Susan Collins calls for McCain to stop robo calls in Maine

[davidpdx]

GOP Senator Slams McCain Robo Call
October 17, 2008 8:17 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Rigel Anderson report: Embattled Republican Sen. Susan Collins is calling on Sen. John McCain to stop paying for automated phone calls which describe Sen. Barack Obama as having "worked closely" with "domestic terrorist Bill Ayers."

"These kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics," said Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley. "Sen. Collins urges the McCain campaign to stop these calls immediately."

Contacted on Friday by ABC News, the McCain campaign would not say if it was going to heed the request of Collins who serves as his campaign's co-chair in Maine.

"Obviously, Sen. McCain has great respect for Sen. Collins. But beyond that," said McCain spokesman Brian Rogers, "we don't have any comment."

Ayers is the former leader of the Weather Underground. To protest the Vietnam War, his organization ran a domestic bombing campaign which resulted in fatalities.

Obama, who was 8 years old at the time, has repudiated those acts as "despicable." Friday's statement from the Collins campaign came after Maine's Democratic Party issued a press release earlier in the day challenging the Republican incumbent to denounce what it called "blatantly false phone calls personally attacking" Obama.

Collins' Democratic opponent was not satisfied.

"If she truly feels that strongly about it," said Carol Andrews, communications director to Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, "she should resign as co-chair of McCain's campaign in Maine."

Here is the script of the McCain-RNC robo call about Bill Ayers, which Collins criticized on Friday:

"Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500."

Politico has the audio HERE.

The Collins criticism of McCain's robo call was first reported by Jessica Alaimo of Politicker-Maine and later confirmed by ABC News.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/gop-senator-sla.html

[Kerrytravelers]

1. So, it seems to me that McCain & Palin's little stunt is costing their whole party dearly.

These people are the true definition of moran.

[davidpdx]

2. Well and Collins is in a tight race as well

Something like this could help her opponent.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. They don't care about their own party - at least the way it always was

They want to create and elect a new theofacist party and to hell with what was once the "Republican Party" or "Grand Old Party". They feel marginalized within their party and have now proceeded with a coup d'etat of the party's message. And the irony is, not only did repukes encourage such divisiveness among the Democrats, which backfired, but they have been slow to wake up and see this writing on their own wall from these far-out-of-the-mainstream repuke RW fringe groups.

The more they keep propping them up to "save" what's left of their party, the more their party is destroyed.

[Ilsa]

3. The Hate and Fear Factors are catching up with them. Real Americans,

real Patriots are on to them and their maliciousness and don't want to be a part of it.

[Ian_rd]

5. This needs to be on the Greatest. Thanks for posting (before I did) KR nt

[HughMoran]

6. One Republican with integrity? I wonder where Sununu of NH is on this?

Oh, that's right, he's a Bush crony and I'm sure he "approves of this hateful message" :mad:

[MaineDem]

7. She has no integrity. She was shamed into this

You give her too much credit.

The Maine Democratic Party called for her to denounce these ads. The Obama campaign held press conferences on the calls.

Now she's being asked to step down as McCain's state campaign chair. We'll see if THAT happens.

[HughMoran]

8. She does have a history of being moderate

I'm giving her credit because NH senators have received pressure too - you don't see those hateful bigots denouncing the vile hateful lies.

[MaineDem]

9. She gives the illusion of being moderate

She votes most of the time with Bush. Not as much as Sununu but most of the time. Especially when it counts. She's great at holding out her vote to see which way the wind is blowing.

Last I heard, NH wasn't getting the robocalls.

And Susan was shamed into doing this by the state party. She wouldn't have done this on her own.

She is still McCain's state campaign Chair.

PS. I didn't mean to just repeat my last post. Kinda looks like I did, though. Sorry. :)

[HughMoran]

10. I realize that she votes in a politically expedient way

She is, after all, a Republican. But at least she gives a moderate voice on the Senate floor to an otherwise filthy shit-stain of a political party. I hope the Dems wins though - not saying I like her - doh!

[naturallyselected]

12. People in Maine love Susan Collins

I have lived in Maine for 20 years, and Susan Collins' incredible popularity mystifies me. She somehow manages to convince people she is reasonable and independent, while voting time after time along party lines. Needless to say, I will be voting for Tom Allen, and I will be voting for the losing candidate.
This statement about the McCain Robocalls is typical. Calls like this don't go over well with Mainers, and she knows it. It's yet another way she can convince her constituents that she really is an independent voice in the Senate.
She has run a good campaign, with effective TV advertising that portrays her as an independent champion for the people of Maine. Tom Allen hasn't run an effective campaign; he has not been able to chip away at what I see as Collins' weakness, the fact that, despite how moderate and reasonable her words are, she has voted in lockstep with Bush policy for 8 years.
I do think that if Obama takes the White House, and the Democrats pick up more Senate seats, Collins will vote more often with the Democrats. Or maybe I'm just wishing, because I know we're stuck with her for six more years.

[HughMoran]

13. Welcome to DU!

Yeah, there must me something she does right to get reelected up there. Some yellow dog Dems come across as more Republican to the general public IMO.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. How fucking dishonest can ABC News get????

"Ayers is the former leader of the Weather Underground. To protest the Vietnam War, his organization ran a domestic bombing campaign which resulted in fatalities."

ABC News knows damn well that the only people ever killed by the Weather Underground's bombing campaign were three Weather Underground bomb-makers in New York City. The bomb makers themselves were the only people who ever died in the WU campaign. Look at the mealy-mouthed way they deceptively structure the sentence: "which resulted in fatalities." They are trying to remain FACTUAL while at the same time providing no context for those facts. The WU bombing campaign DID INDEED "result in fatalities." The problem for those trying to stir up hatred is that the only fatalities it resulted in were those of three Weather Underground members. No "innocent" people or by-standers were EVER killed by the Weather Underground, and that is a cold, hard fact. ABC News knows it, and refuses to say it. That is a disgraceful and dishonest sentence that should be taught as a prime example of a violation of basic journalistic ethics.