Phishing with Dick Durbin

Everyone knows not to go hunting with Dick Cheney, but I didn't know the dangers of Phishing with Dick Durbin.

Durbin is so hard up for friends that if you take his poll on the public option, you automatically become a member of his "team."

I got an invitation to take his poll that had his mug on the header and his signature at the bottom. It went like this:

Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

Click here to take the poll!

The tide is shifting our way.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of activists like you we've seen a tremendous shift in the health care reform debate. On Monday, Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the merged Senate health care bill -- a bill that includes a public option..

The question is no longer if we will have some sort of public option in the final health care reform bill, but instead what form it will take.

There are several interpretations of what a public option should look like, and I'd like to share the preferences of the American people with my colleagues in the Senate. But I must do so before the final health care reform bill comes to a vote on the Senate floor in the coming weeks.

Please rank your preferences for what form the public option should take in the final bill at:

http://www.DickDurbin.com/PublicOptionPoll

I believe that a robust public option must give more Americans more choice on day one. But some of my colleagues would be content with a public plan that only kicked in if insurance companies continued to raise premiums at an unreasonable rate -- the so-called "trigger." Others would prefer a more limited public option, requiring state governments to "opt-in" to participate in the program.

I am "whip counting" the votes in favor of all of these in the Senate, and we're very, very close to reaching the 60 votes we need to pass a robust form of the public option -- one that provides more coverage to more people by requiring states to "opt out" if they don't want to participate. That's exactly how Medicare and Medicaid work, and all 50 states participate in those popular programs.

Ultimately my colleagues need to know what their constituents think a robust "public option" really means -- and what it doesn't.

Read up on the various interpretations of a public option now under consideration, and tell me -- and my colleagues -- where you stand.

http://www.DickDurbin..com/PublicOptionPoll

Virtually every poll now shows most people support a robust public option to expand health insurance choice and offer coverage to more Americans. And the American people will not settle for a "public option" in name only.

Neither will I.

Let's tell Congress what precisely we want and expect to see in the final health care reform bill that President Obama signs into law.
Thank you for taking my poll.

If you click on it, you get this screen:

Now, I filled it out with zeroes for questions one through four and a ten for question five, meaning I support no public option.

To my surprise I received this response within a few seconds of selecting the "Submit" button:

Thanks for joining the Durbin team, xxxxxxxxxxx
Thursday, October 29, 2009 2:29 AM
From: "Friends of Dick Durbin"
Add sender to Contacts
Dear xxxxxxxxxx,

Thank you for signing up to join the Dick Durbin online community! We look forward to working with you over the weeks and months to help build a better America.

If you use spam filters to protect your inbox, please take a moment right now to add this message's "from" address (info@dickdurbin.com) to your email address book, spam software whitelist, or mail system whitelist. This will help ensure that you receive the messages you have requested and that your email software displays HTML and images properly.

Thanks again, and welcome!

Sincerely,

The Friends of Dick Durbin team

So, that's the way it works. Durbin is ignoring the real polls and creating his own data by sending this request to people he believes will take his side. Then he makes you one of his "Team" members.

Wasn't there something about Axelrod hijacking e-mail addresses and sending messages from the White House?

Now, I won't do business with companies who use such tactics so why would I want to vote for a creep who uses them in politics.

It explains why politicians excluded themselves for the restrictions on telemarketing calls. It also explains their dismal approval ratings.