Reply #57: Bull Hockey. Shuler was handpicked by Rahm.

[madfloridian]

Rahm lost us a seat in FL by handpicking a Republican millionaire fundamentalist who had two affairs and lost the election.

He also handpicked Shuler.

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2006/nov/12/nation/chi-rahm-emanuel

Shuler considered running as a Republican, but Rahm won him over to be a Democrat. I guess.

"A MACHO MAKEOVER

All of Emanuel’s scolding and cajoling would have meant nothing if he fielded weak candidates. After yet another devastating loss in 2004, he and other Democratic leaders quickly determined that the party needed a machismo implant. Emanuel looked for candidates with strong backgrounds, from sheriffs to soldiers, to counteract a Democratic image of softness.

This is why he badly wanted Heath Shuler, a former football star, to run for Congress as a Democrat in North Carolina. An evangelical Christian who opposes abortion, Shuler couldn’t easily have his views caricatured by the GOP. But Shuler was worried that if he ran and won, he would never see his two young children. To prove that congressmen do spend time with their children, Emanuel started calling Shuler in early 2005 whenever he was with his own family.

Shuler would pick up the phone and hear, “It’s Rahm. I’m at a soccer game with my kids. Just wanted you to know that.” Or “It’s Rahm. I’m at a kindergarten play now. Talk to you soon.” Shuler received perhaps 10 such calls. Of course, this also illustrated that whenever Emanuel was with his family, he was working.

In any case, Shuler agreed to jump in the race, challenging a 16-year incumbent and becoming one of the Democrats’ hottest candidates. “I was recruited from high school to play college football, I was recruited by almost every college in the country, and then I was recruited into the NFL,” said Shuler, a former Washington Redskins quarterback.

“I know all the angles that people use to recruit you,” he added. “Nobody does it as well as Rahm Emanuel.”