More Wetmore/O'Keefe Advisor: Dirty Tricks Robocalls-To Sway The Elderly-By Impersonating Obama

[kpete]

A cached post dated Sept. 18, 2009 on BenWetmore.com floats the idea of impersonating Barack Obama in a robocall:

Ben seems to be seriously advocating a dirty tricks robocall to sway elderly voters by impersonating Barack Obama:

Healthcare Independent Expenditure idea

(I wrote this up and sent it to a few friends who I thought could tell me if it was a decent idea or not. Only one responded, and even then without saying whether it was a good idea or not. I'm getting the feeling that I'm either past my prime or unable to get any political scheme funded or people interested anymore. So, I'm posting it here in the resigned defeat of watching another political idea die on the vine.)

Healthcare Independent Expenditure idea

1. Get a voice artist who sounds similar to President Obama

2. Identify and rent lists of elderly likely voters in key areas

a. Senate

Colorado – Bennett
Arkansas – Lincoln
North Dakota – Dorgan

b. House

South Dakota – Herseth
(other potentials)

c. Legal limitations
Check for states where the most favorable regulatory regime exists:
http://winningcalls.com/statelaws.html

3. Record a short spot using the voice artist:

Sterile female voice:
Please hold for a fake message from the President Barack Obama

Obama voice artist:
Good afternoon seniors,

I want to talk to you for a moment about healthcare reform. I know many of you are concerned about losing Medicare and Medicaid benefits and likely cuts to Social Security that will be necessary to pay for my healthcare reforms. However, I want to ask you to end the divisiveness on this issue and support me. I know what’s best for you and even if we do take your benefits, tax your healthcare plan or increase taxes, it will be worth it to provide healthcare to those who can’t afford it. So, please stop opposing me and trust me.
Thank you.

4. Robocall lists with this message. Distribute .mp3 file to other organizations with robodialers.

Labels: activism, election, healthcare, obama, politics

The blog is a fascinating compendium of organizing tactics, movie reviews, and more, um, personal entries. Ben confesses to being a girl drink drunk; he rails against the "lazy bureaucrats" who put up signs telling him he couldn't wander around an abandoned public sanitarium; and asserts that ACLU head Nadine Strossen has no pupils (and therefore reminds him of a demon). Perhaps the weirdest post is the one from last June featuring an animated .gif of Ben's own design framing the slogan "Obama says girls don't poop."

Wetmore made his mark in 2002 by insisting on his First Amendment right to videotape a campus appearance by Tipper Gore at American University without her permission. Just goes to show nobody's all bad.

more:
http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/2010/02/mentor-to-alleged-phone-tamperers-blogged-about-political-phone-pranks.html#more
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us/politics/31landrieu.html?pagewanted=all

[MinM]

1. Lindsay Beyerstein @

http://majikthise.typepad.com/majikthise_/ has done some great work on this story.

Thanks for posting it, kpete.

[rocktivity]

2. Hey, Keef-O!

THIS is what investigative journalism looks like!

:rofl:
rocktivity

[Kingofalldems]

3. Kick and rec for the sneaky freepers

[blogslut]

4. Awesome info

See, this jives with stuff I was wondering about:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7621034

[quiet.american]

5. What a piece of work. Wonder who so carefully taught him to hate. nt

[arcadian]

6. It appears that he's familiar with the protocals for getting such schemes funded.

[grasswire]

7. which one is ben wetmore?

I must be a distant cousin -- my great grandmother was a Wetmore.

[MinM]

8. Who "jammed" Landrieu's phone lines?

Some more interesting stuff about Ben Wetmore here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7621034

[rucky]

9. G. Gordon Liddy meets the Jerky Boys.

:eyes:

[Kingofalldems]

10. Keep this on the front burner

Repubs capable of anything.