Thursday, April 30, 2009

A Variation on a Theme

This morning blogger extraordinaire Capital Ideas noted a new robocall from the NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee. It "introduces" Arlen Specter to Democratic voters.

Tonight when I got home the voicemail light was blinking. It was a robocall from the NRSC, with the same narrator as the earlier message. This voicemail urged me to contact Congressman Joe Sestak (D-07) and ask him to run for Senate.

Note for the NRSC, it is the DemocratIC Party not the Democrat Party. This is not hard. Please get the name of the party correct, especially when you are calling people registered in that party.

It is interesting that the Republican (Republic?) Party is moving so quickly to knock Specter. Given the polling numbers that led him to switch his R to a D, you'd think they'd be a little less concerned. interesting also that they are encouraging people to support Sestak, who has not thrown his hat into the ring, and not Joe Torsella who has. Like Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," I smell mendacity.

2 comments:

Jordan Levine said...

Unfortunately the use of the word "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" isn't just an error in RNC proofreading. It's actually been used for a long time because Republican pollsters and politicians (Frank Luntz, Newt Gingrich) have determined that it denies the Democratic party the positive affect that is attached to the word "democratic." (see here: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/07/060807ta_talk_hertzberg)

And I don't know if the NRSC is advocating for Sestak out of contempt for Specter or because they actually feel he'd be easier to beat. They certainly don't want Sestak to win in the general, but he was elected (most recently in a landslide) by a constituency that is (I believe) more conservative than the PA electorate will be in 2010, proving he's a very viable candidate in a general election.

AboveAvgJane said...

Jordan,

Thanks for the background and the insight!