D.C. Douglas(AKA Geico guy, not the gecko) fires back at FreedomWorks

[Lightnin]

@A Monkey With a Gun

Not exactly, the guy left his name and contact number. They published it online, and then internet users did the rest. He requested that FreedomWorks contact him, and now people are claiming that they hunted him down. What the Hell?

You can listen to the original call at this youtube link. I don’t think FreedomWorks had to go out of their way to find him when he says “please call me back at this number”. They simply called him back. Hell, he called their PR department; of course, they are going to make fun of the message on their website. Freedom of expression and all that. That’s when the shit hit the fan.

My main point, however, is that he should not be held up as some martyr who lost his job due to fighting the good fight. He asked for this and now he’s playing it like he is some deep political thinker. Regardless of how much I find FreedomWorks loathsome, I have zero respect for this douchebag*.

Just listen to the linked call, and remember that FreedomWorks never actually contacted Geico or Fox News directly. They just published a recorded message and their fans did the rest.

I listened to it. I also found the transcript, which I’ll post here:

Hi there. Im doing a paper about FreedomWorks and I was wondering if somebody could give me a call back. Im wrapping up and I just have one more piece of information I need to get from you guys – just need to know what the percentage is of people that are mentally retarded who work for the organization, and are members of it. And oh – and one final thing, wondering what your plans are, how to spin it when one of your members does actually kill somebody, wondering how, if you`ve got an actual P.R. spinning routine planned for that or are you just going to take it when it happens. Just curious. So, give me a call when you get a chance. Thanks so much.

Nowhere in there does he identify himself as the “Voice of Geico”. Freedomworks responded by posting this:

Feel free to contact Lance. He was so kind to provide his number in the voicemail. Call his employer, too. Let them know that you, in fact, are not a mentally retarded killer.

Freedomworks didn’t just post his message. They actually *encouraged *their audience to contact him and his employer. They found out who he was, tracked down who he worked for, and then encouraged their audience to call and harass his employer. That’s pretty despicable, in my book.

[armedmonkey]

How many times do I have to say that I’m not defending FreedomWorks and that everybody in this is a douchebag? Just don’t applaud Baxter for sinking beneath their level.

And as far as “encouraging their audience”, I think that falls under the rubrik of freedom of expression.