CT Blue

Indiana is not a very enlightened state, but it leads the nation in one respect: robocalls are illegal. If you want to spread slime, you have to hire real people to do it. The only trouble is that real people, even the poorly paid folks who really need the money they make in what must be a horrible line of work, have consciences, and there’s only so far you can push them:

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being “dangerously weak on crime,” “coddling criminals,” and for voting against “protecting children from danger.”

Williams’ daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says. The call center is called Americall, and it’s located in Hobart, IN.

…

“We were asked to read something saying [Obama and Democrats] were against protecting children from danger,” this worker said. “I wouldn’t do it. A lot of people left. They thought it was disgusting.”

This worker, too, confirmed sacrificing pay to walk out, saying her supervisor told her: “If you don’t wanna phone it you can just go home for the day.”

…

Representatives at Americall in Indiana, and at the company’s corporate headquarters in Naperville, Illinois, didn’t return calls for comment.

Obama should give these people an all expense paid trip to the Inaugural ball.

Frankly, I’m getting tired of reading about the election campaign. It’s actually beginning to look like opinions have hardened. Unless modern day polling techniques have gone off the rails, or the Republicans manage to steal it again, Barack Obama will be the next president. All we have to do is endure another week or so of ever more desperate and vile campaign tactics from McCain. Those tactics are becoming ever harder to take, as it becomes increasingly clear that the net effect will most likely be not a McCain victory, but a hardening of attitudes among the morons who populate the Neanderthal wing of the Republican party. At this point I just can’t get excited about discussing the latest McCain atrocity, like the disturbed young McCain campaign worker who tried to ignite racial tensions in order to get her man elected. I just want it over.

So it’s helpful to pause a bit, even now, to consider what’s happening. Our country has been so near destroyed by the Bush regime that it’s difficult for us to remember that our country has strengths that even Bush couldn’t destroy. Indeed, there are social trends that proceed apace, despite the best efforts of the Republicans to retard them. Keith Richburg, a black reporter for the Washington Post, recently penned a column for the Guardian, and he makes some interesting observations. He is stationed in Europe, and points out that an Obama could not happen there:

..[I]t’s difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a Barack Obama emerging in Europe soon.

One reason is that Europeans for the most part do not talk about race and race relations as openly as we do. In America, we wallow in it. We self-analyse and form committees, workshops and seminars to talk about it. There are countless organisations and associations dedicated to racial issues. Bookshops stack shelves talking about our racial history and problems. We take measurements of pretty much everything, from black student school test scores to minority living standards.

…

A year ago, no one here would have predicted that a black candidate would become the nominee of a major party and have a more than realistic chance of winning the White House on 4 November. And it’s a testament to Obama’s considerable skill that he has largely managed to make his race an afterthought. America is on the verge of something historic and it almost seems anticlimactic.

But black Americans are still pinching themselves, still not quite able to believe what has been achieved. And all Americans should pause from the heated political rhetoric and reflect on the sense of accomplishment, win or lose, that his candidacy represents – an affirmation of that American ideal.

It is worth remembering that, for every voter that refuses to vote for Obama because of his race, there are many for whom it truly is an afterthought, or, for that matter, a small bonus. I’m certainly not voting for Obama because of his race, but I’m glad our highly qualified candidate happens to be black. That’s one more landmark reached in our 400 year old struggle against racism. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime, and now it looks like it will. Thats something to think about and savor as we endure the foulness of the final days.

The story begins Thursday evening, at the Groton Democratic Town Committee. Our esteemed chairman announced that she had been approached by Anne Buonocore, host of a weekly radio program on WXLM, out of New London. She hosts a show that is normally dedicated to “the celebrity in ordinary people” or some such thing, meaning she normally interviews people about their jobs. But in the weeks before the election, she is featuring ordinary pundits, people just like you and me. She had a McCain “ordinary pundit” lined up, who happened to be from Illinois. She needed an Obama person, and Betsy thought I would be just the person.

I was not particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of being on the show. The geographic origin of my ordinary person opponent gave me pause, as did the format. I eventually agreed to talk to Ms. Buonocore, who assured me that, though the station did carry the likes of Hannity and Limbaugh, she would host a friendly show where we would engage in reasoned conversation. Against my better judgment, which I always seem to be doing things against, I agreed to appear.

I showed up at 9:45 this morning and we went on the air at 10:06. Just before we started I learned that my opponent, Joe Porter (Oh, Lord, deliver us from “Joes”) was the author of a right wing whacko email that had made the rounds of the cretinous levels of the internet. Joe would be calling in from Illinois. Needless, to say, my antennae were quivering. My suspicions were confirmed when all but one of the phone calls were from out of state, obviously drummed up by Mr. Porter.

So what was on the mind of the folks who called in? If you guessed the economy, the war, civil liberties, or even abortion, you’d be totally wrong! No, judging by the calls, the most important issue out there is Barack Obama’s birth certificate, followed closely by Bill Ayers and Acorn. Now, I consider myself pretty well informed, and was prepared for Ayers and Acorn, but the birth certificate thing tore it for me. I gather the issue is not whether Obama was in fact born, which they apparently concede, but where he was born. Hawaii is too easy an answer, and apparently the suspicion is that he is actually Osama bin Laden’s twin or something.

I’m told I did well, though my critics were biased. I left the place quietly steaming. I don’t really blame the host. I don’t think she quite understood that just because some people insist that a fact is in dispute, or even important, that it is worth spending time actually discussing. The earth is round no matter how many flat-earthers dispute that, and Obama is an American no matter how many say otherwise. There are important things going on out there, and these are the things these folks want to talk about. And silly me, I had actually spent time thinking about the points I wanted to make about actual issues.