Fred Thompson and the Gag Rule
07 July 2007 3:00 am by Taylor Marsh
Of all people, Fred Thompson, who served as Nixon’s rat during the Watergate
hearings, should know that it’s not the original crime, it’s the cover up that
gets you in trouble.
Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo adamantly denied that Thompson worked for
the family planning group. “Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group,
period,” he said in an e-mail.In a telephone interview, he added: “There’s no documents to prove it,
there’s no billing records, and Thompson says he has no recollection of it,
says it didn’t happen.” …Thompson
lobbied for abortion-rights group, it says
A spokesman for the GOP presidential hopeful says he did no such work. An
ex-colleague calls the denial ‘bizarre.’
That’s quite a denial, isn’t it? Trouble is, according to the LA Times, there are notes and people to prove
Fred Thompson lobbied against the gag rule on abortion. The conservatives just
lost the man at the top of the polls. The man second in those polls holds a
similar stance on the most contentious issue hanging around Republicans today. As for the third guy, Slick Mitt has flip flopped so many times, who knows where he stands on anything. But I’m not so sure it isn’t the outright lying about it that’s the most troubling for Thompson;
though I’m not a fanatic against women having power over their own body and
life, so maybe I’m just too 21st century for most Republicans.
However, this is just, well, bizarre.
But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the family planning association
in 1991, said Thompson lobbied for the group for several months.Minutes from the board’s meeting of Sept. 14, 1991 — a copy of which
DeSarno gave to The Times — say: “Judy [DeSarno] reported that
the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions
with the administration” on the abortion counseling rule.Former Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a colleague at the lobbying and law
firm where Thompson worked, said that DeSarno had asked him to recommend someone
for the lobbying work and that he had suggested Thompson. He said it was “absolutely
bizarre” for Thompson to deny that he lobbied against the abortion counseling
rule.“I talked to him while he was doing it, and I talked to [DeSarno] about
the fact that she was very pleased with the work that he was doing for her
organization,” said Barnes. “I have strong, total recollection of
that. This is not something I dreamed up or she dreamed up. This is fact.”(snip)
“It would be an odd thing for me to construct that thing out of whole
cloth,” DeSarno said. “It happened, and I think it’s quite astonishing
they’re denying it.” …
John H. Sununu, who worked in the White House at the time and was the official
that would have been involved, denies ever talking to Thompson.
DeSarno said that if that’s true then Thompson “owes NFPRHA a bunch
of money.” Then there’s this:
In addition to Barnes and DeSarno, three other people said they recalled
Thompson lobbying against the rule on behalf of the family planning association.
Thompson’s in trouble, but not just because this will freak out conservatives
against any reasonable family planning policies.
On Fox News last month, he was asked why he checked a box on a questionnaire in his 1994 Senate campaign beside a statement saying that abortion “should be legal in all circumstances for the first three months.”
“I don’t remember that box,” Thompson replied. “You know, it was a long time ago, and I don’t know if I filled it out or my staff, based on what they thought my position was, filled it out.”
The Tennessean newspaper reported that Thompson, when filling out a 1996 Christian Coalition survey, marked himself as “opposed” to a constitutional amendment protecting “the sanctity of human life.”
The newspaper said he included a handwritten notation saying: “I do not believe abortion should be criminalized. This battle will be won in the hearts and souls of the American people.”
In recent weeks, Thompson has described himself as fundamentally “pro-life,” saying the issue has “meant a little more to me” since seeing the sonogram of his now-3-year-old daughter.
Yeah, now just imagine Thompsons’s 3-year-old daughter 18 and in trouble, or a victim of rape and pregnant. Sorry to put it that way, but these circumstances can change someone just as fast. Point is that it should be left up to the woman, not her father and certainly not the federal government.
It’s obvious the man is trying
to cover up the truth in order to present himself as something he’s not. Either
that or Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo has been taking lying lessons from the
White House. Not a good sign either way. Unless, of course, you’re John McCain, though that ship may be too far under water for even Fred’s dishonesty to help.
The conservatives immediately began to push back against the story, one calling DeSarno a “mudslinger.” Battle engaged.
