I think you could argue that both initiatives will lead to job creation. But since this link wasn't at all mentioned in any of the advertisements I saw, I agree

I think you could argue that both initiatives will lead to job creation. But since this link wasn't at all mentioned in any of the advertisements I saw, I agree - it felt odd. That's why I can only make sense of them as a quid pro quo. However, I don't think the attacks on FWD.us are because they were simply 'off-message' - I think it's because of the content of that message. A different, less-objectionable 'off-message' would've passed by comparatively unremarked.