Fred Thompson did NOT run as a pro-choice candidate, ever. That has been debunked repeatedly.
Of course, the lies originated with Romney supporters. His campaign is usually the one spreading the muck.
“Do not be deceived:
Today, the Evangelicals for Mitt operation has spent its time attacking conservative Republican presidential candidates, most recently former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and unannounced candidate, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.
Thompson, who has made it clear that he does not support Roe v. Wade, and who was certified as pro-life by the National Right to Life Committee back in 1994, has continued to state that he is pro-life. But the Evangelicals for Mitt, using research provided by the Romney campaign, has been putting out information on its blog that Thompson, as well as other Republican Senate candidates, were not.
The Romney campaign has targeted Thompson as a serious threat to its ongoing political survival. Recent polls that have just begun including Thompson in surveys show him running ahead of Romney in Iowa, without his having spent a dime.
National Right to Life says Thompson has been reliably pro-life and his voting record sustains that view.
- Bill Hobbs, Elephant Biz, March 26, 2007
http://www.elephantbiz.com/2007/03/independent_blog_has_ties_to_r.html";
*****
This morning, I cited reports being promoted by the pro-Romney blog Evangelicals for Mitt suggesting that Fred Thompson ran his two campaigns for Senate in Tennessee as a pro-choicer. Not so, National Right to Life executive co-director Darla St. Martin just told me.
St. Martin said that she went down to Tennessee in 1994 to speak with Thompson personally when he first ran for Senate, and that she determined he was against abortion.
“I interviewed him and on all of the questions I asked him, he opposed abortion,” St. Martin said. She told me that the group went on to support him in that election, and his record reinforced for her that their determination was correct.
“He has a consistent voting record that is pro-life,” she said.
On the NRLC website, they archive their congressional ratings back to 1997, so they include six of his eight years in the Senate. Thompson took the pro-life position on every vote he cast on the abortion issue. The only reason he didn’t have a 100% rating is that, as Jim pointed out, the ratings also include votes on campaign finance reform, which he supported.
I specifically pressed her on the 1994 National Review story that read: “On abortion, both Thompson and Cooper are pro-choice. But Thompson favors parental notification, Cooper voted against it.” I also asked her about the 1996 AP story mentioning Thompson’s opposition to a constitutional amendment banning abortion.
St. Martin said she was skeptical of such media reports, because they can be wrong as was her experience with stories in 2000 that George W. Bush had been pro-choice. She reiterated the fact that she knows Thompson opposed abortion because of her conversation with him, and that was reinforced by his subsequent voting record.
When Willard drops ten points in New Hampshire, the desperation runs deep. Time for them to recycle the old lies and hope no one will notice.
The Romney campaign is the dirtiest. They will do whatever it takes to try to win.
This past weekend in MI someone was handing out sheets with info about what James Dobson had said.
When confronted the guy said he wants to support right-leaning candidates. He brought up Mitt Romney and Sam Brownback. SInce Sam wasn’t even there, odds are it was more of MItts slimy operation.
I read that on the politico.