The National Republican Congressional Committee is defending websites that have tricked some Democratic donors into funding the opposition.
For instance, as seen in the picture above, the URL contribute.sinkforcongress2014.com, with a professional photo of Democratic candidate Alex Sink, is actually a Republican website run by the NRCC. Below the giant “Alex Sink for Congress” is a smaller font “Make a contribution today to help Defeat Alex Sink and candidates like her.”
For netizens who blitz through webpages (myself included), the structure seems almost deliberately tricky. “It looked legitimate and had a smiling face of Sink and all the trappings of a legitimate site,” Floridian Ray Bellamy told the Tampa Bay Times.
The RNCC isn’t backing down, but said it will offer a refund. “Democrats are clearly pitching stories on these effective websites because they are worried about voters learning the truth about their candidates’ disastrous records,” argued NRCC spokeswoman Andrea Bozek. “We will refund any other Democrat plants who are asked to donate.”
Bozek’s language gives you an idea of how angry and polarizing life on a campaign can be. Instead of looking at it thoughtfully, she immediately goes into attack mode. This is what makes Americans hate elections. Let’s hope the RNCC realizes the error of its ways and hires some people who are more collegial.