When Your Volunteers Won't Read Your Message, You Are In Trouble

Some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script attacking Barack Obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

Nina Williams, a stay-at-home mom in Lake County, Indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking Obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."

Williams' daughter told her that up to 40 of her co-workers had refused to read the script, and had left the call center after supervisors told them that they would have to either read the call or leave, Williams says. The call center is called Americall, and it's located in Hobart, IN.

"They walked out," Williams says of her daughter and her co-workers, adding that they weren't fired but willingly sacrificed pay rather than read the lines. "They were told [by supervisors], `If you all leave, you're not gonna get paid for the rest of the day."

[via TPM]

McCain's POW Secrets [October Surprise!]

Sydney H. Schanberg, the longtime New York Times reporter and editor and Newsday columnist -- and author of "The Killing Fields" -- has written a 9000-word investigative piece on John McCain and his longstanding efforts to, as Schanberg asserts in his lede, "hide from the public stunning information about the live Vietnam prisoners who, unlike him, didn't return home."

[Via Editor & Publisher]

McCain Speech Interrupted by Iraq Vet Protester

John McCain was caught off guard this evening when an Iraqi War Veteran interrupted his speech.

"Service" is the theme of the Republican National Convention. Isn't John McCain all about military service? Watch the video.

Harry Reid and John McCain are not BFF

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid feels strongly that John McCain is not the right guy to fill the president's shoes. Reid said McCain is wrong on a host of issues and "does not have the right temperment" to be Commander-in-Chief.

This comment comes at a time when McCain needs all the positive press he can get. Now I ask you Senator Reid - Have you had your ass kicked in a Vietnamese prison for 6 years and still been able to hold a smile? No? Then shut the hell up.

McCain Wants the Wife to Earn her Bud, Enter Somewhat Topless Beauty Contest

Below: a publicity shot from the official Buffalo Chip beauty contest that McCain encouraged Cindy to take part in. Though, in a characteristically humorous way...