# Political ads - Call the other guy! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073 "2002-11-03T06:07:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/1 "2002-11-03T06:07:11Z")
And tell him to feed the damn hamster! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/2 "2002-11-03T06:25:58Z")
Howyadoin, It seems like every political ad I see lately goes like the following: (Cue deep, ominous voiceover and grainy b/w stills) "Senator Pigsnort voted in favor of scheduled extermination of our seniors, and wants to deny food to prisoners, forcing them to consume their fellow inmates… Call Senator Pigsnort at 800-555-5555 and tell him our seniors and unfortunates deserve better! (Cue “fine print” voice) “Paid for by the Union of Concerned Busybodies.” What’s up with exhorting people to call the opposing candidates campaign headquarters? It seems like a deliberate attempt to jam the opponents phonebanks, especially if one has shills do the calling. The shills can claim they were simply doing their duty as responsible voters to investigate the claims made by the opponent. I don’t recall seeing this particular tactic in the past. Is this a new sleazy tactic, or am I just noticing it? It is hard to believe there could be new sleazy tactics, but who can account for human innovation, eh? -Rav ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/3 "2002-11-03T06:32:02Z")
Hmm…you didn’t happen to watch Saturday Night Live tonight, did you? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/4 "2002-11-03T07:00:41Z")
If I can’t recall enough of senator Pigsnort’s phone# to call him up and express my outrage over his forced feeding of overweight seniors, or whatever, the unexpected possibility of having a path to vent my disgust with the current political system might cause me to remember the name of the SOB I’m supposed to be mad at. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@The\_Raven\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven_1)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/5 "2002-11-03T07:16:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Garfield226 \* > \*\*Hmm…you didn’t happen to watch Saturday Night Live tonight, did you? \*\* Negatory… Synchronicity in the air tonight? What did I miss? -Rav ---
**Author:** ![aahala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e4f/32.png) [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/6 "2002-11-03T07:29:13Z")
Oh contrair! It was Senator Pigsnort’s opponent, Judge Fluff who ruled twice against our constitutional right to pick our nose in public and has proposed to tax oral sex. Let Fluff know how you feel and send your email, complete with the lastest virus attachment to [fluff@numbnuts.com](mailto:fluff@numbnuts.com). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/7 "2002-11-03T07:30:43Z")
SNL spoofed these kinds of ads tonight. They alternated ads between two fictitious political opponents, with each ad exhorting the viewer to call the opponent about the previous ad. Thus, the last ad was something like “Call Bob Politic and tell him to stop telling people to call about our telling people call about his telling people to call about our exposing his record.” Moderately amusing stuff, but they’ve done better. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2002, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-ads-call-the-other-guy/135073/8 "2002-11-03T08:31:42Z")
The best part about those spoofs was the newspaper headlines they would show: Voiceover: The Newark Independent has called Bob Jones “the greatest guy ever.” Headline: Bob Jones Calls Self ‘Greatest Guy Ever.’