The Republican National Committee has taken note of the DNC's new town hall "mob" ad, which hit the airwaves last night. They don't want to hear your thoughts about it.
The automated voice at the RNC number featured in the ad says: "If you're calling in regards to the Democratic National Committee's recent advertisement, please press 1." But if you press 1, you'll be transferred to the DNC.
A DNC operator said she knew about the switch, as she had received many calls from people expecting to talk to the RNC.
A spokesperson at the RNC's press office appeared surprised that the transfers were happening. "I'm not aware of that, sir," he said.
Michael Steele has taken credit for the trick during a conference call with reporters, saying he "thought it was a good idea,"
"Don't sit there and think you're going to direct a bunch of angry liberals to call the RNC when I know full well what that's all about," said Steele. "I get the joke. My response was, talk to your own party, because they're the ones ginning this up."
An RNC spokesperson said: "Well, if you do call us and you want to talk to us then you press 2 for comments and questions, for regular comments and questions, but if you want to talk about the RNC and their mob mentality then you get redirected to the DNC."
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Update (3:34 EST)
The RNC is no longer rerouting calls to the DNC. It is now manually offering the DNC's number as its own. After pressing 1, a voice says:
Thank you for calling the Republican National Committee. We are so glad you called to give us your feedback on the Democratic National Committee's advertisement. Please call the following number to give us your input: 202-863-8000. Again, that's 202-863-8000. Thanks so much and have a great day.
The number, 202-863-8000, is the official phone number of the DNC.
"These tactics just prove what we've been saying -- the RNC is inciting angry mobs to shout down legitimate discussion at public events across the country and now they want to ignore people who deplore their tactics. Republicans don't want to have a discussion about the future of health care reform -- they want to shout down -- and now completely ignore -- anyone who disagrees with them," said DNC spokesperson Hari Sevugan.