This morning I was snoozing along happily, having stayed up way too late working on this book that I'm writing. Shortly after 8am my phone went off, startling me and causing my cats (who had previously been acting as a living, purring blanket) to go flying off in search of quieter places. It was a text message, so I assumed it was from Mr. Randomness. He's the only one who dares try to talk to me before noon.
Instead, it read:
Ron Paul: the only Republican 4 low taxes, less spending, gun rights, no amnesty, and no UN. RonPaul2008.com Paid for by Ron Paul 2008, PCC. 2 STOP reply STOP
Does anyone else find it funny that the campaign of this guy, whose platform is basically "the government shouldn't take your money," doesn't mind charging me $0.10 that I didn't agree to? Because that's how much a text message costs me, and I sure as hell didn't sign up for any Ron Paul text spam. In fact, I'm kind of wondering who sold my cell phone number.
Now, let's be honest, here. I wasn't going to vote for Ron Paul anyway. I wouldn't vote for him if he were the only person running. There is nothing that he could do (short of a complete personality transplant) that would make me change my mind on that. But if I had been one of those people who was on the fence, weighing my options and finding myself torn between Ron Paul and another candidate, this would not have helped his case.
Why am I de-lurking to post this here? Well, for one thing, I wanted to gripe with people who understand me. I'm so tired of Ron Paul, guys, seriously. Completely aside from his views and policies and platform, he's over-exposed to the point of annoyance. I can't be the only one who never wants to see another one of those stupid "Revolution!" signs again in my life.
For another, I know that a lot of you help run campaigns on a national and local level. So I thought I'd throw this out there: Voters are a grumpy lot. We don't much like paying for things that we didn't sign up for, and not all of us have free text messaging. Randomly spamming people's phones to drum up support might not be the best idea. Especially at 8am. (Read: please don't text me and make me hate you, ok?)
Of course, I could just be grumpy because I got into a conversation with someone who told me that the only uninsured people were the ones who could afford it but don't think they need it. Everyone else is covered under government assistance programs, apparently.
But that would be another entire diary in and of itself, right?