GRITtv with Laura Flanders » The F Word: Palin’s Pet Hoffman Has Taliban Ties

By: Laura Flanders Wednesday October 28, 2009 5:08 pm

One week before Election Day, the special election to fill a vacant House seat in New York’s North Country is heating up. It’s a three-way split, pitting a Republican, a Democrat, and a Conservative against one another. It’s close.

And the conservative on the ticket has the kind of support the Democrat running against him must love.

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has already received the backing of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the anti-public-spending Club for Growth. On Monday he was endorsed by another beauty: Dana Rohrabacher, the senior Orange County (CA) Republican who began his career as a speechwriter for President Reagan. Said Rohrabacher “We don’t need Tweedle-Dum or Tweedle-Dee, we need Hoffman. He’s not afraid to stand up and speak the truth.”

Like Palin, Beck, Limbaugh et al, Rohrabacher’s of the belief that if Hoffman wins, it will send a message to the GOP establishment that they should run hardliners in 2010 and pitch to the Tea Party crowd on health care, government and everything else.

It’s a great endorsement — as far as Hoffman’s opponents are concerned. As special assistant to Ronald Reagan, Rohrabacher played a key role in the late 1980s getting money and arms to Muslim extremists in Afghanistan. Throughout the 90s, he lobbied shamelessly for the repressive Taliban. A November/December 1996 article in Washington Report on Middle East Affairs said, “The potential rise of power of the Taliban does not alarm Rohrabacher” because the congressman believes the “Taliban could provide stability in an area where chaos was creating a real threat to the U.S.” Nice. In April 2001, Rohrabacher met privately in Qatar with the Taliban’s foreign minister, then seeking increased aid for his country.

Rohrabacher’s railed against the evil Taliban since, but still. The man who once thought the Taliban were good for US interests now thinks Doug Hoffman will be good for his party. If the Hoffman’s opponents can’t make anything of that, they’re not trying.

Having a former Taliban funder joining the rogue’s gallery backing the Hoffman has got to make it easier for his opponents. If the Democrat, lawyer Bill Owens, ekes out a victory amid the Republican infighting he’ll be the first Democrat to win that district in 140 years.

The F Word is a regular commentary by Laura Flanders, the host of GRITtv which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV (Dish Network Ch. 9415 Free Speech TV) on cable, and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GRITlaura on Twitter.com.

8 Comments

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8 Responses to “The F Word: Palin’s Pet Hoffman Has Taliban Ties”

Eureka Springs October 28th, 2009 at 10:25 pm

Loo Hoo. October 28th, 2009 at 10:31 pm

Rohrabacher supports the Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan and the Christian Taliban in America.

Consistency is good!

torchbearer October 28th, 2009 at 11:02 pm

Somehow I doubt that any of the crazies who’ll be voting for Hoffman will care about Rohrabacher’s support for the Taliban.

This bit is interesting:

Like Palin, Beck, Limbaugh et al, Rohrabacher’s of the belief that if Hoffman wins, it will send a message to the GOP establishment that they should run hardliners in 2010 and pitch to the Tea Party crowd on health care, government and everything else.

It’s a good point. If Hoffman were to win – or even if Owens wins, but Hoffman just crushes the Republican – the Republican Party might become even more divided nationally, as more and more want to throw themselves into the arms of teabaggers, Beckerheads and Dittoheads.

Minnesotachuck October 28th, 2009 at 11:32 pm

You forgot to mention Hoffman’s endorsement by our esteemed part-time governor and (god help us) would be president, Tim Pawlenty.

hychka October 29th, 2009 at 12:00 am

We livd in Franklin county outside Saranac Lake and in St Lawrence County in Potsdam. The district has MANY folks that fit the Teabag profile…educated at the high school levels of 10th thru 12th grades,no skills or trade, carry hi-powered rifles on racks in the pickup should they see a deer, and bear a burden of poverty that moved then Gov Cuomo to coin the phrase “abject poverty.” (No, Mario wasn’t talking about Harlem…he was talking about the 23rd district.) The newspapers in the area try very hard, but have little news. (I was proud of the Watertown Times for smacking down Hoffman & Dick Armey, who need more than LL Bean plaid shirts to fit in!) The one shining light in the region is North Country Public radio out of St. Lawrence University with transmitters all across the district.
My wife used to run the local League of Women Voters Candidate debates in the Canton Unitarian Church. I’d travel the 12 hours by car from here to hear Hoffman get crucified in one of those debates. But it would still be far fetched to think that the Democrates can get over a third of the voters.

stubbornestgeezer October 29th, 2009 at 6:49 am

This is horsehockey. To blame what a supporter did or didn’t do on the candidate is absurd. Hoffman is the most honest candidate in NY-23rd and should be elected to change the Republican Caucus and the direction of the USA.

hychka October 29th, 2009 at 9:31 am

In response to stubbornestgeezer @ 6

stubbornestgeezer,

Where do you live, stubbornestgeezer?

Are you from outside the 23rd like Hoffman?

freepatriot October 29th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

we’ve seen this movie before, people

it’s the Judean People’s Front versus the Judean People’s Union