Freedom's Watch pro-war petitions and call-in campaigns

"What’s next?," one blog commenter wrote August 22, 2007, "A save the war petition?"

As far-fetched as it may have seemed, a mere week later, on August 29, 2007, Vets for Freedom began soliciting signatures for its "Stand by the American Mission in Iraq" petition in advance of Gen. David Petraeus's report to Congress scheduled for the week of September 15, 2007.

Following Gen. Petraeus's September 10-11, 2007, testimony before Congress, a new push began to get signatures on the same petition&mdash;"Stand by the American Mission in Iraq"&mdash;posted now on The Victory Caucus website.

Beginning with Freedom's Watch's first sponsored ads on August 22, 2007, viewers were encouraged to "Call your Congressman and Senator" at 1-877-222-8001. The Victory Caucus petition is followed by the same appeal:


 * "In addition to signing the petition, we urge you to contact members of Congress directly. Call 1-877-222-8001 to be patched through directly to your members of Congress."

The problem with this now, as it was earlier, is that this is not the phone number for Congress, as revealed from the immediate public response on August 22, 2007:


 * "Only that number? It ain't Congress", which, by the way, is (202) 224-3121 for the U.S. Senate, and (202) 225-3121 for the U.S. House of Representatives.

"Go on, call it," blogger and radio host Taylor Marsh wrote August 22, 2007. Then, "once you get through something amazing happens. The operator asks you a question. Yes, you're expected to take part in a survey before she puts you through to Congress. But there's a catch. The question asked goes something like this: Do you believe the Iraq war is important to the war on terror? They may have changed the question by now, because we're on to them, but that's what I was asked. If you say no, the operator immediately thanks you but doesn't connect you to Congress. Instead, she asks if you have anything else to say and then basically gets rid of you. They're only allowing people who agree with them through."

"I called," chrisj at The Daily Kos wrote, "and the person who answered asked me immediately if I thought that the Iraq war was preventing attacks in America. When I answered 'no' she referred me to their website at www.freedomswatch.org and then hung up on me."

See the Americans United for Change YouTube video of a call to Freedom's Watch.