little coverage in the mainstream media.

--ET

CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and Fox are each ignoring the GOP's nationwide campaign of false-flag robocalls meant to harass voters and fool them into thinking the calls come from Democrats. If it were Dem on GOP, if it were on Drudge, the cable nets would be on it wall-to-wall. As it is, they're content to ignore it.

That's because the powers-that-be in the mainstream media are in the tow of the Republican party. The Halperins and Crowleys of the news biz are all part of the same corruption.

Like Halperin says, Drudge rules their world.

You have to understand that and absorb that before you can set about doing what's necessary to change it.

The issue isn't "robo-calling." The issue is harrassment and deception. The calls paid for by the Republican National Congressional Committee are designed to annoy the people being called, and they're designed to appear as if they come from Democratic campaigns.

They lie. They steal. And they cheat. Somewhere, Lincoln is weeping.

Both parties deliver millions of robocalls during election season. You've probably gotten the calls from both parties and many outside groups. It happens every cycle.

Only the REPUBLICANS have a nationwide campaign to deliver millions of intentionally-harassing calls disguised to appear that they're from the opposite party. That party is the Republican party. And the calls are funded by the NRCC -- the House GOP election committee.

Republicans... the party of election subversion. Deal with it.

this is sick....typical Republican dirty trickery... what's next? Try to make everyone believe that they bought drugs but never took them and the male-page prostitute on the bed was there to give out massages but nothing gay happened and God is with us? please...

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of the electorate. However, the story could use some clarification.

The offending robocalls all have the same pattern. They start with "This is a message about candidate X", and then go on to provide negative information about that candidate. If one listens all the way to the end, they are able to determine the call is from the NRCC. However, there are numerous reports of the same call occurring 7 or 8 times in a row. To the person hanging up on each call, they are likely to assume the call is in support of candidate X, rather than a NRCC-sponsored call. Naturally, this infuriates the person called, and may likely cause them NOT to vote for Candidate X just because they are so annoyed.

There are reports of this same style of call occurring all over the country in completive Congressional races. talkingpointsmemo.com has more details.

It is very important for our Democracy that the truth about these calls gets out there. I hope ABC has the courage to report the truth in a timely fashion.

Why doesn't ABC News make this a top headline?

ABC news is afraid of any news that is viewed as too "partisan", especially if it is "partisan" against republicans.

This in the face of obvious voter suppression!

Stephen, you DO realize that this article is about illegal phone calls made by the Republican Party lying and saying they are calling about a Democratic candidate, with the purpose of dissing the Democratis candidate and/or ticking Democrats off--don't you?

What Dean said...

And of course ABC was investigate the actual law, or condemn this immoral and anti-democratic practices of the GOP.

How do these companies and politicians sleep at night?

Typical Democrat fear response article! Even with all the left-winged media bias they realize they don't have this thing in the bag.
Now it will all just be a big bunch of excuses and blame-I love it!!!!

I've also received these calls. Caller ID labels it as "ATT", like the phone company. It make me mad that politicans are above the law!
No matter who wins congress, we're still screwed.

US Soldiers are going to die violently in Iraq today, like they do every day. They think they're fighting for democracy, but if George W. Bush and his supporters have their way democracy won't happen on Tuesday. They'll do anything to subvert and undermine the integrity of this election because they are not expected to win it, and the stakes are high. Imagine how many scandals the Democrats will uncover with Congressional investigations.

So our troops fight and die to spread democracy overseas, while the GOP works hard to subvert it here at home. This will not stand.

Seriously, the GOP is nothing but the scum of the earth. When the Democrats take over Congress, their first order of business should be to severely PUNISH these guys.

This is crafy way to agitate republicans.

I think this is a very important story. I really really hope that the story is being reported on the air and not just on the web.

The harassing robocall strategy depends on tricking people into being irritated with the target of the dirty trick (in this case Democratic party candidates for the House and Senator Menendez).

Such a trick can be rendered worse than useless to the tricksters if the facts are made known to the public. This is a case in which ABC news can make a valuable contribution to keeping political campaigning from getting even worse than it is already.

Please please get the information out to the voters before it's too late.

Dear Bob

The garbled sentence was a direct quote. You can't blame Ellen Davis for the fact that Don McGahn can't manage a semi coherent argument.
To proof read a quote before posting an article is to make sure the quote is accurate. Journalists are not required to find a coherent argument made by a Republican (it can be very hard some times).

Nor do I blame Don McGahn for his nonsensical reply. The robocall harassment program is indefensible and a comparison of mass callings with a call from "DNC counsel Joe Sandler" (or was it the message on his answring machine?) is probably the best that can be managed as a defence of the indefensible.

Bob,

You seem to have a bit of a reading comprehension problem. The sentence you say makes no sense makes perfect sense. Here, let me break it down for you:

The letter writer is telling the letter recipient that he (the letter writer) has a recording of a "robo-call" from the DNC (a pre-recorded message by Joe Sandler)which has the same placement (at the end of the message) of the disclaimers ("paid for by the Democratic National comittee...") required by law.

Simple and to the point.

I have recieved "robo-calls" from both parties and the format is the same on both sides. So either BOTH parties are in violation or neither is. This much ado about NOTHING. I feel safe in saying that the DNC is worried because the momentum for the Republican candidates is growing and the poll numbers are showing the races to be tighter that the DNC would like.

Does the DNC call begin by suggesting that the call is about a Republican? I think not. Only a Republican national organization would stoop that low.

STOP ALL ROBOCALLING!!! Worse than email spam and less effective--although it probably is effective at getting people not to vote for you.

Um, sorry, no. The parties are in NO way engaged in the same behavior. The disclaimer is only part of the issue, the real issues are:

A: using their OPPONENTS NAME in the first five words, WITHOUT clarifying who is making or sponsoring the call BEFOREHAND, or, in the case of the ACTUAL IDENTITY-THEFT republican robo-calls, NEVER identifying the sponsor.

B: Putting people who immediately hang up on the robo-call onto an immediate call-back schedule, the schedule for THESE UNSIGNED ads including early am and late pm, WHEN NO POLITICIAN IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BOTHER PEOPLE WITH A PROPERLY CITED ROBO-CALL.

That candidates and parties are making "valid" robo-calls at reasonable times but with questionable citations is NOT the issue, but it IS the only the answer republicans will give for this heinous dirty trick. A dirty trick answer for a dirty trick tactic.

So, indeed, that sentence makes perfect logical sense, Bob, but it is also misleading and untrue.

But please clarify, Nina, are you suggesting that you received a democratic robo-call which NAMED THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE IN THE INTRO? When you hung up the phone, did you receive the same call five more times? Of course not, because it is the NRCC who are admittedly doing this, the Dems are not.

No no Nina. The NRCC's Carl Forti is dissembling. Bob Bauer of the DCCC is complaining about NRCC calls which start off by announcing that the call is about "Name" (the Democratic Candidate), then proceeds with various slams and charges against "Name". Only at the end of the 6-7 minute tirade is there an NRCC disclaimer. These calls have been well-documented by many independent media sources, with multiple verified recordings.

Forti dissembles by claiming to have a recording of an automated call from DNC counsel Joe Sandler that follows the same disclaimer format of an NRCC robo-call. His model NRCC call is certainly not like the calls that Bob Bauer's complaint address. It's not even logical that there would be comparable slamming calls from Joe Sandler.

You have, as you say, received "robo-calls" from both parties with identical formats. But you haven't received the kinds of 'robo-calls" from the Republican side that Bob Bauer is complaining about--those are obviously and flagrantly out of compliance (not to mention kind of sad and pathetic attempt to win by deceit, not character).

Personal politics aside, cover this story. It is news and needs to be reported.

Nina, obviously you are a Republican.

This is hardly "much ado about NOTHING". Undecided voters are getting ANGRY at the democrat they THINK is calling them and then deciding not to vote because they don't listen to the end. Then they are called OVER and OVER and OVER again, if they hang up before the call completes.

The Democrats are NOT doing that. They have some electronic calls (though I think none should be able to do that) but they do NOT tie up the phone line of an innocent voter with recorded calls that do NOT release that persons phone when the person hangs up, and then call them back over and over again. That's what the RNCC is doing. This is illegal. It's a dirty trick, it's illegal and it's morally reprehensible. And it's HARASSMENT. People have DIED because of this tactic, because they can't get a call out to 911 because they are being continually called and the phone is not being released so that they can use their own phone. So before you say "Dems do it too" think a little bit!

These dirty tricks have to STOP.
The only reason the Republicans do these things is because they are desperate because they can't win the election HONESTLY.
Republicans have no morals or ethics, and continue to show it. But what do you expect of a party whose Vice President shoots someone in the FACE?

BTW, I want to thank the reporter for covering this story, but it needs more completion and explanation.

This discussion would benefit on a massive scale if we could hear the actual recordings in question, and judge for ourselves. Journalists, please provide us voters with with the information we need to make an informed decision.

The Democrats seem to break the law just about every few minutes, no one cares but if republican do, then shame on them. It makes no sense if there is not recording of phone numbers or message of who is paying for it they can’t blame the RNNC. It could be Independent group.

Another shameless torture tactic from the decide-to-cheat-through-deception Republicans.
This time it is American qualities of fairness, truth, and integrity being tortured while potential voters are getting harrassed by NRCC's deceptive home-invasive telemarketing.

Please love our country's honor enough to get this information about the robo-calls out to the public. Thank you.

In addition, multiple reports have come in from across the country that Democratic voters are receiving fraudulent calls regarding change their voting location.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/010870.php

After the election, some well-paid GOP stooge will go to jail (like in the NH phone-jamming case last cycle), but they will hold on to several seats by pure fraud.

Its time we made organized election fraud a severe criminal offense, with jail sentences measured in decades rather than months.

Desperation of lying liars and the lies they tell.

EVERYBODY VOTE THE DEMOCRATS IN ON TUESDAY.

LAST CALL!

OF course it does! Usually they say, this is so and so with an imprtant call about so and so. So and so's record is blah, blah, blah...it's time for a change, blah, blah, blah..vote for so and so on november 7th.

It's on BOTH sides.

No matter how immoral the GOP acts, there are always right wingers low enough to defend it. Isn't there anyone on the right moral enough to condemn the dishonest tactics of the Republican party? You never heard liberals defending Bill Clinton's affair even though they might support Bill Clinton himself. Yet the people on the right seem perfectly happen to defend the indefensible, for their own corrupt representives.

How about the calls that are being reported from Virginia, purporting to be from the state elections commission falsely telling people (Democrats) that they're not eligible to vote in the state and will be charged with a criminal offense if they appear at the polling place? Or the calls falsely telling people that their polling places have changed, when no such change has occurred? These are clear examples of vote suppression in violation of federal election law. Let's see some coverage of THIS issue.

How about some coverage of the real dirty tricks campaign that's underway on the part of the Republican party and its supporters?

If the Democrats did it they could get away with it because of the liberal media. Put since there is no name or Phone Number. How can it be the republicans it could be an independent group or the democrats lying to get more votes.

Democrats are right

Nina this isn't about robo-calling which is legal in many states. It's about *harrassing* and *deceptive* robo-calls which are illegal either at face value according to local laws or as voter suppression or intimidation. So far all of these reported incidences have been from Republican backed organizations. Suppression of the vote is the most unPatriotic thing any political party can do.

If the economy was false when Bill Clinton was in there, we are deffinately in a false economy under Geeorge W. Bush-O-Line, lets not forget Bill Clinton balanced the Budget and we had a surplus of 1.3 billion dollars, and Bill tried o make a Mexico a state, so it would put and end to Mexicans free loading on Americans, many blame things thats going on now on Bill Clinton, when this man had a republican controll congress and senate to deal with who opposed everything good Clinton wanted to do, you dont see any of them knocking Bush for what he's doing. Clinton was a better man than Bush, and he got caught where others did not, no doubt Monica was a made a very wealthy woman bye the Republicans who used a womans temptation to scorn and bruise the Democratic Party. When will America wake up and see whats going on in America, and this Republican administration is the real root of all evil. So put the republicans out of power and save our economy, control immigration, lower the Health care Cost, put America back to work, lower taxes, and help the middle class, and clean up Iraq, pull our children out, restore the economy and give the everyday hard working commen man a break, not the wealthy or our 30 Million unwelcomed Mexicans over here. Go Democrats, may god Bless You on the ballots from sea to shining sea, if we dont put the Republicans out where headed for more trouble, higher gas prices, lower wages, worse health care coverage, higher prices, and America will starve to death and suffer more, put the republicans out before they do any more damage to our country, and most impotant, im-peach BUSH.

Calling all reporters!

Seriously, ABC, were are the Woodwards and Bernsteins of today?

There is so much wrong out there that needs to be righted.

If you can't find SOMETHING on one of these guys (Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice (she is a he, right?), Rove and the rest of the axis of evil, then you're really nothing more than bloggers.

Am I right?

C'MON ABC, grow some chest hair already.

Nina, this is not about "Usually they say, this is so and so with an imprtant call about so and so", as you put it. That would be legal.

It is not legal to not identify yourself at the beginning of the call.

These calls start straight into 'I'm calling you about Candidate so&so,' followed by a pause. It sounds like you're getting a call in support of that candidate. If you hang up then, you get put into the caller's system for receiving repeated calls at all times of day and night. By then, you're pretty fed up with Candidate so&so.

If you don't hang up, the call moves into a screed against Candidate so&so. At the END, the NRCC is identified as sponsoring the call.

Dear Nina

You wrote

"OF course it does! Usually they say, this is so and so with an imprtant call about so and so. So and so's record is blah, blah, blah...it's time for a change, blah, blah, blah..vote for so and so on november 7th.

It's on BOTH sides. "

You have proven *our* case Nina. If the Demorobocalls begin with "this is so and so" they are legal and honest. The Republican false flag harassment robocalls do not name the Republican candidate at all.

They want the irritation over the calls (often repeated and at weird hours) to be directed at the Democratic candidate. They have succeeded with this filthy trick in many cases. If your assertions of fact are accurate, you have proven that it is not at all "on both sides".

Dear Andrew

You write

"The Democrats seem to break the law just about every few minutes, no one cares but if republican do, then shame on them. It makes no sense if there is not recording of phone numbers or message of who is paying for it they can’t blame the RNNC. It could be Independent group."

and

"Put since there is no name or Phone Number. How can it be the republicans it could be an independent group or the democrats lying to get more votes."

The calls *end* with the statement that they are paid for by the RNCC (I have never heard of this RNNC organization but, I admit, I recently called them the RNCCC so I shouldn't complain). This does *not* make the calls legal: 47 CFR 1200 (b)(1) provides that prerecorded telephone messages must “[a]t *beginning* of the message, state clearly the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call.
The RNCC has acknowledged that it is funding the calls in other settings as well. Learn the facts before you shoot your keyboard off ok ?

Also you shouldn't make libelous assertions about Democrats without at least one example. Your problem, I think, is that you can't find one example of Democrats doing something as vile as roboscam 2006.

The much talked about, but non-existant liberal media bias is obviously wrong. First of all, the media giants are all large corporations that favor Republicans. Secondly, this is ABC we are talking about. The same network that ran the shameful "Path To 9/11" smear against the Clinton administration. If this were really unbiased, they would report on all of the other voter suppression tactics of the Republicans including, but not limited to, racial intimidation, misrepresenting polling dates and loactions.
How can the Republicans claim to be the party of morality, when they are willing to engage in any illegal behaviour to sway the vote?
To paraphrase Katherine Harris...To elect Republicans is to legislate sin.

I guess I'd expect a real reporter to contact the FCC or FEC and verify if the robo calls actually are legal and in compliance.

Any reporters there at ABC? Oh hahahahahah from the network that brought us the ABC Mockumentary Path to Shame....

Nope. No reporters.

Liberal media bias? You bet! You see, most media insist on reporting Actual Facts, while the right wing prefers to operate in secrecy and trades in lies. If you have any doubt about that, tune into any episode of Rush. Darn that liberal media!

And Mr. Bush is telling us that Mr. Rumsfeld is doing a good job and that we are winning in Iraq ! Kind of like Brownie did a heck of a job and mission accomplished. Maybe in their twisted world these things are true but These people are so far removed from reality that we need to find other ways to protect our troops, those of us with a conscious must try to save as many lives as we can, lets not wait until the death toll climb to 60,000 like in Vietnam before we decide enough is enough. The only thing this bush administration is good at is spreading fear, stealing elections, taking care of lobbyist and big oil companies.

Liberal media bias? Just how did you reach such an 'informed' conclusion?

Well, here is my source as to why there is no longer a liberal media bias - check out Jeff Cohen. Jeff is the founder of the Media Watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. Jeff has been a co-host of CNN"s Crossfire, a weekly panelist on Fox News Watch, and a daily commentator on MSNBC. He is the author of the new book "Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media."

Here are a couple of excerpts from him about cable news networks and news networks in general (I think). It was taken from an interview on DemocracyNow with Amy Goodman, October 11, 2006.

"But, I mean, the people that were on TV, they have a corporate view. Their idea of balance is to get a conservative Republican to debate a conservative Democrat. For years on Crossfire the host was Michael Kinsley of The New Republic, and every night he announced, “I’m Michael Kinsley, from the left.” After doing that for six years, he gave up his seat, and that’s when they tested me to be the co-host. And a reporter asked Kinsley, after six years, “What are your politics?” And he described himself as a wishy-washy moderate. And that’s typical."
...
"So they [news management] construct a situation where it’s center-right. And by having the center represent the left, they don’t have to worry about corporate sponsor flight. They don’t have to worry about corporations being attacked in a serious way. When I was tested for the CNN Crossfire job, that was a concern of theirs, that I would be criticizing the nightly sponsor. There’s no doubt; they made it explicit to me."

Sounds pretty corporate controlled media - they sure as heck are not 'media left biased' but are center-right according to Jeff. He sure as heck knows more about the subject than me or you.

Karl Rove is an enemy to all Americans who believe in free elections and right to vote. He should be prosecuted for his part in these schemes and his part in the stealing of the two past presidential elections. Smash the Republican one party rule today.

Even lotteries have rules: if you cheat you forfeit your winnings.

Republicans should be held to at least the same rule as cardsharks.

We should forfeit their seat in congress for this felony crime against our democracy.

dear sirs: Thank you for your efforts to creat a DO NOT CALL LIST for political groups. We agree with your comments how irritating these calls are.
These political groups should not be allowed to disturb the peace in one's private environment regardless of caller id or answering machine.