In today's mail I received a letter-sized envelope (with return address of "Republican National Committee, 310 First Street SE, Washington DC 20003) with a boldface label immediately above the clear window addressed to me personally:
"REPUBLICAN CENSUS DOCUMENT ENCLOSED"
I happen to live in one of the more strongly republican-leaning voting precincts in Raleigh, NC, about 70% of my surrounding neighbors going a block or so in each direction are registered GOP [which fact I gleaned by cross-referencing the neighborhood directory with our county board of election's electronic-searchable voter registration database]...and the predecessor residents of the house we bought 2 yrs ago were GOP. What was curious was that this "census document" purported to be "census documents registered to [my name] with registration number 1978-0725 (top line) 552399465 (next line)...which of course does not match my county voting registration ID, and it would be hard to miss that I'm a registered "DEM". It contained a postage prepaid envelope addressed to the RNC for me to return my "census" form to. Now, looking at the "census document" itself:
It was obviously a push-poll sent to heavily republican-leaning districts. I'll give you the first question from each category to give you the flavor of the "census" questionaire:
HOMELAND SECURITY ISSUES:
- Should Republicans do everything they can to prevent Liberal Democrats from repealing the USA Patriot Act and other important laws that help our intelligence agencies protect Americans? Yes, No, or Undecided.
(followed by 3 more in similar veing)
ECONOMIC ISSUES:
- Should we make our fight against the Democrat's massive tax hikes a central part of the 2008 campaign? YEs, No, or Undecided.
ok...I said only one, but this one is too much to leave out:
- Should Republicans renew the fight for a Balanced Budget Amendment? Yes, No, or Undecided.
DOMESTIC ISSUES:
- Should Republicans oppose Senator Clinton's one size fits all, government-run healthcare plan? Yes, No, or Undecided.
SOCIAL ISSUES:
- Do you think Congress should pass the Federal Marriage Amendment, protecting marriage as a union between one man and one woman? Yes, No, or Undecided.
DEFENSE ISSUES:
2)Should Republicans fight Democrat efforts to impose Clinton-eara cuts in the Pentagon's budget?
REPUBLICAN PARTY:
- Do you support the election of Republican candidates across the country and the rebuilding of our majorities over the next 10 years? Yes, No, or Undecided.
It closes with, surprise!, a republican presidential candidate poll and a request to make a credit card donation to the RNC's election fund. I should mention that it was accompanied with a two-page letter filled with sentences like: "Liberal Congressman Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has wielded his poer to propose the largest tax hike in American history. Should we make the fight against the Democrat's higher tax schemes a centerpeice of the 2008 Campaign? and..."What if Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid stand in our way as we work to win the War on Terror at home and abroad?"
It would bother me more that the GOP tried to dress this mailing up as a pseudo-CENSUS document, except that you'd have to be so colossally thick to not immediately realize upon reading it that it was a partisan hack piece designed to help identify gung-ho GOP voters most likely to turn out, volunteer if asked, and to pass along to GOP candidate donor lists (if not already being tapped). What is astounding to me is that the supposedly vaunted GOP direct-mailing operation would send out such a blunderbuss mailing (after all, about 20% of my neighborhood are registered Dems, with a bit higher percentage in other neighborhoods in our voting precinct. This mailing is so obviously a piece of extreme partisan hackwork that it could only possibly be effective with voters they should have long ago identified as hard-core partisans loyally in their camp (and harvestable for donations).
How did I get on their list?