RNC Hiring Rove Protege To Dig Oppo Research On Obama
The Republican National Committee is hiring one of the party's toughest oppo-researchers -- former Karl Rove protege Tim Griffin, who was also at the center of the U.S. Attorney scandal -- to dig into Barack Obama's past and unearth info to damage his general election candidacy, a senior Republican operative confirms to me.
Griffin played a lead role in the GOP oppo operation during the 2004 campaign, unearthing info that damaged John Kerry's presidential bid. According to the senior GOP operative, who's familiar with Griffin's past work, he was instrumental in unearthing a videotape of a 1971 interview that Kerry did in which he appeared to confirm that he renounced his medals to protest the Vietnam War.
The video was subsequently used in an ad by the Swift Boat Vets, whose work was renounced by McCain. The McCain campaign -- and the RNC -- declined to comment on Griffin's hiring.
"Griffin is basically going to consult for the Republican National Committee on working out Obama's vulnerabilities," the senior Republican said, somewhat euphemistically. "The hope is to do to Obama what folks successfully did with John Kerry."
Griffin tends to describe his own work in fairly bellicose terms. "We think of ourselves as the creators of ammunition in a war," Griffin once said. "We make the bullets."
Regular TPM readers will know Griffin from another prominent role, one that's central to the U.S. Attorney scandal. After his 2004 oppo service, Griffin went to work at the White House as an aide to Karl Rove. In December 2006 he was quietly installed as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in what later was revealed to be part of the Attorney Purge. Griffin later withdrew his nomination.
Robert Novak had a one-line mention of Griffin buried in his column today, but only reported that his hiring was imminent, with no sourcing.
More on this soon.
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