Important Census Document! [not]

[dreamshark]

I received a curious document in the mail a couple of weeks ago. The envelope was, in fact, labeled as an "Important Census Document." Calling that misleading is putting it kindly. It was, in fact, a mailing from the Republican Party. It was sent to me because I am special. I was chosen as one of a very very few select individuals to answer the enclosed political poll on behalf of all the Republicans in my congressional district. I owed this honor to my "unswerving support for the Republican Party through the years."

All of this seems remarkably unlikely, especially after more than 30 years of faithfully attending DFL precinct caucuses and district conventions. The poll was an odd mixture of fairly neutral sounding questions and ridiculous push questions ("How do you feel about President Obama's agenda to nationalize the health care system?") At the end was an opportunity to include a contribution to the Republican Party along with my answers, but that wasn't pushed especially strongly.

I was briefly tempted to send it back with straight Democratic answers to everything ("Yes! I am wildly in favor of President Obama's out of control spending!") It would be great if they really HAD somehow mistaken me as a good representative of Republican sentiment in my Congressional district (assuming there IS any Republican sentiment in the Fifth District). But it seems far more likely that this was a mass mailing trolling for more Republicans to add to their mailing list.

So I didn't return it. But I'm wondering if anybody else I know got one of these?

Comments

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

I read about these. Seems people are returning them thinking they ARE the census and it's messing up the numbers that Repubs could have in the census. Good for them, I say. That's what they get for messing with it.

Article on it here. http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/92824969.html

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Actually, this article doesn't provide any facts to back up the suggestion that people are actually returning this form thinking they have now responded to the census. It's only the envelope that looks like it's from the census. Once you open it up it states pretty clearly that it's from the Republican party. If nothing else, the fact that it ends by asking for a contribution to the Republican National Committee is kind of a big clue.

Even if that is the case, it would result in an under-counting of clueless people, not necessarily Republicans. The fact that I got one of these suggests that they aren't targeting actual Republicans at all, just spamming random mailing lists. What I hope is that the Republican National Committee ends up with a big fat fine for violating federal law. Pfuii.

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

Maybe I grabbed the wrong article. my bad.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Call 'em up to complain, and sic the Census people on 'em. This strikes me as being a bit illegal.

[jiawen]

Send it back with a check for -$5000? I wonder if they'd try to cash it...

I got it too.

[ssussminh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got one too, and was also tempted to say I was wild about Obama's "out of control" spending. But I resisted returning it.

What got me was in the intro was some line about "how I was such a good Republican?" I keep checking to see who they thought they were talking to!

If you got one, it seems they are blanketing our very Democratic neighborhood :)