Flashback one month: GOP Plans to "Get Personal - Dig Up Dirt" on Dems

The next time someone complains that the Foley cover-up is being used against the GOP for political purposes, remind them that just last month, [Congressman] Tom "Promise-Not-to-Do-It-Again,-Give-Us-$100,000-and-We'll-Leave-You-Alone" Reynolds proudly crowed that the Republicans were going to get personal and dig up dirt on their opponents:

In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal; Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats

Washington Post, September 10, 2006: Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said. The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.

The hope is that a vigorous effort to "define" opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin "Dr. Millionaire" and noted that he has sued 80 patients.

"Opposition research is power," said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. "Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...