What We're Up Against: The Obama Phone

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | June 22, 2012 | Rush Limbaugh

[Terry Mross]

And those who come out to vote for their boy will be unregistered without any form of I.D.

[dandiegirl]

People getting these phones don’t seem like likely voters to me. They want the stuff but aren’t going to make it to the polls.

[itssme]

Ahole obozo has nothing to do with the free phone program. system. Yet he highjacks this free phone program and puts HIS ahole name on it...obomaphone, to give the impression that HE is responsible for the “free” phone.

This bast*ard is a sociopath liar...lies about EVERYTHING, and the dumb people who have their hand out for anything that's free TO THEM, pick up on obozo’s twisted advertising, and call it the obomaphone. Stupid is as stupid does. Somebody needs to respond to this bull and reveal what the free phone program is about, and how obozo is LYING about his connection to this phone program. We must “disconnect” this obozo any way we can. Romney, Republican Party, whatcha going to do about this?

[itssme]

Ahole obozo has nothing to do with the free phone program. Yet he highjacks this free phone program and puts HIS ahole name on it...obomaphone, to give the impression that HE is responsible for the “free” phone.

This bast*ard is a sociopath liar...lies about EVERYTHING, and the dumb people who have their hand out for anything that's free TO THEM, pick up on obozo’s twisted advertising, and call it the obomaphone. Stupid is as stupid does. Somebody needs to respond to this bull and reveal what the free phone program is about, and how obozo is LYING about his connection to this phone program. We must “disconnect” this obozo any way we can. Romney, Republican Party, whatcha going to do about this?

[magellan]

I heard a caller (black female on welfare) on the Boortz show last week refer to her welfare cell phone as her "Obama Phone". It is amazing. A program started in 1996 to provide discounted land-line service for low-income households (by taxing the middle class' phone bills with the Universal Service Fund fee), was expanded to cell phones in the 2000s. But not in the form of a nominal discount, like the land line program, but instead a complete free phone with a monthly minute allotment. The program has grown from $772 million in 2008 to $1.6 billion in 2011.

But what is worse is now welfare queens proudly call their welfare phones "Obama Phones". They may well have had a government cell phone before Obama, but now they think Obama is the reason they have their phone.

I guess next is the EBT card will be called the "Obama card". Obama = Welfare.

[magellan]

"But the program is funded by telecom companies ... "

No, it is funded by telecom company customers, by government mandated fees which the telecom company then hands over to the government. This "FactCheck" BS is like saying Exxon is paying for road construction, not the customers paying the gasoline taxes.

Keepin' it real.

[magellan]

"I wish someone in the media, say Rush for example, would call for everyone deducting the charge from the phone bill. If millions of people didn’t pay that for a month or two there’s no way they’d stop the service."

Dump your landline and go cell only or VOIP for your home phone. That way you get rid of Ma Bell and the USF tax.

[PghBaldy]

Really, what exactly does the Prez need to inform people of that Cabinet-level officials can’t? Previous Presidents would haqve used the Cabinet or other officials to take care of anything like this. I sincerely believe Obama is surrounded by idiots that don’t realixe he is cheapening his brand, and has been doing so for the past few years. He is overexposed, to put it mildly.

[MrPiper]

But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes, and the president has nothing to do with it.

Its a tax, I don't care who collects it!

[Monorprise]

“This is incredible...http://obamaphone.net. This really organizes his people!”

I thought it was “illegal” to uses tax payer dollars and Government employees & programs for your own campaign?

Doesn’t that give an incumbent an open advantage funded by his opposition? Don’t get me wrong I know this sort of stuff happens indirectly all the time by way of who congress and the “president” funnel Governor funds to” but this is just so blatantly corrupt.

[MacMattico]

I think my MIL has a free phone. I don't really know why because she has a smartphone on our plan, and a nice retirement. I think she's just scared that the more complicated and “scary” phone will not work and she'll have a back-up since she no longer has a landline.

But I can say this with certainty— She will never, ever, ever, vote for Obama!

[Jeff Winston]

This isn't an Obama campaign thing. It's just a free government cell phone for low-income people. The program has been around for a long time. Someone has put this site up with links to another site that has some ads, so they're eventually making a few bucks off of it.

From another page on the site:

It’s true that government provides free cellphones to the poor and disabled people. But the Obama part is not true as Obama didn’t initiate this program. It’s on the run since the administration of Reagan. This program has two parts: one is called the ‘Link-Up’ which provided free landline connection to the poor and the other is called the ‘Lifeline’ which provides waiver on telephone bills. These two programs are simply called ‘Lifeline’ when lumped together.

This service is provided by government approved companies. The three major companies are Safelink Wireless, Assurance Wireless and ReachOut Wireless.

Today government provides waivers on landline phone bills for people with low income living inside US territory. This program began during Clinton’s administration and still continuing under Obamas’ administration.

With the increasing use of mobile technologies cost came down. To low income individuals and senior citizens, cellphones were included under Lifeline. At present, government gives free cellphone with 250 minutes of free talk time to those people who are eligible and have signed up for this program. It started back in 2008 when Trafcone started their service under this program at Tennessee. At the same year Obama was elected President but Trafcone began their Safelink service three months before which means the program was discussed and approved by Obama’s predecessor Bush. So now you know that there is nothing called “the Obama Phone”.

[thecodont]

Here it is.

http://www.consumer.att.com/connectivity_charge/

I agreee, BO's next step is to brand EBT cards as "BO cards."

[RoosterRedux]

IIRC, you have to be on food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, etc to qualify...so productive citizens are automatically ineligible.

[seton89]

Communications device for the guerrillas in Obama’s personal flash army:

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”-B H Obama 7/2/08 Colorado Springs, CO

---

Devil’s Night won’t just be at Halloween.

[AbolishCSEU]

I received an application in the mail for the “Assurance” phone aka Obama phone. Just why I don’t know as I’ve been gainfully employed since 1977 and uber conservative since 1989.

It said to just send in proof of food stamps, HEAP, WIC, Section 8 subsidized housing, SSD/SSI and the application and POOF you’ll have your phone with 250 free minutes a month.

Disgusting! I chucked the damn thing in my burn pile (soon to be outlawed by the DEC here in the people’s republic of NYS

[Irish Eyes]

People getting these phones don’t seem like likely voters to me. They want the stuff but aren’t going to make it to the polls.

They will vote if obama threatens to take their phones away. obama just needs to call, them text them or post it on his facebook page.

[madameguinot]

This is a govt program instituted before cell phones for poor rural areas where a phone might be scarce. Anyway, it morphed into this, as does anything with the fed govt.

[madameguinot]

We recently got a cell phone for our teenage daughter. within a days of getting it, she got a message from BO.
So they’re workin’ this aspect pretty hard!

[Mr. Peabody]

The obamaphone.net domain was registered by Domains By Proxy. Domains By Proxy was started by one of the GoDaddy founders so people could register domains without revealing their identity thorough whois.