TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Ingraham Urges Listeners to Jam Democratic Phone Lines

Ingraham Urges Listeners to Jam Democratic Phone Lines

Media Matters Newsletter (mediamatters@telecom-digest.org)
Tue, 07 Nov 2006 23:22:26 -0600

As the weblog Firedoglake first noted, during the November 7 edition
of her nationally syndicated talk radio show, Laura Ingraham urged
listeners to jam the phone lines of 1-888-DEM-VOTE, a voter assistance
hotline sponsored by the Democratic Party. Ingraham stated: "I want
you to call it and I want you tell us what you get when you call
1-888-DEM-VOTE. They're on top of all of the shenanigans at the
polling stations. One problem: you can't get through." Minutes later,
while talking with a listener who called the hotline, Ingraham said:
"Let's keep 'dem' lines ringing." Ingraham, a frequent Fox News
contributor, is scheduled to appear on the November 7 edition of Fox
News' Your World with Neil Cavuto.

According to Firedoglake, the voter assistance hotline is "now being
flooded with calls from crank callers."

From the November 7 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Laura
Ingraham Show:

INGRAHAM: Multiple callers are calling the 1-888-DUMB-VOTE line and
they said that the line is now broken. That you can't get through.

MATT FOX (technical producer): The Democrats can't even do that right;
they can't even do a help line.

INGRAHAM: First of all, you're telling people that their vote is being
suppressed at all these polling stations across the country. Vote is
being suppressed, what are you talking about? You want to see voter
suppression? Try to vote in Iraq when you have snipers on rooftops,
OK? Those people walk to the polls; they don't care about the
snipers. So don't talk to me about voter suppression. That is the
biggest bunch of baloney that we've been sold, and we've been sold it
election after election by desperate Democrats -- 1-888-DEM-VOTE. I
want you to call it, and I want you tell us what you get when you call
1-888-DEM-VOTE. They're on top of all of the shenanigans at the
polling stations. One problem -- you can't get through.

[...]

CALLER: Hey, Laura, I called the 888 number. I think I cost the
Democrats at least 25 cents.

INGRAHAM: What happened?

CALLER: Well, you get the number, they ask you to put in your zip
code; they ask you, of course, English or Spanish.

INGRAHAM: Blood type?

CALLER: And, you know, they say that they'll trace back to your phone.
They give you options as to do you want to find your polling place,
did you have trouble voting?

INGRAHAM: Do you know what zip code you live in?

CALLER: Oh yeah, I did. I'm pretty sharp.

INGRAHAM: So you never got through, you never got through to talk to a
real live dumb poll helper?

CALLER: No, I just got voice mail. I figured I was gonna cost as much
money as I could. Well, finally, when they couldn't answer my
questions electronically, they said, "We'll forward your call to the
local election office."

INGRAHAM: 1-888-dim -- or dumb -- VOTE. No, it's really
DEM-VOTE. Let's keep "dem" lines ringing.

Copyright 2006 Media Matters.

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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, it all seems to have been for
naught, anyway ... President Bush made a speech Wednesday morning
on National Public Radio (and apparently) the other news networks.
The gist of his message: there has been a change; you now have a
Democratic government, rather than a Republican version of same. He
also announced a change in personell: Mr. Rumsfeld had resigned his
position and Bush gave the name of the new person for that office.
Bush was also asked by reporters if Mr. Cheney would be leaving
anytime soon. Bush replied that he (Bush) still had confidence in
Mr. Cheney. So, Laura Ingraham and her friends can continue to
play games with the telephone if they wish. PAT]

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