UPDATE: Here's the source (Breitbart): Howard Dean: DNC Uses Credit Card Data to Predict Votes
Is this what we’re about now? Howard Dean and Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan were speakers at a luncheon at the National Press Club November 5, where both looked back on lessons learned and what went right and wrong with their work during the 2008 election cycle.
Astoundingly, Howard Dean revealed that the DNC mined consumers’ credit card data to predict voting outcomes and tried to excuse this by pointing out the Republicans do it too. Great. Let's race to the bottom, Howard, and sell out our most cherished values as Democrats. Said Dean:
"We now can do what they can do. We have your credit card data like they do. They’ve been for years doing something that we, until 2006, weren’t able to do. We can predict with 85 percent accuracy how you’re going to vote based on your credit card data without bothering to see what party you’re in – the Secretary of State’s office."
Contined Dean:
"They’ve been doing it for a long time. No wonder we’ve been throwing rocks at the bottom of the well. These guys, we can argue about how well they run the country, but they certainly know how to run elections."
Ahh... Howard, WTF? Unless you've tossed out our
2008 Party Platform, we as Democrats are against this kind of invasion of privacy. Our Party's "Credit Card Bill of Rights" spells it out:
"Consumer Protection
We will establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to protect consumers and a Credit Card Rating System to improve disclosure. Americans need to pay what they owe, but they should pay what’s fair. We’ll reform our bankruptcy laws to give Americans in debt a second chance. If people can demonstrate that they went bankrupt because of medical expenses, they will be able to relieve that debt and get back on their feet."
I know progressive standards have slipped at the DNC, but this is sickening. If we're now abandoning our own platform positions and using the Republicans as out ethical standard, I have some donation money I'd like back.