KING OF OPPO RESEARCH: Tim Griffin.

  • KING OF OPPO RESEARCH: U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin. Some oppo work came in handy for him today.

Jason Tolbert, a Republican blogger, reports this morning that 2nd District Democratic congressional candidate Herb Rule of Little Rock was acquitted of a DWI charge in Rogers in 2010. (Tolbert led with the two-year-old DWI arrest and reported the acquittal in the sixth paragraph of the item.)

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Tolbert made an FOI to the Rogers police for the records. It was no shot in the dark. Rule is running against Republican Rep. Tim Griffin, who perfected hardball oppo research in the Bush White House. Driving records are part of the game. If there’s more where that came from, Griffin’s cutouts will be sure to let Tolbert know.

It is a sign that Griffin takes Rule seriously. He must do so on politics alone, given Griffin’s support of the House Republican budget plan to wreck Medicare and Medicaid, cutting taxes for millionaires, limiting women’s access to medical care and discriminating against sexual minorities. None of these are winning themes in Pulaski County, at least, the most populous county in the 2nd District.

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As of yet, no one has leaked any involvement by Rule in efforts to suppress minority votes and votes of enlisted servicemen overseas, as Griffin did in the Republican caging operation in Florida meant to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters. Nor has Rule spread dirt, as Griffin did about fellow Republicans, in an orchestrated effort to depose U.S. attorneys around the country, including Little Rock’s Bud Cummins, who hadn’t sufficiently politicized their jobs for the Bush White House. Rule did support providing VA services for homeless and other war veterans on Little Rock’s Main Street, which Griffin initially opposed.

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