Campaign Ad Linking Democrat to 'Sex' Call May Backfire on GOP

[CatWoman]

NEW YORK It seemed like a “gotcha” moment for Republicans in one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country: catching the Democratic candidate calling a sex phone line and billing the call to the local taxpayers. Now it may backfire on the Republicans.

Newspapers in the upstate New York district have had a field day chronicling the dispute, with the latest twist seeming to reveal that the Democrat, or an aide, had simply dialed a wrong number.

Democrat Michael Arcuri is vying with Republican, Ray Meier, to replace longtime GOP Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, who is retiring. The race is very close and may help decide if the Democrats take the House.

The national GOP campaign office started airing an ad Friday that showed Arcuri leering at the silhouette of a dancing woman who says, ''Hi, sexy. You've reached the live, one-on-one fantasy line.'' He supposedly dialed the service two years ago from a New York City hotel room and billed taxpayers – for all of $1.25 for a one-minute call. He is the district attorney in Oneida County.

Now the Utica Observer-Dispatch today notes that Arcuri's campaign has released records to the paper showing the call to the 800 sex line was followed the very next minute by a call to the state Department of Criminal Justice Services – and the last seven digits of the two numbers are the same.

Arcuri now says the ad was ''clearly libelous'' and threatens to file a lawsuit. At least seven television stations in Syracuse, Utica and Binghamton refused to run the ad.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003286540

[Ignacio Upton]

1. Is the NRCC really that stupid?

This is a non-issue, and it makes little sense that he purposely dialed a phone sex line when the remaining digits are the SAME as the Department of Criminal Justice Services. This ad is blatantly libelous.

[drm604]

5. And he stayed on for one whole minute!

Wow, that's one horny bastard! :sarcasm:

[MADem]

6. Odds are it was less than that, but he got billed for the full minute.

Not enough time to exchange credit card details, in any event, before he could get to the phone sex wanking business!!!!

[johnaries]

15. Yep, they always have different levels of "rounding" for phone

billing. So, if they bill by the full minute, even if you're on line for 1 second it's billed as 1 minute.

[emdee]

19. That's all it would take for the Republicans publicizing it, evidently!

:rofl:
emdee

[americanstranger]

9. (Raises Hand...) I've got a question...

How did the RNCC happen to come upon this guy's (supposedly) private phone records?

I mean, it's not like Bush set up a phone-monitoring system that watched millions of phone calls and had the potential to be used against political enemies or anything...

Oh, wait...

- as

[brer cat]

13. lol. Although I suppose he might have included it as

documentation of his expense. But I would sure love for proof to get out that it was obtained otherwise!

The whole story sounds a whole lot like repug desperation to me. lol

[KittyWampus]

11. Oh, it's an issue. I want to know how the GOP'er got the Dem's phone log

[BlooInBloo]

24. They're freely (!) available for purchase. See Americablog for more.

[BlooInBloo]

23. Silliest. Question. Ever.

[lonestarnot]

2. Tee hee. The are so freak'n desperate, they'll set up their own

mothers if they thought it would benefit them.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

3. OH MY GOD, HE MISDIALED A PHONE!!

BURN HIM AT THE STAKE!!!

[SeattleGirl]

4. Oh my stars!!!! A Dem dialed the wrong number!!!

I'm afraid I must from now on vote for the Republicans, because they ARE the party of family values! :rofl:

[reichstag911]

8. It's because he had no plan...

...for using the correct area code when he first dialed! You know those clueless, unfocused Dems!

[skids]

7. Well if it wasn't a wrong number...

One minute?!?! :evilgrin:

[KittyWampus]

10. How Does The Republican KNOW THE DEMOCRATS PHONE LOG?

where did the Republic get this information?

Was the Democrats phone bugged?

[americanstranger]

12. I just asked the same question upthread.

Either someone in the Northern NY GOP is chummy with someone who runs a sex chat line, or that information was gleaned via Bush's illegal eavesdropping scheme.

Let's hope an enterprising reporter thinks to ask that question.

- as

[immoderate]

14. If he files suit....

He may be able to get that info via the discovery process. This could be delicious.:9

--IMM

[Canuckistanian]

17. A-Ha! That's it!

The GOP must have an insider at the sex chat line company.

Maybe at all of them, "just to be sure".

[Old and In the Way]

22. The Republican Syndicate probably owns the service.

Think about it....pretty lucrative business and those phone records that can provide some future blackmail opportunities. What a dumb commercial and the downside for such a weak attack is enormous. They really aren't very bright, are they?

[Rosemary2205]

27. He called from a HOTEL

the hotel bill was turned into the state for expenses. Complete with itemized long distance charges..........

[Tom Joad]

20. This might have been public record.

He was the District Attorney, this was a business meeting.

[deadparrot]

16. "If the Democrats can't dial a phone number, how can they

protect you from the terra-ists?"

:P

[Marr]

18. Two years ago, Bush was still insisting that domestic calls were

never being wiretapped illegally. He still insists that his illegal spying is limited to "terrorists". And yet here we have the Republican Party apparently freely accessing their political opponents' phone logs.

If I were Arcuri, I'd start saying that. Alot.

[MADem]

21. No, no, no....an oppo researcher got his travel claims, that's all

Under the Freedom of Information act, you can get damn near any and all paperwork executed in the normal course of government business, if you are willing to pay for the xeroxing costs and the expense of having someone redact private information (like social security/credit card info).

They got hold of the travel claim, which has receipts attached, to include the hotel receipt. They probably had a boatload of them, all requested in the hopes of digging up dirt (FWIW, BOTH parties do this--it's par for the course, which is why the SMART politician switches rooms with an aide who knows better than to order the porn movie!).

They called every number on every bill, and thought "Ooooh, we hit paydirt!" Whether they realized the call was one minute or not, and whether they realized it was clearly a misdialed area code, who knows? Likely they didn't care--it had an iota, a scintilla, a soupcon, of limited, just for a second, plausibility about it so they went with it.

Why? Because they are fucking DESPERATE, you see.

It's not passing the smell test, though. If I were Arcuri, and this thing got ANY traction, I'd sue the muthafucka for a FORTUNE and get a restraining order immediately. I'd have my lawyer get out there and use words like "desperate, craven, dispicable, shameful, disgusting" in describing the opponent's tactics. And even with the restraining order, I'd push the suit and demand extreme damages, and donate any money gained to battered women's shelters or something like that.

[trof]

25. I also heard Dems put slugs in the collection plate and cut the labels

off of pillows.
evil bastids

[BlooInBloo]

26. Hey CatWoman - have you seen the TN anti-Ford ad?

That's what I thought your thread title was referring to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWkrwENN5CQ&eurl=

[Kurovski]

28. File that suit! The evidence makes the reality clear.

On the positive side, folks just might decide, "Hmm? He's at least going after folks of legal age."

If the Reflublicans have folks scouring phone records, you know there are a lot of people on the payroll looking for dirt.

And this is the best they can do! :rofl: By which I mean, get their asses sued.

[Cha]

29. Michael Arcuri is running for

the Congressional seat in my district. I see about 5 signs for him in our little city on the way to the library.

My friend gave me ride home Friday and she had Michael Arcuri and Elliot Spitzer signs piled high in her car to pass out!

I hope this Backfires right up their desperate collective ass.

[philb]

30. Is public aware Hastert was also involved in sexually explicit emails

Hastert directly implicated in knowledge that Foley was a pedophile and in sexually explicit messages himself:

Foley wasn’t the only Repub. Congressman involved in sexually explicit and suggestive emails:

Congressman Mark Foley and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert interacted in the past exchanging sexually explicit and suggestive emails that are on record and the Repub. Leadership were aware of: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/6/25857/3685

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/6/25857/3685

On page 186 of Hastert's autobiography he brags that he has a good memory and remembers all. This hardly jibes with Hastert's bizarre story that he didn't remember Tom Reynolds or John Boehner or various aides warning him about Foley after it was apparent to anyone who didn't have his head up his ass that Foley was a dangerous child predator and a severe danger to the congressional page program.
Hastert Caught In Direct Falsehood About Foley in defense of his inactation in dealing with knowledge of Foley’s pedophile exploits
www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/oct/02/hastert_caught_in_fib_about_foley