Why Are Parts of Thompson/Abortion Lobbying Story Disappearing From L.A.Times Website?

NewsBusters.org ^ | 7/9/07 | Warner Todd Huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

Jim Geraghty over at National Review Online is reporting on an interesting thing concerning this story that the L.A.Times printed last weekend claiming that some abortion advocates hired Fred Thompson to lobby the White House for them over a pro-abortion issue in 1991 (NewsBusters story here). It seems that the story as originally posted on the LAT website has been altered with no notice of the change, nor an explanation of why it was changed. Once the removed sentence is looked into, though, it becomes clear that it was removed in an attempt to clean up the story to remove items problematic to the veracity of the thing!

In the July 7th version of the story Judith DeSarno, the woman making the accusation that Thompson worked for her pro-abortion organization in '91, mentioned that she had talked with the Senator about his "cowboy death scene" in a movie he was in. She claimed she talked to him about this scene during one of the diners she claimed to have had with him where they discussed his lobbying efforts.

The problem with DeSarno's original claim is, Thompson was never in any westerns in the 1990s. In fact, he appeared in a western only recently with the HBO movie "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", which was released this year -- and in that he played president Ulysses S. Grant.

So, in an apparent attempt to make DeSarno's claims of a 1991 meeting seem more truthful, the "cowboy" section was removed from the story.

The old paragraph read:

At one of the meals, she recalled, Thompson re-enacted a cowboy death scene from one of his movies. She also remembered him telling her that Sununu had just given him tickets for a VIP tour of the White House for one of Thompson’s sons and his wife.

The new paragraph reads:

Thompson kept her updated on his progress in telephone conversations and over meals at Washington restaurants, including dinner at Galileo and lunch at the Monocle, she said. At one of the meals, she recalled, Thompson told her that Sununu had just given him tickets for a VIP tour of the White House for a Thompson son and his wife.

There you go, all nice and cleaned up so that the dissembling is removed and NOW it looks more truthful... again!

But there are more troubles with this story than just one mysteriously disappearing quote. There is another timing issue with Thompson lobbying for this group in 1991. To become a lobbyist you have to register with the government and there is no Thompson registration during the time DeSarno and the Times claims he was working for them. Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters reports on this L.A.Times slip up:

Arent Fox brought Thompson into the firm to be "of counsel" in 1991 for his expertise in their lobbying business, including the representation of foreign governments. Anyone involved in such lobbying has to register with the Foreign Agent Registration Unit at the Department of Justice. Arent Fox filed its registration for its lobbyists, complete with the listings of all its lobbyists -- including their start and termination dates.

Take a look at registrant #2661 in the FARA search system (unfortunately, the results are unlinkable). Fred D. Thompson, according to their records, starts as a lobbyist for foreign business on 10/10/1991 and terminates on 9/17/1993, which is when he decided to run for the remainder of Al Gore's term in the Senate. That gives some indication that Thompson started lobbying for Arent in October and not September of 1991. It's possible that Arent had limited Thompson to lobbying for domestic clients until October, but that seems rather odd, given their desire to have him on board as a major attraction for DC lobbying.

So, there is no registration for Thompson to be a lobbyist until the month AFTER the L.A.Times story claims he was lobbying the White House for this abortion group. And the registration that does exist for the next month registers him as a lobbyist to foreign nations, not domestic concerns.

This story is seeing bigger and bigger holes blasted through it every day by the blogosphere, and it's getting easier and easier to believe Thompson's claims that it is all a straight out lie as this story falls apart around the L.A.Times' ears.

And what of the Hillary Clinton connections I mentioned a few days ago? How deep are Hillary's hands in this incident one has to wonder?

[Mobile Vulgus]

This one is turning into a Dan Rather styled extravaganza!

[saganite]

It’s funny how the MSM hasn’t learned that there are thousands of folks out here in pajama media land who will happily bring them down if they get caught lying. That makes me suspect the average IQ in the MSM is somewhere to the left on the bell curve.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

L.A. Times’ street cred is rapidly reaching zero. CBS News can tell you what happens next.

[svcw]

Its a conspiracy I tell you! Or maybe they decided it wasn’t true as first reported.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If they are indeed the newspaper of record, they need to set the record straight.

[Politicalmom]

Ping!!

Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference

Please FReepmail jellybean if you want on/off this list. WARNING: This ping list is EXTREMELY active.

[Noumenon]

Well, hey - it’s fake, but accurate.

[ravingnutter]

Pertinent snippets from other articles:

If the Times and its sources want to launch attacks on Thompson, they'll have to do better than this. Lawyers represent clients, and sometimes they do so for ideological support -- but most of them do it to earn a living. Even if Fred had done work for NFPRR, his political position on abortion has been rather clear. According to Project Vote Smart, Fred got solid zeroes from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, while the National Right to Life Committee have Fred a 77% rating.

The Pending Mudslinging

Thompson was listed as an "enemy" by Planned Parenthood during his time in the Senate. He was twice endorsed by the National Right Life Committee, and had a 100 percent voting record on life issues during his time in the Senate. He has publicly stated his opposition to Roe v. Wade, federal funding for abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

This story ends up being nothing but claims made with no evidence to back them up so far. Additionally, the people making the claims are not identified as activists and Hillary Clinton campaigners which might help the reader better put their claims in context.

AP/LAT Don't Mention Thompson Abortion Lobbying Claims Are Made by Hillary Supporters

[trisham]

This is almost unbelievable, until one reconsiders Thompson’s opponents.

[Sir Hailstone]

Next thing you know people in LA will read the National Enquirer as it has more credibility than the MSM.

[GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco]

Somebody needs to tell the be-otch to produce a canceked check or STFU.

[Clara Lou]

“Hey, Fred is my #2 guy, but ...” you-better-read-this ping.

[NonValueAdded]

That is a HUGE alteration and clearly journalistic malpractice. Why, if it was an accurate quote to begin with, they just aided and abetted perjury by sanitizing the story like that. The “lady” in question and the LA Times are at least as guilty as they claim Scooter Libby to be - and probably more so since they did it with intent.

[ElkGroveDan]

I’ve said it before. Michael Finnegan is a dupe who routinely takes Democrat opposition research and writes stories out of it. I’ve had very close personal experience in my job in the past with his crap.

The way that odd Sununu giving tickets to him keeps popping up tells me it must be an obscure but true fact unto itself. So I’m guessing someone did a search for anything on Thompson among old White House records and found that as a memo from the bottom of a desk drawer somewhere and decided to use it as an anchor to a fictional story.