Look at his voting record in the senate, ya goof. George Allen had a decent pro-life voting record in the Senate, too. Yet he supported first-trimester abortions. Reportedly, Fred Thompon held the same view, did not support the pro-life plank in the party, opposed a human life amendment to end abortion, opposed criminalizing doctors who perform abortion, and urged that "we need to concentrate on what brings us together and not what divides us."
U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson says he seldom hears about abortion in campaign travels throughout Tennessee and hopes the issue is downplayed at the Republican National Convention. The Tennessee Republican, a pro-choice defender in a party with an anti-abortion tilt, is preparing for next week's convention in San Diego. He said the party must avoid distracting issues and focus on electing Bob Dole as president. "We need to concentrate on what brings us together and not what divides us," Thompson said in an interview with The Tennessean published Tuesday. Thompson said he opposes making early-term abortions a crime, as some Republicans would like to do with a constitutional amendment. "But I don't think you should bolt on one issue. I'm still not convinced platforms are a good idea. We know what we believe in and I don't think we need to write it all down in a document," Thompson said. (AP, 8/6/96) THOMPSON'S MIXED ABORTION RECORD? "I think when you get right down to the question that you’ve posed, should the government come in and criminalize, let’s say, a young girl and her parents and her doctor--which, as aiders and abettors, that would be involved--I think not." -- Fred Thompson, 1994 debate (Note that most pro-life advocates favor punishments on doctors, not mothers and their parents.)
If we are to ignore these statements and look at his Senate record as the sole judge of his mindset, consider that his primary accomplishment in the Senate was the passage of McCain-Feingold.
Thompson had his name associated with the thing from its inception until the end, and tried to attach spending limits on Senate campaigns. He jumped aboard McCain's campaign in 2000 for this very reason.
August 18, 1999
Web posted at: 1:38 p.m. EDT (1738 GMT)
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain's bid for the Republican 2000 presidential nomination got a boost Wednesday when he was endorsed by fellow Sen. Fred Thompson, who joined McCain's campaign as national co-chairman.
"When it comes to personal courage and integrity and the courage to do what he thinks is right, regardless of whether or not it's particularly popular at the moment, John McCain has shown characteristics of leadership like no one else I've ever seen," Thompson said at a press conference.
Thompson, a Tennessee Republican, and McCain are both independent minded senators who have bucked their party, most notably on the issue of campaign finance reform. McCain has repeatedly sponsored a campaign finance reform bill with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) to ban the so-called "soft money" donated to political parties and Thompson has endorsed his efforts.
When it comes to reform of the way Washington does business, John McCain is the leader," Thompson said.
McCain is a three-term GOP senator from Arizona. He was a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam war who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war.
Thompson headed a Senate investigation into President Bill Clinton's campaign fund-raising practices and was once mentioned as a possible presidential candidate himself.
In preparing for the Senate campaign finance hearings, Thompson irritated several Republicans when he expressed a desire to investigate congressional campaigns, possibly putting certain GOP congressmen at risk for fund-raising wrongdoing. In the end, the Senate approved an extended investigation.
Thompson had endorsed his campaign of his fellow Tennessean, Lamar Alexander, who dropped out of the GOP race after his poor showing in the Iowa straw poll. Alexander said his showing hurt his ability to raise money. Thompson said he had told McCain that he would help him if Alexander left the race, and they both said they regretted Alexander's decision to drop out.
"I regretted the circumstances because it seemed to be about money rather than ideas," McCain said.
At the press conference and in an earlier speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention, McCain criticized the Clinton Administration for its foreign policy, saying it lacked coherence.
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| Thompson's endorsement went to McCain after Lamar Alexander dropped out of the race |
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"This administration has conducted a feckless, photo-op foreign policy which is always surprised, which always reacts and reacts on an ad-hoc basis," he said.
Thompson said that during the war in Kosovo, McCain became the only credible voice in Washington on the subject. Once the U.S. began bombing, McCain was forthright that the U.S. must win the war at all costs once it committed.
"During this last encounter, John McCain became the leading voice on this issue in Washington, D.C., including the White House," Thompson said, adding "the fact of the matter is that he took a strong position early on because he was able to analyze it and he had the courage to go forward with it, and he turned out to be right, which always helps."
McCain did not spare his fellow members of Congress, saying that pork-barrel spending continues to dominate the appropriations process, especially defense spending, which is the largest appropriations bill.
"Congress looks at the defense appropriations bill the way Willie Sutton used to look at banks," he said, referring to the bank robber who said he robbed banks because "that's where the money is."
In his VFW speech, he pounded Congress for not closing unneeded military bases and military depots while armed service personnel qualify for food stamps and veterans' needs go unfunded. "I'm ashamed that Congress finds billions for pork-barrel subsidies but fails to find money for veterans' health care," McCain said.
He also said that both Congress and the Clinton Administration have failed to fund defense spending properly and military readiness has suffered.
"For nearly a decade now, government has failed to meet its most important responsibility -- to provide for the common defense," he said in his speech to the VFW.
Questioned about gun control, McCain said existing laws should be enforced, noting that the Clinton Administration has been "derelict" in doing that. But he also said that he supported the recent gun control legislation passed by the Senate and he also said that in light of the recent spate of shootings, new proposals by the Clinton Administration should be looked at by Congress and not dismissed out of hand.
The time to hold Thompson to account is now, not later.
My vote is something he has to earn.
That DID NOT say he wanted to remove the pro-life plank.
And actions speak louder than words.
A video of Fred Thompson answering a question about abortion policy during a televised debate during his 1992 Senate campaign has surfaced on YouTube and is being portrayed as proof that Thompson once was “pro-choice” on abortion, but those who think that’s what it shows are simplistic in their analysis.
Key phrase in Thompson’s answer is this one: “I do not believe that the federal government ought to be involved in that process.” That sentence is the summary of all he says next, and shows he is opposed to Roe v. Wade, which represented the federalization of what had been a state-level issue.
He then says he is opposed to federal funding for abortion and supports the states’ right to regulate abortion - both are federalist and pro-life positions - and he opposes the federal government criminalizing abortion. Again, a federalist answer.
Thompson’s entire answer is very “federalist” - he believes abortion policy should be a matter for states rather than the federal government.
His answer also fits within the mainstream pro-life platform. Most pro-lifers do not favor making criminals of women who have abortions, and the pro-life push to overturn Roe v. Wade would merely return the issue of abortion to a state-level issue.
And, finally, Thompson’s voting record in 8 years in the Senate is solidly pro-life.
- Bill Hobbs, Elephant Biz, April 24, 2007
http://www.elephantbiz.com/2007/04/is_fred_thompson_prolife.html
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Fred wonders how it all got started:
In the days since Thompson allowed that he was thinking about running for president, his views on abortion have come under scrutiny. Thompson finds the news reports from his first run for Senate perplexing.
“I have read these accounts and tried to think back 13 years ago as to what may have given rise to them. Although I don’t remember it, I must have said something to someone as I was getting my campaign started that led to a story. Apparently, another story was based upon that story, and then another was based upon that, concluding I was pro-choice.”
But, he adds: “I was interviewed and rated pro-life by the National Right to Life folks in 1994, and I had a 100 percent voting record on abortion issues while in the Senate.”
Darla St. Martin, associate executive director of National Right to Life, supports Thompson on those claims. She traveled to Tennessee in 1994 to meet with him. “I interviewed him and on all of the questions I asked him, he opposed abortion,” she told the American Spectator’s Philip Klein.
Thompson says he thinks Roe v. Wade is bad law and should be overturned, but he says he does not support a Human Life Amendment.
- Stephen F. Hayes, The Weekly Standard, From the April 23, 2007 issue
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/528aylls.asp
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LifeNews.com on Fred:
“Thompson accumulated a strong pro-life voting record in Congress, and said over the weekend that he supports overturning Roe v. Wade.”
- Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com, March 12, 2007
http://www.lifenews.com/nat2978.html
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A reality check on Fred and life:
“He [Fred Thompson] IS pro-life!”
- Doug Hagen, TheRealityCheck.org, march, 2007
http://www.therealitycheck.org/GuestColumnist/dhagin032007.htm
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Fred Thompson on the Issues:
Voted YES on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
Voted YES on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)
http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Fred_Thompson.htm#Abortion
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Fred Thompson SenateMatch/VoteMatch questionnaire response:
STRONGLY OPPOSES topic 1: “Abortion is a woman’s right”
http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Fred_Thompson_SenateMatch.htm
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Don’t believe the lies:
Both sides of the aisle are trying to figure out a way to derail the [Fred Thompson] campaign...[so don’t let them fool you into thinking Fred Thompson is anything other than 100% pro-life!]
- JB Williams, MichNews.com, Apr 11, 2007
http://www.michnews.com/artman/publish/article_16415.shtml
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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
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National Right to Life Committee on Fred Thompson:
“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...”
http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp?BlogID=6017
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Pro-abortion NARAL gives Fred an “F”:
“NARAL also rated nine other Republicans... Based on their abortion rights stance, the following Republicans received a grade of ‘F’: ...Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee...”
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Try=No&Page=\Politics\archive\200007\POL20000714a.html
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NRLC says Fred is [still] pro-life:
“With 54% of the vote, pro-life former Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander (R) won the seat of retiring PRO-LIFE Senator Fred Thompson.”
http://www.nrlc.org/news/2002/NRL11/senate.html
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Pro-abortion Planned Parenthood can’t find a thing to like about Fred:
“Listed below is the name, state and party of each of these senators along with Planned Parenthood’s rating of them.
Name State Party PP rating...
Fred Thompson TN R 0% “
http://www.all.org/stopp/rr0111.htm
