October 19, 2010 12:37 AM UTC

Now THAT'S One Misleading Robocall

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• by: Colorado Pols

Can’t see the audio player? Click here.

This robocall, which apparently went out to registered Democrats only a couple of hours ago, could set a new standard for chutzpah–and maybe for slick deception as well. Amendment 62, as our readers know well, is the initiative to ban all abortions in the state of Colorado, as well as many common forms of birth control. Suffice to say, as was the case when the 2008 “personhood” initiative failed by over 70% of the vote, it’s not going to be very popular with Democrats.

How convenient then that the “Democrat” in this robocall doesn’t use the words “abortion” or “birth control” once, isn’t it? In fact, you’d never know from this call that Amendment 62 concerns reproductive issues: the caller only makes reference to “18,000 human beings [who] lose their lives every year because they are not protected by Colorado’s laws.” The message ends with the narrator imploring the listener, “as a fellow Democrat and human rights activist,” to support Amendment 62.

We assume that whoever paid for this (the recording does not appear to be identified at the end, as we thought was legally required) is hoping that some number of recipients will never check any other source, and will vote yes on 62 entirely on the strength of this robocall. Or, maybe they’re hoping to get Democrats who do know what this is angry about “fellow Democrats” supporting it?

Either way, somebody out there finds themselves very, very clever.