Robocalls? Seriously?
I had great hopes for "No Labels" a non partisan non profit group founded by some veteran political consultants from both political parties. Their launch last December included Mayor Bloomberg.
That was until they started using the same old worn out tactics that every other politician uses, robocalls. This afternoon I started to see people tweeting about receiving robocalls from No Labels using Howard Schultz (CEO of Starbucks) advertising a telephone townhall that is to occur Tuesday evening at 7:30 PM ET. So far I've seen at least four people tweet that they received these robocalls.
No Labels goals?
To build, organize and activate the No Labels movement so that it
becomes a powerful voice and counterweight to the ideological extremes.
Sounds good to me. Just don't use that voice to spam people.
As another note, I recently became very interested in No Labels when Howard Schultz, the CEO and Founder of Starbucks, signed up with them and another group called "Upward Spiral" to start a movement to ask that political donors (large and small) pledge to stop giving campaign donations:
I join my fellow concerned Americans in pledging to withhold any
further campaign contributions to elected members of Congress and the
President until a fair, bipartisan deal is reached that sets our nation
on stronger long-term fiscal footing.
Realistic? Not really. Admirable? Yes !
Now, I wonder, how can a group that professes to be a counterweight to ideological extremes use one of the most hated and useless political tactics in American political consulting, the robocall.
How different can they really be?
If today is any example, the only people that will benefit from No Labels fundraising and expenditures will be the usual people: political consultants and the vendors that they use to bombard American voters with unwanted and unheard political spam.
Shame on No Labels.
Shame on Howard Schultz for allowing his voice to be used.
PS: As a loyal Starbucks customer, knowing that Howard used his voice for this political spam is particularly difficult. I read his book about the re-birth of Starbucks in 2009 "Onward" and have a deep deep respect for him, his management beliefs, and for Starbucks.
Shaun Dakin
Founder and CEO
The National Political Do Not Contact Registry
Co-Founder and CEO
ReverseRobocall.com
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