“Imagine getting a summer job with the campaign and getting 10% of the money that comes in! – Sounds CRAZY?! -… we bring you innovation #323 … Students for Mitt. It goes something like this: If you are currently a student and want to earn from cash … spend your summer touting Mitt Romney instead of selling Pesticide. For everything to raise over $1000 you will get 10% back! So if you raise $50,000 you get $5000 back. If you raise $100,000 you get $10,000 back! That’s serious money for a college student and for a great cause! Legal has vetted this,”
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I feel a new slogan: Mitt Romney, better than Pesticide.
Really – as Alexander Hamilton reputedly said, admittedly paraphrased, “Where a man’s pocketbook is, is where that man’s vote will be.” Or words to that effect…
I spent yesterday evening with some Young/College Republicans in SE Mass. Suit jacket and Weejuns, every one. THEY will think this is way cool.
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Appealing to young Democrats may require a very different pitch, but this will work well for Mitt in the audience he’s looking for – bright young conservative men and women.
johnksays
approach to what is supposed to be your supporters? Help me raise money and I’ll give you 10% off the top. It shows that Mitt has a very low opinion of those who support him.
When I say they are young, you ask why they aren’t fighting.
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When I tell you they did, you say it’s irrelevant.
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Pick a stance, any stance….
rajsays
Don’t paraphrase what I wrote.
raweelsays
Enough said.
centralmassdadsays
Not everyone can make it all winter in Birkenstocks with wool socks.
raweelsays
I’d never thought it could be summarized in two shoe references EXACTLY what is so fundamentally screwed up about the entire Boomer generation and its fucked-up politics.
centralmassdadsays
Thank you for Smoking
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The William H. macy character is pee your pants funny.
…and tell me if they can ONLY get 20 gazillion people to sign the Pure Earth petition, and get checks for $20, then the big guy with the beard and funny tattoos keeping their cat hostage will let Fluffy go free.
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And MassPIRG has the NERVE to put ADS in the newspapers claiming THIS is a summer job! Not to MENTIION the MANDATORY checkoff fee they have installed in every UMass campus.
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Mock all you like, but 10% off the top sounds pretty darn respectable to me after that liberal dreck.
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(BTW – The UMass Dartmouth guys seem to like you well enough – knew about the blog and all.)
There were UMASS Dartmouth pirg members who came to your door?
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I don’t know; I’m very prejudiced when it comes to MassPIRG, but I suppose with some good reason.
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Let me start it off by saying I was in MassPirg for an entire semester for the first semester of my freshman year. I sunk in a LOT of time. They were very nice, kind… and I liked what they wanted to do. There were weekly meetings and I don’t think I missed any – until I got busier later on and had to say upfront that I was going to miss a few. It was then that they started asking me to make this meeting, then that… and suddenly, when I realized they wanted 4 nights of my week, I knew I had to get out of it.
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Fast forward a few years – I was looking for a summer job. The Sierra Club had something in the newspaper. I called, only to find out that it was actually MassPirg. I decided to keep an open mind. Surely, the state branch had to be different, right? Well, I go up for an interview to find out about the jobs available: going door to door, which I didn’t mind, but the hours were like 4-9pm. I guess some people would be okay with that, but it would have been nice if they had told me that on the phone: I wouldn’t have had a single interest in doing the job and wasted the entire day and $10 it takes to get into the city. Yet, they still kept pushing and pushing when I finally had to say “no thanks” in a way that wasn’t nearly so polite.
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Finally, because people work on commission, you get a lot of elements that just don’t help the movement in any way, shape or form. I get that they need to ask for money, but here’s an example of what’s wrong. They came to my mother’s door one summer, asking for money, and she said sure “let me write you a check for $10.” “Umm… Ms. Adams, we can’t accept a donation that low.” WTF is that all about? Who turns down a $10 donation, especially from my mother – who is a solidly working class person with a son in college and a mortgage to pay. She was trying to be polite and they threw it back in her face.
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MassPirg sadly has a lot of potential, but they are just so money hungry. Everyone who’s ever joined that I know subsequently burns out sooner rather than later. They’ve all felt the same way I do afterwards, too. Instead of sending people around asking for money – and being paid in commission – why not send them around to SPREAD INFORMATION and ask for a donation – whatever’s possible – afterwards? Or get their adresses to put on a mailing list, where donations can be asked later?
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Sadly, they do their movement no help – and as an environmentalist, that rubs me the wrong way.
25-catssays
You should check out a really wonderful series which a guy on MyDD did called Strip-Mining the Grassroots, which is about the destructiveness of the PIRG model. One thing about the model is that 10 years later people who worked for the PIRGS are no more politically engaged than those who did not work for them. Considering that people enter the PIRGs with a sense of activism and wanting to make the world a bettter place, the model is clearly destroying idealism and probably does more harm than good.
that’s quite the post. I don’t have time to read it all tonight, but it’s fascinating so far and something I care a lot about. (I’m not surprised at all by its conclusions. If I stayed in PIRG longer, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it killed politics for me too. Maybe not, because I’m that narcassistic, but quite possibly.)
rajsays
…Nader’s only claim to fame was his book about the Corvair and General Motors essentially promoted it by attacking him. If GM hadn’t done that, there would have been no Ralph Nader (as a political force). No Nader, no PIRGs. And probably no Bush II.
What a great scam for Trust Fund Sonny! Instead of just writing your $2300 check, Sonny gets to meet important people and pull in $230. What better way to say “we’re for the rich, of the rich, middle class need not apply”?
laurelsays
Foogetaboutit! That’s sucker work unless you were already going to be creasing your cheenos for Willard.
amberpawsays
Even a candidate I supported, if I knew this was how they went about it, I would not donate. So, good luck to all those suit coated fellows – sounds too much like selling encyclopedias on commission only to me!
laurelsays
to pay for junior’s resume bullet. “Here you are, dear, a check for that nice Mr Romney. Be sure he gives you your allowance commission before you resign. Now you go run along and put Campaign Fundraising Coordinator on your curriculum vitae!”
…eventually, the successful ones get the used cars sold.
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We’ll see how many used cars Mitt can sell. To date, he doesn’t seem to have sold very many. But that may change. And he has enough liquidity that he can hold out for a long, long time.
kraanksays
Remember, that’s how Tom Delay got his start in the world. If he were working for Mitt at 10% over the primary nut, then he probably could not have gotten so far in the wonderful world of politics.
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I wonder if he has gone back to his cockroaches.
…Google ads are placed dynamically, and I couldn’t find the ad on the boston.com web site.
Fox has the story.
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This is the actual e-mail.
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I feel a new slogan: Mitt Romney, better than Pesticide.
Really – as Alexander Hamilton reputedly said, admittedly paraphrased, “Where a man’s pocketbook is, is where that man’s vote will be.” Or words to that effect…
I spent yesterday evening with some Young/College Republicans in SE Mass. Suit jacket and Weejuns, every one. THEY will think this is way cool.
<
p>
Appealing to young Democrats may require a very different pitch, but this will work well for Mitt in the audience he’s looking for – bright young conservative men and women.
approach to what is supposed to be your supporters? Help me raise money and I’ll give you 10% off the top. It shows that Mitt has a very low opinion of those who support him.
As I said, College Republicans are a different breed than you may be used to.
…in a war instigated by a pResident of their own party, and which is still touted by him and his cohort is…
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what?
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So that they could stay home and serve in Mitt Romney’s campaign? And be paid for it? While other people are fighting and dying over there?
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You really have to be kidding.
…Operation Yellow Elephant Bingo
Two of them were. From Iraq. Over there, Not stateside.
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(David – This. Is. Fun.)
When I say they are young, you ask why they aren’t fighting.
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When I tell you they did, you say it’s irrelevant.
<
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Pick a stance, any stance….
Don’t paraphrase what I wrote.
Enough said.
Not everyone can make it all winter in Birkenstocks with wool socks.
I’d never thought it could be summarized in two shoe references EXACTLY what is so fundamentally screwed up about the entire Boomer generation and its fucked-up politics.
Thank you for Smoking
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The William H. macy character is pee your pants funny.
Masspirg. Can anyone say cult?
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And, yes, that’s one of the most environmentally liberal people on this site saying that.
…and tell me if they can ONLY get 20 gazillion people to sign the Pure Earth petition, and get checks for $20, then the big guy with the beard and funny tattoos keeping their cat hostage will let Fluffy go free.
<
p>
And MassPIRG has the NERVE to put ADS in the newspapers claiming THIS is a summer job! Not to MENTIION the MANDATORY checkoff fee they have installed in every UMass campus.
<
p>
Mock all you like, but 10% off the top sounds pretty darn respectable to me after that liberal dreck.
<
p>
(BTW – The UMass Dartmouth guys seem to like you well enough – knew about the blog and all.)
There were UMASS Dartmouth pirg members who came to your door?
<
p>
I don’t know; I’m very prejudiced when it comes to MassPIRG, but I suppose with some good reason.
<
p>
Let me start it off by saying I was in MassPirg for an entire semester for the first semester of my freshman year. I sunk in a LOT of time. They were very nice, kind… and I liked what they wanted to do. There were weekly meetings and I don’t think I missed any – until I got busier later on and had to say upfront that I was going to miss a few. It was then that they started asking me to make this meeting, then that… and suddenly, when I realized they wanted 4 nights of my week, I knew I had to get out of it.
<
p>
Fast forward a few years – I was looking for a summer job. The Sierra Club had something in the newspaper. I called, only to find out that it was actually MassPirg. I decided to keep an open mind. Surely, the state branch had to be different, right? Well, I go up for an interview to find out about the jobs available: going door to door, which I didn’t mind, but the hours were like 4-9pm. I guess some people would be okay with that, but it would have been nice if they had told me that on the phone: I wouldn’t have had a single interest in doing the job and wasted the entire day and $10 it takes to get into the city. Yet, they still kept pushing and pushing when I finally had to say “no thanks” in a way that wasn’t nearly so polite.
<
p>
Finally, because people work on commission, you get a lot of elements that just don’t help the movement in any way, shape or form. I get that they need to ask for money, but here’s an example of what’s wrong. They came to my mother’s door one summer, asking for money, and she said sure “let me write you a check for $10.” “Umm… Ms. Adams, we can’t accept a donation that low.” WTF is that all about? Who turns down a $10 donation, especially from my mother – who is a solidly working class person with a son in college and a mortgage to pay. She was trying to be polite and they threw it back in her face.
<
p>
MassPirg sadly has a lot of potential, but they are just so money hungry. Everyone who’s ever joined that I know subsequently burns out sooner rather than later. They’ve all felt the same way I do afterwards, too. Instead of sending people around asking for money – and being paid in commission – why not send them around to SPREAD INFORMATION and ask for a donation – whatever’s possible – afterwards? Or get their adresses to put on a mailing list, where donations can be asked later?
<
p>
Sadly, they do their movement no help – and as an environmentalist, that rubs me the wrong way.
You should check out a really wonderful series which a guy on MyDD did called Strip-Mining the Grassroots, which is about the destructiveness of the PIRG model. One thing about the model is that 10 years later people who worked for the PIRGS are no more politically engaged than those who did not work for them. Considering that people enter the PIRGs with a sense of activism and wanting to make the world a bettter place, the model is clearly destroying idealism and probably does more harm than good.
<
p>
Anyway, check it out.
I am almost completely broke. 12% and he has a deal!
that’s quite the post. I don’t have time to read it all tonight, but it’s fascinating so far and something I care a lot about. (I’m not surprised at all by its conclusions. If I stayed in PIRG longer, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it killed politics for me too. Maybe not, because I’m that narcassistic, but quite possibly.)
…Nader’s only claim to fame was his book about the Corvair and General Motors essentially promoted it by attacking him. If GM hadn’t done that, there would have been no Ralph Nader (as a political force). No Nader, no PIRGs. And probably no Bush II.
What a great scam for Trust Fund Sonny! Instead of just writing your $2300 check, Sonny gets to meet important people and pull in $230. What better way to say “we’re for the rich, of the rich, middle class need not apply”?
Foogetaboutit! That’s sucker work unless you were already going to be creasing your cheenos for Willard.
Even a candidate I supported, if I knew this was how they went about it, I would not donate. So, good luck to all those suit coated fellows – sounds too much like selling encyclopedias on commission only to me!
to pay for junior’s resume bullet. “Here you are, dear, a check for that nice Mr Romney. Be sure he gives you your
allowancecommission before you resign. Now you go run along and put Campaign Fundraising Coordinator on your curriculum vitae!”I noticed those on Burnt Orange Report today. Along with Barack, Richardson, and McCain.
Why be surprised at that?
http://www.americanc…
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It’s going to be four US dollars exchange for one Amero.
Three “nations” merge and the bankers keep the rest!
Is Mitt fooling anybody?
OK, I’ll stop. Now.
…eventually, the successful ones get the used cars sold.
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We’ll see how many used cars Mitt can sell. To date, he doesn’t seem to have sold very many. But that may change. And he has enough liquidity that he can hold out for a long, long time.
Remember, that’s how Tom Delay got his start in the world. If he were working for Mitt at 10% over the primary nut, then he probably could not have gotten so far in the wonderful world of politics.
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I wonder if he has gone back to his cockroaches.
Instead of being a lawyer like God intended?
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How DARE he run for public office!
…of an insecticide spray nozzle isn’t exactly my idea of skilled hand work.
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Maybe he absorbed too much of the insecticide that he was spraying. As in other areas of endeavor, blowback can be a problem.