Does anyone know anything about Tim Griffin (RNC opposition research)?

[k8conant]

I know he graduated from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas in 1990.
He's the one who said Gore was wrong in a 2000 debate and notified the AP. He also was cited by Newsweek in its article about Election Night '04.

He seems like the type of person that help arrange election fraud.

[Vanje]

1. Griffin does Tim Russerts research, as well as RNCs research.

A quick google reveals that Russert and his like also rely on RNC researcher for material.

Read this. Its appalling

http://www.martinlewis.com/column.pl?col=33&cat=time
Excerpt:
But the overwhelming coup of the film is the insight it brings to the Republican version of Carville's War Room - the seething boiler room at RNC headquarters in D.C. where GOP Head of Research Barbara Comstock and Deputy-Head Tim Griffin ply a rough trade that has probably cost Gore the election.

The nasty secret of the 2000 elections is undoubtedly the enormous growth in the past four years of the people who "do oppo" the nickname for the innocuously titled "Opposition Research" departments in each campaign.

That both sides maintain teams dedicated to unearthing material on the other side is not new. What IS new is the intensity of the digging, the sheer breadth and depth of the search - and most of all the now seamless and instant deployment of the results through the spin meisters directly into the mass media.

In fact, the film reveals how much the media has come to depend on the Oppo research teams for material.

Where newspaper journalists and TV producers once conducted independent research of charges made by a campaign - that has now dwindled. That is because the media has become aware that the research offered by both sides is so intensively fact-checked and triple-checked that it can safely accept the word if offered by the oppo experts.

In the film we see RNC glee as AP accepts their oppo research on a Gore misstatement during the first debate . During their months of filming BBC producers also observed producers for NBC's Tim Russert among others calling to enquire if the team had any new material. This was apparently normal trading on both sides.

RNC researcher Griffin comments in the film: "It's an amazing thing when you have topline producers and reporters calling you and saying 'we trust you.... we need your stuff.'"

[Vanje]

2. Tim Griffin

appears to do those few tasks for the RNC that even too repugnant for Karl Rove.

[davidgmills]

3. Don't blame Hendrix college

It is known for being one of the most liberal colleges in the South. My daughter went there for a while. Very top drawer liberal arts college.

[k8conant]

4. I wouldn't dream of blaming Hendrix College...

I just noted that Griffin is an alumnus.

;)

[k8conant]

5. Here's what Newsweek said:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6428916/site/newsweek/

Shortly before 9 p.m., at the Republican National Committee headquarters up on Capitol Hill, the RNC's top oppo man, Tim Griffin, was feeling reborn. With Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" playing, Griffin was watching four TV sets and realizing that the early-afternoon exit polls had been just plain wrong. "We're up in Michigan!" he exclaimed. "We're gonna win Florida and we're gonna win Ohio! If we win Florida and Ohio, game over!" After a very blue afternoon, he was feeling exultant. "The exit polls stink. I could throw a dart at a map and get a better number." About an hour later, back in Arlington, McKinnon was feeling the same sense of reprieve. "Back from the death swoon," he said. "The projections were completely wrong. It's just unbelievable." McKinnon was watching the electoral map. "It looks like it's all coming down to Ohio," he said. "We're planning to have a ritual burning of the exit polls."

[k8conant]

6. RNC has Dual Role for Ex-Prosecutor

http://www.teamgop.com/archive.php3?m=07&y=2002
7/15/2002 10:37 AM
The Republican National Committee, in an unusual move, has named former federal prosecutor Tim Griffin as both director of opposition research and deputy communications director. The RNC, which serves as the political and campaign arm of the Bush White House, hopes that by combining its intelligence-gathering and message operations, it can raise the art of Democrat-whacking to a new and more effective level. "Tim's dual roles will bring needed coordination between articulating our campaign message and the research that supports that message," said Jack Oliver, deputy RNC chairman. Some Republicans privately greeted the move as a sign that their party was ready to aggressively counter the Democrats' spin operation.