They're given license to lie and no one gives a shit.
The Republican National Committee has sent some Virginia voters a questionnaire suggesting that the president and Congressional Democrats want to expand welfare benefits with "no time, education or work requirements" and reinstitute the military draft -- while raising the budget deficit well beyond what is projected by nonpartisan experts.
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The survey, touching on an array of divisive topics, is accompanied by a letter from GOP chairman Michael S. Steele describing the items in the survey questions as "Obama's top priorities" and declaring, "I want you to know that the Republican Party is not dead."
Some of the 15 questions:
1. Do you agree with Barack Obama's budget plan that will lead to a $23.1 trillion deficit over the next ten years?3. Do you support amnesty for illegal immigrants?
4. Should English be the official language of the United States?
6. Are you in favor of expanded welfare benefits and unlimited eligibility (no time, education or work requirements) that Democrats are pushing to pass?
9. Do you support the creation of a national health insurance plan that would be administered by bureaucrats in Washington?13. Are you in favor of reinstituting the military draft, as Democrats in Congress have proposed?"
Surveys designed to persuade rather than survey are a common though dirty tactic in the political arena, the text equivalent of telephone push-polls. The sending of polls for fundraising purposes is also widely considered unethical, a practice known as "frugging" -- fundraising under the guise of research. In August, the RNC suggested in a similarly formatted "Future of American Health Care Survey" that "GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system." Following on outcry from Democrats, a Republican Party spokesperson called that survey "inartfully worded."
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