We learned over the weekend that the pro-choice National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. reportedly hired Thompson to lobby the H.W. Bush White House in 1991. Specifically, the group paid Thompson quite a bit of money to push the White House to ease restrictions that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money.
Except, at least at first, the Thompson campaign denied that this had ever happened. On the one side, we have six people and documented evidence that Thompson lobbied for the group. On the other, we have Team Thompson, which insisted, vigorously, that the entire story is fantasy, fabricated out of whole cloth. Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo said, “Fred Thompson did not lobby for this group, period.”
Thompson backers and Republican observers in general rallied to the former senator’s defense. They might be a little embarrassed today.
Fred Thompson has effectively admitted in an interview with Sean Hannity that he did lobby in behalf of a pro-abortion rights group.
Hannity served up a chest-high, 25 mph softball: “They have attacked you, they have attacked your family, and now, they come out in the Los Angeles Times with a piece that says you lobbied for abortion rights. You say that’s absolutely not true.” […]
All Thompson had to do was say to Hannity, “You’re damned right.” Instead, he answered as follows:
“You need to separate a lawyer who is advocating a position from the position itself.” Hmm. Then: “They will probably come at me, in 35 years of law practice, with some people, I represented criminal defendants. I was a prosecutor. I had a general practice. So that in and of itself doesn’t mean anything anyway.”
So, on Saturday, the official Thompson line is, “This didn’t happen.” On Wednesday, the official Thompson line is, “It doesn’t mean anything.”
Note to conservatives: standing up for Thompson can lead to considerable embarrassment.
For that matter, is it me or does Thompson’s line need a little work?
High-priced, corporate lobbyists, such as Thompson, could pick and choose wealthy clients with ease. Criminal defense attorneys have responsibilities to the system to defend offensive clients. DC lobbyists have no similar duties — if Thompson doesn’t want to lobby for the pro-choice National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn, he could turn them down. At this point, the evidence suggests he didn’t, and instead took their money to advance their cause.
Besides, it’s a little late for Thompson to try and argue that he took on a client he disagreed with. He denied the story. His office was categorical about it. As I suggested the other day, getting away with lobbying for a pro-choice client is a minor challenge. Getting caught lying about it can dog a presidential campaign for quite a while.
For what it’s worth, Hannity was as shameless as you’d expect him to be.
If ever an answer demanded a follow-up, this fit the bill. As both former Watergate counsel Thompson and news crusader Hannity know, Thompson’s “you need to separate a lawyer who is advocating a position from the position itself” indicates that something is going on that needs a little more exploration.
Hannity, however, must have missed that. Instead, before ending the interview, he allowed Thompson to declare; “I’m not going to get down in the weeds with everything they dredge up over the next six months. In terms of being a target, all I can say is, they know who to be afraid of.”
Getting down in the weeds = telling people the truth. Definitely the kind of thing Hannity wants to avoid.
Update: It wasn’t just Hannity; Thompson also implicitly acknowledged the pro-choice lobbying work in a column he sent to Powerline, a far-right blog.