This is not an April Fool's joke.The Republican National Committee does not want you to give your credit card information to a phone sex hotline, even though they listed the number to one on a recent fundraising mailer.
The RNC document, which was appears designed to mimic a census form, features Chairman Michael Steele's name atop it and lists the RNC's return number as . The number that was intended is .
The difference: instead of a friendly voice thanking callers for contacting the RNC, it's a "horny girl" who can't wait to put customers in touch with "hot, local students, house wives and working girls," if only they will enter their credit card information.
"The number in question was a typographical error by a vendor used on this particular mailer ” using 1-800 instead of 202," RNC Communications Director Doug Heye told Politico's Ben SmithSmith added: "Heye e-mailed different direct-mail pieces that included the correct RNC phone number, writing: 'This is an isolated incident and will not be repeated in the future.'"
Audio of the service that answers when the RNC's advertised number is dialed is available below and should be considered not safe for work.
"The RNC is already in trouble with conservatives; Family Research Council chief Tony Perkins asked his members not to give to the GOP directly anymore this week, in part because the RNC has shown itself to be 'tone-deaf' to the values of a large swath of the people it purports to represent," Slate's Mike Madden wrote. "This latest gaffe probably won't help."
The scandal couldn't come at a worse time for the Republican party, which was hit just earlier in the week by details of RNC dollars going toward liquor and a bondage-themed night club. Though the unnamed RNC staffer allegedly behind the charges was reportedly fired, the political damage had been done. Some senior Republican brass even called for Michael Steele's resignation.
"For those donors who truly believe in conservative values, this latest news about Steele has to be very disturbing," said Douglas MacKinnon, former press secretary to Majority Leader Robert Dole, according to The Huffington Post. "No matter which side of the aisle you find yourself, if you are giving a political party your hard-earned money, you should have no doubts that it is going to be spent as advertised and not to provide a spoiled, egocentric, out-of-touch chairman with frivolous luxuries which are out of reach of the vast majority of the American people. Michael Steele needs to resign and let the RNC vote in a man or woman who understands that his or her needs do not come before the needs of the nation or the party."
"Removing Mr. Steele would require the 168 members of the RNC to hold a special meeting, vote by a two-thirds majority to remove him, and then agree on a replacement," noted Dave Cook, writing for the Christian Science Monitor. "The process would be especially awkward because Steele is black and his party has a predominately white face in Congress.
"Still, it has been an exceptionally painful couple of days for the RNC."
In the wake of such a scandal-ridden week for the RNC, it's not difficult to imagine calls for Steele's resignation becoming more frequent, even if he's not likely to be going anywhere soon.
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