""...you're seeing a lot of that of course with the huge amounts of money that Barack Obama is able to spend on his ads and his robocalls..."

Obama's robocalls? What's she talking about?

With regard to how much Obama is spending, millions of us aren't contributing so that he'll stick in a savings account to earn interest.

Even McCain is against them, for the calls that you are referring to are not 'robocalls' but important information sharing communications to the voter.

Sorry to disagree with you Steve, but I don't think that Palin is disinterested in defending the robocalls, I actually think she's offering a piss-weak rationale for the use of them.

If she could be a-winkin' and a-chattin' in every American's home, gosh darn it, she would be. But that's not possible, so some faceless white guy making baseless smears over the telephone will just have to suffice.

Magic wand? Who does she think she is, George Bush?

"If I called all the shots, and if I could wave a magic wand," Palin said

If I called the shots, Karl Rove's play book would be obsolete after this election, and my "magic" wand would be the voting booth.

Actually, I'm bit concerned with Sarah's belief in magic. and wands. Isn't that Harry Potter territory?

Witch, witch

I agree with R.E.; it's the "we wanted town halls, but Obama said no, so we had to lay down the slime and salt the earth so that nothing could ever grow again" argument. It's trying to distance the campaign, but half-assedly justifying robocalls as a necessary evil.

The only robocalls I received from the Obama campaign were during the May primaries urging me to go vote and if I had voted to call 5 friends to make sure they voted as well. One recording was from Barack and the other from Michelle.

Hmmmm so in Palin's mind, calls for people to go and exercise one of their privileges of living in our democracy is equal to the smarmy trash that I've gotten over the past two weeks from the McCain-Palin campaign......again, the mind reels that we're having to even talk about this stuff.

Palin probably thinks she has a future in politics and can see that important republicans vehemently disapprove of the message in the calls. If the calls were getting positive feedback from other republicans with whom she now has to build relationships (curry favor) in order to have a chance at another shot on the national stage later on, she'd have a different response to the question.

I don't understood why anyone employs robocalls. Is there any evidence these things work? It seems to me its impersonal and a terrible way to communicate. I remember I used to get them from John Kerry. Even though I supported the candidate, I probably ended up giving him less money because I was so annoyed about getting phone calls from a computer.

They may swing a few voters, but I bet they alienate far more, regardless of the message.

Oddly, Palin's comment makes me think that she might just have a future in politics; she's got at least one ear open and is trimming her remarks to suit what she's hearing.

When a presidential candidate's own running mate distances herself from the tactics approved by the top of the ticket, you know McCain is going too far.

Or Obama, such as when Biden criticized the "McCain doesn't know computers" ad.

"They get a bit irritated with just being inundated," she continued, "and you're seeing a lot of that of course with the huge amounts of money that Barack Obama is able to spend on his ads and his robocalls also."

Obama is using robocalls? Can anyone confirm, or is she talking out of her ass again?

I haven't ever gotten a robocall from either campaign -- not surprising, since NY, NYC, and particularly Brooklyn (the most Democratic of the boroughs) are not battlegrounds where either candidate needs to spend money. If it was close here, the election would be over and Obama would have lost.

But I have seen mention, in the HuffPo article, about Obama also using 'negative robocalls.' If this is true, i am surprised and disappointed. I agree that they don't work, and that they only piss off voters who get them.

But can someone please tell me if this IS true, or just another myth.

Actually, I'm bit concerned with Sarah's belief in magic. and wands. Isn't that Harry Potter territory?

Witch, witch.

C'mon, now, don't be so nasty to witches!

-Z

C'mon, Sarah. Magic wand is so George Bush. You guys are supposed to have a magic table where all problems are solved simply by sitting.

I am surprised that she had an opinion of her own or maybe they had not given her one yet. By the way, here is a website I found that shares all the Sarah Palin Pictures and supports Barack Obama!

I am surprised that she had an opinion of her own or maybe they had not given her one yet. By the way, here is a website I found that shares all the Sarah Palin Pictures and supports Barack Obama!

We've gotten some pre-recorded dialer calls from the Obama camp but only because we used their website to register to vote. Michelle called to kindly remind us to make sure we sent in our voter registration cards and to vote in the upcoming election.

She can call me anytime.

The Obama campaign is sending out some attack robocalls against McCain. Apparently saying that someone's policies would be disastrous for the country is exactly the same as calling them a terrorist, so they're both doing mean robocalls. Because, let's face it, when your policies suck, it probably does seem mean and unfair to tell people the truth about them.

Do you really think Palin has a problem with the content of the robocalls? (I assume that's what you mean by "going too far," rather than the simple fact of using recorded messages.) After all, they just repeat what she's been saying on the stump. She only thinks they're too impersonal and irritating. She pays lip service to talking about ideas, but if she could wave a magic wand and sit down with every American at their kitchen table she would be reminding us all that Obama pals around with terrorists.

I also wouldn't read too much into Palin's criticism of McCain's tactics in this instance. She already publicly objected to pulling out of Michigan. Either she has difficulty staying on message, or she is trying to distance herself from the 2008 trainwreck to better position herself for 2012. Either way, Palin and McCain being out of sync on one topic doesn't necessarily say anything specific about that topic.

Mnemosyne, your link suggests the Ohio Democratic Party is making the calls. The McCain campaign is directly responsible for the robocalls about Ayers, and he personally defended them yesterday. Attacking McCain through robocalls (even fairly) just seems completely incongruous with the way the Obama campaign has been run. Leaving aside content, it seems like it is mainly a cost-cutter compared to advertising, something Obama doesn't really have to worry about, especially since you are more likely to annoy people than convince them.