GOP Lies About Outsourcing Phone Callers to India

MaxSpeak and his commenters has the details.

The Republican National Committee is quoted in the Post dismissing the story about GOP out-sourcing of fund-raising to Indian call centers as an "urban legend." The SCLM Post evidently did not find it necessary to acknowledge a contrary story from India, even though it was written in English.

The story of Republican Party outsourcing campaign operations to India originated in an Indian “Business Standard” article dated 1/30/03. The Business Standard link is dead, but the article has been mirrored on the Free Republic.

The RNC officially denied the allegations, and issued a cease and desist letter, which probably accounts for the missing Business Standard article. It too is available at Free Republic.

The story resurfaces with the Hindustan Times article of May 16, 2004. The Hindustan Times article claims that 125 Indians were calling for the RNC between May 16, 2002 and July 22, 2003, using an RNC call list, immediately prior to the RNC’s misleading legal threat.

The Asia Times ran perhaps the best article on the subject on May 19th. It appears to independently verify the Hindustan Times Piece.

The conclusion: the RNC sent a cease-and-desist letter to the media that was deliberately based on lies.

The key here is that the calling was done with the RNC phone list. To say that it wasn't done at the behest of the RNC is irrelevant, unless they are so casual in disseminating their phone list.