Christopher Shays Unleashes The Chappaquiddick Bomb On His Opponent

11 Oct, 2006 by John Hawkins

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I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of Christopher Shays, but he launched a truly AWESOME counter-attack at his opponent, Diane Farrell, when she tried to use the Foley scandal against him:

“When the congressional page scandal broke last month, Democrats across the country saw a chance to lambaste Republican leadership – including Diane Farrell, who called on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down.

But when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy came to Connecticut last week to help her campaign, Rep. Christopher Shays hit back.

“I know the speaker didn’t go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day,” said Shays, R-4th District, referring to the 1969 incident in which the Massachusetts Democrat drove a car that plunged into the water and a young campaign worker died.

“Dennis Hastert didn’t kill anybody,” he added.”

Here’s more info from the same article that seems to show that the Foley scandal isn’t turning into the backbreaker that some people speculated it would be:

“An ABC News/Washington Post survey taken Oct. 5 to 8 found that three of every four respondents did not think Democrats would have handled the Foley matter any better, and roughly two in three thought Democrats were pursuing the matter for political gain, not to raise legitimate concerns.

“The Foley scandal has not earned the Republican leadership any goodwill, but neither does it look like a point of differentiation for the Democrats,” poll director Gary Langer said.

A Pew Research Center survey taken Sept. 21 to Oct. 4 had similar findings. Before the Foley scandal broke, voters preferred Democrats to Republicans by 13 percentage points – and after the congressman resigned Sept. 29, the margin was the same.

Job approval of Republican leaders, 33 percent before Foley quit, went up 1 percentage point afterward.”