While politicians wring their hands publicly about the loss of jobs to overseas outsourcers, the Republican Party reportedly outsourced its phone fundraising efforts to a telemarketing company in India. HCL eServe, a service group of HCL Technologies BPO Services Ltd. of India, was signed to call US citizens “seeking support for President Bush and a donation for the Republican cause.” The contract came on the heels of “a successful anti-abortion campaign run by HCL eServe for a US politician.”

The timing of the services would seem to indicate that these calls were used to drum up support for the war in Iraq.

Buzzflash posted this story in February, the story also appeared in the US in the Washington Times. The UPI reported a denial from the Republican National Committee a few days later–but that doesn't mean HCL wasn't contracted by a Republican-affiliated consultant or PAC.

From the Buzzflash update on the story: “[N]either the original Indian Business Standard article nor the BuzzFlash.com account of it ever mentioned the RNC. Read the RNC denial carefully. It doesn't rule out that a Republican consultant hired HCL, or that a separate Republican campaign fund (other than the RNC) retained them. The statement is also in the present tense.”

And the story never got any more play.

So, was this John Poindexter's idea or something?