Posted on 11/14/2007 4:30:12 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Responding to the National Right to Life Committee's endorsement of Fred Thompson, Paul Weyrich suggested that Thompson's backers greased some palms.
"I think in all probability the Thompson people were engaged with the National Right to Life people in financial dealing," Weyrich told the Washington Times.
That's a pretty tough charge and almost certainly not what Romney's campaign wanted their big social conservative "get" to suggest (at least not publicly).
Sensing opportunity to win more points from their own big "get" (the group's nod) Thompson communications director Todd Harris unloaded:
"Gov. Romney is new to the pro-life movement and his campaign clearly has a few things to learn about it. First, they should understand that despite their campaign's every effort, groups like the National Right to Life Committee's PAC (NLRC-PAC) cannot be bought. NLRC-PAC is supporting Fred Thompson because of Fred's 100% pro-life voting record. They know he stood with them yesterday, he stands with them today, and he will stand with them tomorrow. It is unseemly for the Romney campaign and its supporters to suggest that NLRC-PAC's coveted endorsement is based on a bribe. Second, this unfounded accusation is as outrageou s as it is ironic, given the Romney campaign's long history of spreading money around to anyone who will take it.
"If the Romney campaign is looking for the reason they did not receive the NLRC-PAC endorsement, they can start with the fact that Gov. Romney was pro-choice just two years ago. They should also consider the fact that Gov. Romney's own health care plan in Massachusetts offers taxpayer funded abortions for a mere $50 co-pay and requires by law that a representative from Planned Parenthood sit on the MassHealth advisory board. Tellingly, Gov. Romney made no such requirement for a representative from the pro-life movement.
"The Romney campaign was clearly hoping for this endorsement and are now clearly upset. But being denied an endorsement is no excuse to impugn the integrity of the very organization they were just days ago trying to woo."
Think he had fun with that one? Romney spokesman Kevin Madden responded by not disavowing Weyrich -- but also avoiding what he said.
"Governor Romney is thankful for the support he has received from pro-life advocates, he respects those that have offered their support for other candidates, and he will continue to work with ALL of the grassroots activists involved in the pro-life movement throughout this campaign," Madden told Jennifer Rubin.
“So, if they don’t go for your preferred candidate(s), they should support no one and let the primaries slip past them and perhaps be stuck with with Rudy McRomney as the Republican candidate?”
A RTL organization should endorse the most RTL candidate, and that includes conception to natural death.
Fred Derangement Syndrome?
Trust me...Duncan Hunter, as fine a man as he is, just can’t get off the dime. Realism must set in at some point with his supporters. No candidate is perfect, and you can find any fine tune point you want to refuse to support him. However, you are playing right into the hands of Rudy and Mitt if your pride will not let you unite behind the one man that can win the White House for us. Duncan will eventually drop out, so will Tancredo and eventually even Huckabee. Those Conservatives will need to unite behind Thompson to defeat Rudy and Mitt.
So, in other words, if they don’t support your man, they shouldn’t support anyone. What a deranged notion.
Done and done.
Great advice! Thanks.
Huh???
The least they could do is sit this one out, because when they ignore the strongest pro-lifers they lose credibility.
49 days ..... not much time left.
I think it is this: By hovering so long above this race, untainted and untested, he was successful in attracting to himself a huge number of people who didn't really know him, and who were dissatisfied with all the other candidates. He created something of a bubble of inflated expectations, a mania; he sucked all the oxygen out of the campaign.
It is hard to argue with the success of Fred in becoming the candidate passionately favored by so many conservatives before even stepping into the ring. But the huge expectations had a price: If Fred turned out not to be what people hoped for, he was bound to reap a great deal of bitter disappointment. And so it has come to pass.
Fred's campaign -- when it finally started -- started with a fizzle rather than a bang. And it still has not found its legs. People are disappointed. And Fred's true-believes ratcheted up the shrillness of their cheering in an effort to deny the faltering performance of the campaign.
When a man in whom so much hope and faith is invested, finally steps into the spotlight and seems flat, passionless, and unprepared, he disappoints people. And we, the disappointed, have been more and more willing to get into the faces of the screaming, adoring Fredheads.
Fred is not a bad guy. He could yet win the nomination (although not the election). But he sure is not the great, conservative warrior of people's hopeful immaginations. The disappointment is great, sometimes bitter, and may even look to some like "anti-Fred psychosis." I'd argue that the true-believers are the one's who are out of touch with reality, to put it more gently than "psychosis."
Paul is considerably older than David.
Mary's maiden name is Martin...
I just knew someone at PFL (Priests for Life) talk about Paul Weyrich (he had lost a leg at that time) after the conversation was talking about David and Mary.
David and Mary are strong pro-life supporters and they do put their money behind what they say (in terms of pro-life).
Maybe they are distantly related or not related at all...
From the conversation, I thought it followed that they were -- as one moment the person was talking about David Weyrich, and the next talking about the fact that Paul had either lost a leg or was going to lose a leg...
The following is an article from LifeSite News.
LifeSiteNews.comWednesday November 14, 2007
National Right to Life Endorsement of Fred Thompson Has Some Concerned
Questions about his opposition to Human Life Amendment and poor response to Schiavo case
By John Connolly
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) -The National Right to Life Committee on Tuesday announced its endorsement of Fred Thompson in the heated Republican primary race, calling him the 'best positioned' candidate to beat the pro-abortion Rudy Guliani. In response, some pro-life leaders are repeating past concerns about particular aspects of Thompson's otherwise exemplary pro-life record.
"Our endorsement is a testament to Senator Thompson's longstanding pro-life record, his commitment to protecting unborn children and our belief in his ability to win," said Wanda Franz, president of National Right to Life.
"While there are various polls, and some are up-and-down, the overwhelming consensus has been that he is best-positioned to top pro-abortion candidate Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination," said the committee's executive director David N. O'Steen.
"I'm deeply appreciative for the past support by the National Right to Life Committee-PAC in my Senate campaigns, and today I am blessed and grateful to have received their endorsement for president of the United States," said Thompson in a statement following the endorsement. "In supporting me, those who have worked tirelessly to defend life are supporting a consistent conservative who has stood with them yesterday, who stands with them today, and will stand with them tomorrow."
Thompson has often called upon his voting record as testimony to his commitment to the pro-life movement. "My record is clear," he said in a previous interview. "One hundred percent pro-life voting record over eight years at the national level. The proof is in the pudding there. Go back and look at all that record. My whole career I have said Roe versus Wade was wrongfully decided. I've been pro-life all my career and always will be."
Despite Thompson's pro-life voting record, the endorsement has caused a flurry of controversy from those who fear Thompson is more committed to federalism than the pro-life movement. The fears are not entirely unfounded, as Thompson refuses to endorse a constitutional amendment protecting unborn life, and is against criminalizing abortion on the federal level. He has also been reluctant to make any statement about the government's role in the Terri Schiavo case, choosing rather to deflect questions concerning it.
Regarding the internationally publicized controversy over the slow killing of Terri Schiavo Thompson stated, "I can't pass judgment on it. I know that good people were doing what they thought was best. That's going back in history. I don't remember the details of it."
Terri Schiavo died a slow, painful and very public death as a result of forced dehydration by a court mandate in 2005. After her feeding tube was removed and hydration denied, Congress passed a bill to allow for a federal court review, which President Bush signed into law. A federal appeals court and the Supreme Court upheld the decision, condemning Schiavo to death.
Bobby Schindler, Schiavo's brother, has reservations about Thompson in light of his ambiguous stance on euthanasia.
"I'm troubled about things he's said publicly," Schindler told LifeSiteNews. "He needs to clarify his position on starving and dehydrating a disabled woman, something that has led to public confusion."
Schindler wrote a letter to all the presidential candidates, reminding them of the importance of human life and asking them to dispel the public confusion surrounding the perception of the case.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Fred Thompson Says Life Begins at Conception But Opposes Criminalizing Abortion
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07110508.html
Abortion Advocates Accuse Fred Thompson of Lobbying for Abortion http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07070906.html
Fred Thompson Declares Pro-life Stance Before National Right to Life Committee
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jun/07061903.html
(c) Copyright: LifeSiteNews.com. Permission to republish is granted (with limitation*) but acknowledgement of source is *REQUIRED* (use LifeSiteNews.com).
NEWS TIPS to lsn@lifesitenews.com or call toll free 1-866-787-9947.
Donate to LifeSiteNews.com at http://www.lifesite.net/contribute/
Note that LifeSite requires acknowledgement of their copyright material, but allows it to reprinted provided that acknowledgement is provided...
Thanks for that analysis, Serg. That and $4 will get you a nice coffee at Starbuck’s.
LOL! Weyerich was never a Thompson supporter so I doubt if his freakshow on the dancefloor has anything to do with Fredofrustration.
And why would someone who is “disappointed in Fred” run to a two-faced double-talking liberal thimblerigger like Mitt?
The article states that there are some concerns about Fred Thompson because of the Terri Schiavo incident.
The article also states that this is where some pro-life leaders voice concerns over Fred Thompson -- the Terri Schiavo situation.
I think that many people are unaware that the judge who handled Terri's case was Legally Blind, yet a key part of the testimony was a video of Terri Schiavo.
I think if more people knew about that fact, along with the fact that the judge violated Florida law by being both judge and legal guardian (I think that is the right term) to Terri Schiavo. Florida law prevents this. There are a number of things that generates a bad smell about the Terri Schiavo case. For me, the judge is what smelled very bad in the Terri case, along with the fact that the husband had a lover and child out of wedlock, and had much to gain by killing Terri Schiavo.
If true conservatives have the courage to get behind Duncan Hunter, he CAN win. But again, it takes courage. It is still early.
Howard Dean was 43% in the polls in Dec. ‘03, and Kerry was 13%.
THEN Kerry went down to 4%, just 3 weeks before the primaries.
Politics is volatile. We can NOT give up so easily.
If we do, we will get the govt. we deserve.
(There had to be a joke in it somewhere...)
So you say Hillary is a shoe-in?
Kerry was 4% 21 days before the primaries.
If liberals’ supporters fight harder than conservatives’ supporters, liberalism will win!
When Thompson gets NRA endorsement what are you going to do?
“A RTL organization should endorse the most RTL candidate, and that includes conception to natural death.”
And instantly disappear into irrelevance.
If you aren’t a force in politics, then you can’t influence them.
Look at the real list of runs for President in the general election, instead of only the two that we all know of, there are usually 8 or 12 others that win votes but that we don’t pay attention to.
I don’t want to become like those true believers that believe that having a real shot at actually winning the position of power, doesn’t have any importance to the actual goal they claim to be trying to advance.
Hunter is my congressman, I respect him and agree with him etc, etc, yada yada yada, he isn’t going anywhere so I put my efforts to someone that might, if I am really lucky, win the primary, but even with my guy that took Hunter’s place, it is no certain thing.
This is a tough business and I do not cling to my first favorite until I and he both no longer matter, for me the cause always comes first.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I ~WILL NEVER~ VOTE FOR MR. ROMNEY!!~
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.