[Apologetics] Thompson star dims on abortion issue

Mon Jul 9 20:49:34 EDT 2007

For me? I'll stick with relying on the people I know close to
Thompson, like Joe Cella who just took a job with the campaign - and
leave the Democrats to rely on the LA times and pro-aborts.

On 7/9/07, Art Kelly <arthurkelly at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Dianne,
>
> Of course, people can be converted. But there is no
> evidence that I've seen to indicate that Thompson has
> had a change of heart on abortion.
>
> Art
>
> --- Dianne Dawson <rcdianne at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Thank Art.  I'm sure that the pro-abortion folks
> > will chew on this for awhile.  However, as is
> > mentioned at the end of this article, we have to
> > focus on where he is now.  Remember "Roe" was
> > pro-abortion at one time also.  Look where she is
> > now on the issue.
> >
> >   Dianne
> >
> > Art Kelly <arthurkelly at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-thompson8jul08,1,6126333.story?ctrack=2&cset=true
> >
> > >From the Los Angeles Times
> >
> > Thompson star dims on abortion issue
> >
> > Conservatives are anxious after a family-planning
> > group claims that he once lobbied on its behalf
> > against the so-called gag rule.
> >
> > By Janet Hook
> > Times Staff Writer
> >
> > July 8, 2007
> >
> > WASHINGTON — Republican political activists said
> > Saturday that reports that Fred D. Thompson had
> > lobbied to ease a controversial abortion restriction
> > have cast a shadow on his effort to persuade social
> > conservatives — a key constituency in his emerging
> > bid
> > for the White House — that he is an unwavering
> > opponent of abortion.
> >
> > Some Republican activists urged caution in
> > evaluating
> > Thompson's record. Others considered it damaging for
> > questions to arise about his position on abortion, a
> > litmus-test issue for many social conservatives.
> >
> > "That would not be helpful," said Paul M. Weyrich, a
> > conservative leader who has not endorsed a
> > presidential candidate.
> >
> > Evidence that Thompson worked for a family-planning
> > group in 1991 as part of his little-known but
> > extensive portfolio as a part-time lobbyist
> > underscores how much the public has yet to learn
> > about
> > the former senator, who is best known for acting in
> > movies and on TV, especially his role as a district
> > attorney on the popular show "Law & Order."
> >
> > The article in Saturday's Los Angeles Times cited
> > records and the accounts of several people
> > associated
> > with the issue. It also said Thompson's spokesman
> > strongly denied Thompson had performed such lobbying
> > work.
> >
> > Some conservatives said the lobbying claims added to
> > anxieties. Though the GOP has been unwavering in its
> > opposition to abortion at least since President
> > Reagan, the positions of its presidential
> > front-runners appear to be less unequivocal.
> >
> > Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani supports
> > abortion rights. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
> > Romney
> > is a recent convert to opposing abortion rights.
> > Sen.
> > John McCain (R-Ariz.) opposes abortion but has never
> > made that a central issue in his career.
> >
> > "With all the people who keep changing their minds
> > on
> > abortion, that's got to be unsettling," Weyrich
> > said.
> >
> > The result is a GOP abortion debate lacking one
> > thing
> > that activists on both sides of the issue long for:
> > certitude.
> >
> > "People want to see clarity and consistency on this
> > issue," said Ted Miller, spokesman for NARAL
> > Pro-Choice America, which supports abortion rights.
> >
> > A big question for Thompson, who is expected to
> > declare his candidacy in the next week or two, is
> > whether this will disillusion Republicans who have
> > seen him as a white knight to rescue the party from
> > candidates unpalatable to many conservatives.
> >
> > "This will hurt, particularly because conservatives
> > have been dying for a champion to be in the arena
> > for
> > them," said David Carney, a New Hampshire-based GOP
> > strategist who is not aligned with any candidate. "A
> > lot hoped he was the guy…. People who really believe
> > in the pro-life cause will not be happy."
> >
> > As a Tennessee senator from December 1994 to January
> > 2003, Thompson sided with antiabortion advocates on
> > most key issues. That record has been a big reason
> > conservatives have looked to him as an alternative
> > to
> > established GOP candidates.
> >
> > But some critics have pointed to statements he made
> > before becoming senator to suggest that he was
> > sympathetic to abortion rights. Thompson has said
> > that
> > those statements were misconstrued and that he has
> > become even more passionate in his abortion
> > opposition
> > since seeing the sonogram of his now-3-year-old
> > daughter.
> >
> > In 1991, according to several people then affiliated
> > with the National Family Planning and Reproductive
> > Health Assn., he accepted an assignment from the
> > association to lobby the White House to withdraw or
> > relax a "gag rule" that barred abortion counseling
> > at
> > clinics that received federal money.
> >
> > The minutes of a 1991 meeting — given to The Times —
> > say the association's president reported to the
> > board
> > that the association had hired him. And a Democratic
> > colleague of Thompson's at the lobbying and law firm
> > also recalled Thompson having worked for the
> > association.
> >
> > Thompson spokesman Mark Corallo has adamantly denied
> > that Thompson worked for the group. And the White
> > House official whom the group was seeking to reach,
> > then-Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, said Thompson
> > didn't lobby him.
> >
> > Some Republicans argued that the account was
> > politically motivated, noting it came from
> > abortion-rights advocates with little affection for
> > the GOP.
> >
> > Thompson's GOP rivals in the presidential contest
> > seized on the account but declined to comment for
> > the
> > record.
> >
> > "Each day that gets closer to Fred Thompson's
> > announcement as a candidate, we learn new
> > information
> > about his record and his career that shows he
> > doesn't
> > have the conservative credentials that primary
> > voters
> > are looking for," said a strategist for a rival.
> >
> > However, a leading backer of Romney is more
> > forgiving.
> > Romney is himself asking voters to pay more
> > attention
> > to his current abortion opposition than to his past
> > record.
> >
> > Thompson "had a change of heart on the abortion
> > issue," said James Bopp Jr., an antiabortion leader.
> > "This story is about something that happened in
> > 1991.
> > He's walked through the burning embers, and there is
> > no reason to think his change of heart was not
> > sincere."
> >
> > Anne Hendershott, author of "The Politics of
> > Abortion," said the report would probably not hurt
> > Thompson if antiabortion activists were pragmatic
> > and
> > focused on where he stood now, not on the position
> > of
> > a group he might have worked for 16 years ago: "Fred
> > Thompson says he is pro-life now, and that is what
> > is
> > important to the pro-lifers."
> >
> > But the account is also a reminder that, although
> > Thompson is positioning himself to run as an
> > anti-establishment outsider, his resume is that of a
> > consummate Washington insider.
> >
> > "He wasn't the conservative firebrand some are
> > making
> > him out to be now," Carney said.
> >
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > janet.hook at latimes.com
> >
> > --
> >
> > Times staff writer Mark Barabak contributed to this
> > report.
> >
> >
> >
> http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-thompson7jul07,1,1358124.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
> >
> > >From the Los Angeles Times
> >
> > 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.
> > '
> > By Michael Finnegan
> > Times Staff Writer
> >
> > July 7, 2007
> >
> > Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president
> > as
> > an antiabortion Republican, accepted an assignment
> > from a family-planning group to lobby the first Bush
> > White House to ease a controversial abortion
> > restriction, according to a 1991 document and
> > several
> > people familiar with the matter.
> >
> > A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied
> > that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes
> > of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family
> > Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the
> > group hired Thompson that year.
> >
> > His task was to urge the administration of President
> > George H. W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that
> > barred abortion counseling at clinics that received
> > federal money, according to the records and to
> > people
> > who worked on the matter.
> >
> > The abortion "gag rule" was then a major political
> > flashpoint. Lobbying against the rule would have
> > placed Thompson at odds with the antiabortion
> > movement
> > that he is now trying to rally behind his expected
> > declaration of a presidential bid.
> >
> > 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." In a separate interview, John H.
> > Sununu, the White House official whom the family
> > planning group wanted to contact, said he had no
> > memory of the lobbying and doubted it took place.
> >
> > 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."
> >
> > DeSarno said that Thompson, after being hired,
> > reported to her that he had held multiple
> > conversations about the abortion rule with Sununu,
> > who
> > was then the White House chief of staff and the
> > president's point man on the rule.
> >
> > Thompson kept her updated on his progress in
> > telephone
> > conversations and over meals at Washington
> > restaurants, including dinner at Galileo and lunch
> > at
> > the Monocle, she said. At one of the meals, she
> > recalled, Thompson told her that Sununu had just
> > given
> > him tickets for a VIP tour of the White House for a
> > Thompson son and his wife.
> >
> > "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."
> >
> > Sununu said in a telephone interview: "I don't
> > recall
> > him ever lobbying me on that at all. I don't think
> > that ever happened. In fact, I know that never
> > happened." He added that he had "absolutely no idea"
> > whether Thompson had met with anybody else at the
> > White House, but said it would have been a waste of
> > time, given the president's opposition to abortion
> > rights.
> >
> > In response to Sununu's denial, DeSarno said
> > Thompson
> > "owes NFPRHA a bunch of money" if he never talked to
> > Sununu as he said he had.
> >
> > At the time, Thompson was a lobbyist and lawyer "of
> > counsel" to the Washington firm of Arent Fox Kintner
> > Plotkin & Kahn.
> >
> > DeSarno said the family planning association paid
> > the
> > firm for Thompson's work. Marc L. Fleischaker,
> > chairman of Arent Fox, declined to comment.
> >
> > Corallo, the spokesman for Thompson, was asked
> > Friday
> > about the board minutes and the five people who said
> > they recalled Thompson accepting the lobbying
> > assignment. He responded in an e-mail, saying that
> > Thompson "may have been consulted by one of [his]
> > firm's partners who represented this group in 1991."
> >
> > Corallo said it was "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."
> >
> > Any work that Thompson did to challenge the abortion
> > rule could complicate his appeals to conservatives
> > in
> > the contest for the Republican presidential
> > nomination. He reportedly plans to join the race
> > this
> > month.
> >
> > For weeks, Thompson has tried to pick up support
> > from
> > religious conservatives dissatisfied with the top
> > GOP
> > White House contenders, some of whom have backed
> > abortion rights. In a videotaped message to the
> > National Right to Life Convention in Kansas City
> > last
> > month, Thompson said the group's issues were "ever
> > more profound to me as the years go by."
> >
> > A senator from December 1994 to January 2003,
> > Thompson
> > voted along antiabortion lines, but his statements
> > have occasionally raised questions about his
> > attitude
> > toward the cause.
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > Best known for playing a district attorney on NBC's
> > "Law and Order," Thompson worked as a part-time
> > lobbyist over nearly three decades, both before and
> > after his Senate service. His clients included a
> > General Electric aircraft-engine maker, Westinghouse
> > Electric Corp. and the Equitas insurance company.
> >
> > DeSarno and others said the family planning group
> > hired Thompson shortly after the Supreme Court
> > upheld
> > the "gag rule" in 1991.
> >
> > That ruling led to a protracted tussle between Bush
> > and Congress. The rule was eliminated in 1993 by
> > President Clinton on his third day in office.
> >
> > In addition to Barnes and DeSarno, three other
> > people
> > said they recalled Thompson lobbying against the
> > rule
> > on behalf of the family planning association.
> >
> > Susan Cohen, a member of the association's board of
> > directors in 1991, said in reference to DeSarno and
> > Thompson: "We were looking, of course, for a
> > Republican who might have some inroads to the White
> > House at that time, and so that's how she came upon
> > contacting him."
> >
> > Said Bill Hamilton, who then directed the Washington
> > office of the Planned Parenthood Federation of
> > America, a group that was DeSarno's main ally in
> > lobbying on the abortion counseling rule: "I
> > definitely recall her reaching out to [Thompson] and
> > engaging him in some way, and trying to squeeze the
> > White House through him."
> >
> > Sarah L. Szanton, who worked for DeSarno as director
> > of government relations for the family planning
> > association, agreed that Thompson "consulted on our
> > behalf against the gag rule."
> >
> > "I remember that he did it," Szanton said. "I just
> > knew he was part of the good fight."
> >
> > The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health
> > Assn. is a Washington nonprofit organization that
> > represents family planning clinics and other groups.
> > It advocates "reproductive freedom" and broad access
> > to birth control.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > michael.finnegan at latimes.com
> >
> >
> > ART KELLY, ATM-S
> > 13524 Brightfield Lane
> > Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
> > (703) 904-3763 home
> > (703) 396-6956 work
> > arthurkelly at yahoo.com
> > art.kelly at cox.net
> > ArtK135 at Netscape.net
> >
> >
> >
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> > Park yourself in front of a world of choices in
> > alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green
> > Center.
> > http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/
> > _______________________________________________
> > Apologetics mailing list
> > Apologetics at gathman.org
> > http://bmsi.com/mailman/listinfo/apologetics
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul
> > longs for you, O God.
> >
> > Ps 42:1
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Get the free Yahoo! toolbar and rest assured with
> > the added security of spyware protection.
>
>
> ART KELLY, ATM-S
> 13524 Brightfield Lane
> Herndon, Virginia 20171-3360
> (703) 904-3763 home
> (703) 396-6956 work
> arthurkelly at yahoo.com
> art.kelly at cox.net
> ArtK135 at Netscape.net
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> Looking for a deal? Find great prices on flights and hotels with Yahoo! FareChase.
> http://farechase.yahoo.com/
>