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Fred Thompson Lobbied for Abortion Rights(Thompson says different)
NewsMax.com ^ | July 6, 2007 | staff

Posted on 07/07/2007 5:04:11 AM PDT by kellynla

Fred Thompson, who is weighing a Republican presidential bid as a social conservative, "has no recollection" of performing lobbying work in 1991 for a family planning group that was seeking to relax an abortion counseling rule, a spokesman said Friday.

The Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site that Thompson was retained by National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association to lobby the administration of President George H.W. Bush to ease a regulation that prevented clinics that received federal money from offering any abortion counseling.

At the time, Thompson, a lawyer, worked as a lobbyist at Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn, a Washington firm.

"He may have been consulted by one of the firm's partners who represented this group in 1991," Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo said Friday in a statement. "As any lawyer would know, such consultations take place within law firms everyday."

The newspaper cited minutes from a meeting of the association when Thompson's work was discussed as well as the recollections of five individuals.

Judith DeSarno, the association's former president, told The Times that she had specific memories of discussing Thompson's lobbying work with him in phone conversations and during meals at Washington restaurants.

Minutes of a Sept. 14, 1991, meeting of the association, cited by the newspaper, states: "Judy (DeSarno) reported that the Association had hired Fred Thompson, Esq., as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration." According to The Times, DeSarno said Thompson told her he discussed the abortion restriction with John Sununu, then chief of staff to Bush.

Sununu told The Times that he didn't recall Thompson ever discussing the abortion restriction with him. "In fact, I know that never happened."

"It is not unusual for one lawyer on one side of an issue to be asked to give advice to colleagues for clients who engage in conduct or activities with which they personally disagree," Corallo said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News
KEYWORDS: abortion; election; fredthompson; lobbyist; nfprha
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To: kellynla

NewsMax and WND have both been giving voice to silly abortion-related hit pieces on Thompson lately. I really don’t put any stock in either site anymore, especially NewsMax.


41 posted on 07/08/2007 9:43:02 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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To: ellery
Adding to what you said, I believe not one of the 47 state laws that we had in this country before Roe v. Wade ever caused a woman to serve time for having an abortion.
42 posted on 07/08/2007 9:55:52 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: Does so
Is Thompson not "announcing" because there may be other issues yet to emerge? It would be smart to wait so these become "old news", though.

Over in this thread, golas1964 called it a head fake. Thompson must know that even if he was perfect, the Dems would make up lies. Golas (and I) figure the July 2nd announcement rumor might have been intended to flush some of the lies out of the bush. The dems and drive bys have dropped at least some of their bomb load several miles before reaching the target.

43 posted on 07/08/2007 10:00:21 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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To: LibertarianInExile

Yes, yes, and we all breathlessly await the innauguration of Ron Paul. He’ll beat Hillary like a drum.


44 posted on 07/08/2007 11:22:45 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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To: berstbubble

NewsMax has been dead to me ever since I found out they run Paul Craig Roberts’ column and continued to do so even after he accused the POTUS of terrorism. They and WND have been happy to repeat every silly anti-Thompson meme.


45 posted on 07/08/2007 11:35:13 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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To: LibertarianInExile; Petronski
Because Ron Paul’s just crazy. I mean, the man thinks that we should fight unlimited and declared wars against real enemies, instead of budgeting limited amounts for civil policing actions against amorphous ‘enemies’ like Drugs and Poverty and Terror.

If that's true, why did he vote for the September 14, 2001 "Authorization for the Use of Military Force," which...

...was not a declaration of war (at least not in the sense of "declaration of war" Ron Paul supporters use on this board).

...was not confined to any particular nation even though we were already sure that Afghanistan was harboring the home organization of the hijackers.

...gave the President authority to choose when to act, something Paul says was unconstitutional when we did it against Iraq.

...by Paul's own admittance, targeted "a group which is not a country."

And why did Paul call the September 14 resolution "[a] clear declaration of war" but claim that the Iraq authorization, which is much more specific, is not a declaration of war?

Seems like he's trying to have it both ways...one has to ask, "why?"

Source is here.

Just because a guy believes in limited government doesn't mean he has the brains to be Commander-in-Chief. That goes double for a guy who parrots Code Pink. That goes triple for a guy who condemns people for doing exactly what he did in 2001.

46 posted on 07/08/2007 11:44:50 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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To: LibertarianInExile
Gosh, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that his wife and his bomb-dropping button finger stay healthy. God forbid that your entire election rationale gets thrown for a loop because she gets a cold sore and he gets a blister.

Way to catch the humor in Rome's post, sparky.

47 posted on 07/08/2007 11:46:48 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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To: kellynla

Correction: At least one of the WND pieces was not abortion-related, it was about whether (brace yourself for a look into the face of abject stupidity) Fred goes to church enough. Yeah, I’m really looking for the Preacher-in-Chief right now.


48 posted on 07/08/2007 11:51:20 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback (Capitalize on victory--push the fence now!)
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Thompson Lobbied for Abortion Rights (AP LIARS Create FAKE NEWS HEADLINE)
AP via Breitbart | July 6, 2007
Posted on 07/06/2007 8:33:23 PM EDT by new yorker 77
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1861995/posts


49 posted on 07/08/2007 11:10:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (This tagline optimized for the Mosaic browser. Profile updated Friday, July 6, 2007.)
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