CT-04: NRCC Mailing: Farrell Wants To Have "Coffee Talk With The Taliban"
Check out this new mailing sent out by the NRCC. It accuses Diane Farrell, the Dem challenger to GOP Rep Chris Shays, of wanting to have a "Coffee Talk with the Taliban":
To back up this charge, the flyer says simply that Farrell's candidacy "is endorsed by an organization with a leader who wanted someone to sit down and have a talk with the Taliban." The group isn't named. But NRCC spokesman Ed Patru tells Election Central that the organization in question is the Council for a Livable World, a moderate think tank previously cited in GOP advertising.
No further evidence beyond the unnamed leader of the Council who supposedly advocated talks with the Taliban was offered to support the belief that Farrell herself believes anything like this. The full mailing after the jump.
Hey Election Central Guys,
Can you call up the Shays campaign and get them to comment if they think this is an appropriate mailer to be distributing on their behalf? Let's see if Shays's vaunted integrity extends to criticizing the hand that feeds him.
October 13, 2006 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sure. Isn't that the position of fightin' Bill Frist (within the last month)and the radical group called the Republican Party? Maybe someone should tell Shay and the NRCC what the party line is over at NRSC. Remember purge victims are party members who take too long to adjust to changes in the party line. (Watch out they don't zag while you zig).
October 13, 2006 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Granted this is NRCC, not Shays, but the GOP firewall effort seems to have jumped the shark (at least by CT standards).
October 13, 2006 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good idea, Adam, I'll do it now...Greg
October 13, 2006 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you know who at CLW they are talking about? There are 30 people on their Board!
http://www.clw.org/work/board/
I hope no one falls for this ridiculous attempt at guilt by distant endorsement. Does Shays have any endorsements we can turn on their heads?
They are getting so desperate in so many races it's amazing.
October 13, 2006 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here are the Shays endorsements. I'm sure someone associated with one of them must have said something that can be taken out of context and turned into a ridiculous mailer.
http://www.shaysforcongress.org/Endorsements/default.aspx
This might be a candidate, the National Association of Wholesalers:
NAW's Wholesaler-Distribution PAC (WDPAC) is working to elect candidates who support lower taxes and spending, smaller government and less regulation, and a greater reliance on the free marketplace to promote economic growth, job creation and a higher standard of living for all. WDPAC is enthusiastically supporting Christopher Shays.
http://www.naw.org/Content/NavigationMenu/About_NAW/Executive_Bios/Executive_Bios.htm
October 13, 2006 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is really weird. You expect this in Alabama or Idaho. Places below the proverbial media radar, but this kind of crap, combined with his "no torture at Abu Grahib" in Connecticut? Not very steady at all. I can't think of another candidate melting down this badly. Especially an old hand like Shays.
PS Katie Harris being in a league of her very own, and more fun to watch.
October 13, 2006 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
The RNCC ran an attack ad in Iowa with the same claim. Factcheck.org did an analysis and called the claim "false and misleading"
http://factcheck.org/article446.html
Full disclosure: I am Chief Operating Officer at Council for a Livable World.
October 14, 2006 5:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Factcheck has some more info on this, since the Republicans have been using it against Braley in Iowa. The "negotiation" in question was, to paraphrase, give us Bin Laden and maybe you get aid, don't give us Bin Laden and we'll bomb you.
http://www.factcheck.org/article446.html
The Council does not have "a leader that advocated negotiating with the Taliban," as the announcer says. Neither the executive director nor the chairman of the group said anything about such negotiations. The NRCC is imprecisely referring to Roger Fisher, who serves on the Council's 30-member board and is a professor emeritus at Harvard Law School and director of the Harvard Negotiation Project. He's also co-author of a book called "Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" (the last three words of the title seem important). Several weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Fisher wrote an opinion piece that appeared in the Boston Globe. Among other things, Fisher wrote:
Fisher: What we want is to influence high-level people in Afghanistan to make a decision. Both a stick and a carrot can help. We are wisely warning of damaging military consequences if they fail to decide as we would wish and suggesting the possibility of humanitarian aid if they do.
What the Taliban had to "decide," of course, was whether to turn over Osama bin Laden, as the U.S. was demanding. Two days after Fisher's piece appeared, the U.S. began dropping bombs on Afghanistan.
October 14, 2006 8:20 PM | Reply | Permalink