An answer to political telephone solicitors

I had a call yesterday (well, I had many calls, but this was the one that I want to mention) about some candidate for the June 6th California Primary.

I don't remember who it was for, but as soon as the pitch started, I said:

"Ok, here's my standard. ANYONE who calls me for a candidate ... I DON'T vote for THAT candidate because he or she thinks it's ok to interrupt me while I'm working -- that your promo is more important than my life."

Second -- no one to tell because it was a recorded message dialing -- but it started off, whispery in the same venomous voice Pat Robertson uses when he's saying "I'm not saying all Jews are involved in this, but ..."

"Did you know that Ron Dellums ended his job as an electred official 8 years ago and has been living in a mansion in Washington DC as a lobbyist and now..."

And in this Oakland mayoral race where each of the three candidates has a different vision and different qualities and resources, but any of which might be good for this city, that decided me --
I do NOT care to listen to vicious Wormtongue sleazoids.
It was like getting poison poured into my ear -- Shakespearean and all that, but unpleasant.

I didn't even listen long enough to find out if it was Ignacio or Nancy or the Bizarro appropriately nicknamed "Oz."

It made up my mind to vote for Ron Dellums.


I doubt that people running for office will ever figure this out -- when they dump toxic waste in our ears via phone calls that take us away from our lives, they lose votes. The reason being:

"In every crowd, there's one person who DOESN'T GET THE JOKE. That person runs for office."