Um, when does the rooting around start for Rudi!?

Maybe he'll get away with it.

Why wouldn't he? Neither facts nor hypocrisy are even remotely relevant to right wingers.

But... but ... but ... Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich! And Al Gore claimed he invented the Internet! Obama is a Moslem! Hillary Clinton ...um ... socialism! Bad! SUPPORT THE TROOPS! AAAAAIIIIGHH!

Sorry, everyone. Just jumping out in front of Al and the rest of the trolls in this little demonstration of how the GOP faithful will try to reduce the cognitive dissonance from this sort of thing.

The wingers will probably find Thompson's unethical conduct during the Watergate investigation to be just fine, but this will really stick in their craw, since it involves selling the holiest of holies -- abortion -- down the river for lobbying fees.

-- Bokonon

Kevin,

You ARE BACK! How was the vacation!!??

Best,
Trog

I'm sure the Democrats and their media pals have squads of people looking for dirt on Thompson. No doubt they'll find some, but it better be a little dirtier than this to work.

But the Democrats are still going to be running Hillary, Obama, or Edwards. I suspect opposition research on Hillary isn't going to be quite as difficult.

Good luck.

And nice to have you back.

I am shocked, SHOCKED, that there is duplicity going on over at the Thompson casino.....

This is pretty damaging. Thompson's only advantage over Rudy is his abortion stance. If the GOP doesn't nominate a solid pro-lifer, it loses enough on the right to lose the race altogether.

Hillary's probably the most investigated candidate out there --- if it hasn't been found and distorted on Drudge yet, it probably doesn't exist.

This is pretty damaging. Thompson's only advantage over Rudy is his abortion stance. If the GOP doesn't nominate a solid pro-lifer, it loses enough on the right to lose the race altogether.

Hillary's probably the most investigated candidate out there --- if it hasn't been found and distorted on Drudge yet, it probably doesn't exist.

Kevin, I also welcome you back and offer props to Steve for his guest blogging. I, along with others I'm sure, wonder how he found the time to be so prolific.
I live in Huntsville, Al. and just heard this afternoon that Obama plans to make an appearance here this weekend, but I hear that it will be at
The Heritage Club which is a private business oriented facility in town. If this is truly the case and offers no public forum then I will be mightily disappointed in him. We'll try to get some more information and pass it on.

I'd like to echo the welcome back sentiments for Kevin and also congratulate Steve for an outstanding tenure filling in.

Now, Kevin, where are the cats?

So much for a public face for the Obama campaign for those of us with shallow pockets but deep convictions. From The Huntsville Times:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic hopeful for president in 2008, will attend a $1,000-a-plate fundraising luncheon at Huntsville's Heritage Club on Monday.

Obama, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 after a seven-year stint in the Illinois State Senate, is one of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination for president, sandwiched between U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

To RSVP for the noon $2,300 host reception or the $1,000 luncheon, call local democratic fundraiser Yolanda McLain at 783-2802. She said about 50 people are expected to be there.

The invitation to the event states that Obama for America does not accept contributions from currently registered federal lobbyists, registered foreign agents, political action committees, or minors under the age of 16.

My wife likes Obama, but I have been leery from the beginning and this just seems to reinforce my gut reaction.

Hi all. I wanted to ask you, since Fox reported that Socialized or it's new name 'Universal' Healthcare allows terrorists to treat you, I want to ask, since you all have health insurance, has your terrorist residented at a really good hospital? I want to ask you, because I'm not sure how to ask. It's not on my HMO website. I can sort by gender or zip code or language preferences, but there's no check box for Al Qaeda University.

Please get back to me soon. My andropodranghilia is getting really bothersome.

Fred (another one), why does that article bother you? Obama is simply having a fundraiser with a high-dollar minimum. This is standard operating procedure for any campaign, and events like this have helped net him big bucks on the campaign trail. Are you suggesting that Obama limit himself to low-dollar events?

Fred, this Obama fundraiser is just another reason to support Edwards.
Athens, Alabama

Fred (another one), why does that article bother you? Obama is simply having a fundraiser with a high-dollar minimum. This is standard operating procedure for any campaign, and events like this have helped net him big bucks on the campaign trail. Are you suggesting that Obama limit himself to low-dollar events?

Fred, I don't think Obama's attending events for heavy-duty contributors necessarily makes him inauthentic. There may be politicians who have not done this sort of thing, but not many. Even the most honest ones routinely raise money at such events.

I'm just commenting to say:

WELCOME BACK! AND GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK!

Mr. Benen has done a terrific job in your absence by the way.

All hail cat blogging.

"But this is probably just the beginning of ol' Fred's troubles. Anyone can look good before the national media starts rooting around and asking touchy questions, but those days are fading fast for Thompson."
If you've got a big enough noise machine the press can root all they want. Look what rooting got Dan Rather. The press will feel much more comfortable rooting around Edward's hairdresser, Obama's school and Clinton's husband.
I guess your vacation helped you forget what country you live in, Kevin.

I think Thompson's problem on abortion is that the people from his (recent) past that know he is pro-choice will speak out. Then it'll be obvious that he just flip-flopped to get the nomination, just like Mitt Romney.

He may not have totally flipflopped though. I still havent heard him say that he thinks abortion should be illegal. He's going to have to answer that quesiton sooner or later.

if it hasn't been found and distorted on Drudge yet, it probably doesn't exist.

History shows that it doesn't have to exist - they will happily just make shit up, and it will get reported just the same.

Fred spins for us:

My wife likes Obama, but I have been leery from the beginning and this just seems to reinforce my gut reaction.

Looks like we have another Matt Stoller sockpuppet on our hands.

The only candidate I recall ever not accepting large donations was Nader in 2000, and we all know how well that turned out.

Maybe you'd like to explain which campaign you are working for (as if we can't guess) and why you are targeting Obama for ridiculous bashing (as if we can't guess).

History shows that it doesn't have to exist - they will happily just make shit up, and it will get reported just the same.

In that vein, I'd like to suggest that Thompson's biggest hurdle to overcome is the fact that he killed his own daughter with an overdose of drugs so that he could then marry a woman younger than her without remorse.

Umm. Wasn't that Catiline?

from the LAT link:

A spokesman for the former senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. show that the group hired Thompson that year.

There's no reason that both of these assertions cannot be true. The abortion rights group probably hired him, and Thompson -- like the good Republican that he is -- probably billed the group for lobbying work that he never did.

But who knows? Maybe he'll get away with it. Social conservatives are so desperate ...

Ah, yes, aren’t they though? Totally proven by their support of George W. Bush, a man who has lived a life totally bereft of any serious morality or purpose.

OK Kevin. I can see the handwriting on the wall. I will not run for president in 2008.

I like the part where the witness talked about Thompson re-enacting a cowboy death scene from one of his movies.

Some tells me he's going to have the chance to do that scene all over again, once Mullah Dobson takes out his whippin' stick....

The more you know about Barack Obama, the less you like him.

Nevertheless, if you favor a Republican landslide in a Democratic year, Obama definitely remains your man.

The minute Thompson gets in is the minute his poll numbers start to drop.

You know, Ron Paul has been pretty consistent with his views over the years...

What makes you think the national media will actually root around to find damaging things about good-old-conservative boy, Fred Thompson? After all, he's probably a lot more fun to have a beer (actually an expensive glass of cognac) with than Hillary Clinton.

bigcat >"...where are the cats?

Ya beat me to it

"People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.” - Otto von Bismarck

Didn't Bismark invent instant biscuit batter? Oh, no wait, that was Otto von Bisquick. Nevermind.

My beef with Obama on this is that he will be meeting with a small group of high rollers his campaign made much of the fact that in the last fund raising cycle there were around 250K supporters who tossed a few coins his way. There are several college campuses nearby, 2 of which are predominantly black, any one of which would be a great venue for a rally. I would certainly welcome the opportunity to see and hear Obama in person.

Good morning.
Thompson has a lot of problems. With his lobbying past impeding him, and his attempt to offer a seemingly revisionist view of his connection to the corrupt, Watergate-plagued Nixon White House---this along with the criminality/concurrence that a reasonable person would assume is reflected by his present support of I.Scooter/Skater/Perjurer/War-Mongering CIA Agent Outer Libby--Thompson presents as a Bushie loyalist staying the friggin' course.

Plus: from dkosopedia.com:
Thompson was a staffer on the Senate committee that investigated the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. In his book about that incident Thompson admitted that he secretly told White House officials about the committee's discoveries before they were called to testify. One former Democratic committee staffer said "Thompson was a mole for the White House". (Source: Not all would put a heroic sheen on Thompson's Watergate role, Boston Globe, July 4, 2007).

Supports a pre-emptive strike against Iran. (Source: McCain Sets Self Apart in Debate, by Dan Balz and Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, June 6, 2007.)
Supports cutting Social Security payments: "If grandmom and granddad think that a little sacrifice will help their grandchildren when they get married, try to buy a home or have children, they will respond to a credible call to make that sacrifice..." (from his Orange county speech, see No Quarter blog)

P.S. I stumbled onto this when on noquarter:

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2193214/ftc-abandons-net-neutrality

Your assumption that the national media will root around and ask touchy questions about any Republican is way, way off base.

Rooting about, touchy questions, and snarky commentary, are tools reserved by the media for use against Democrats, never Republicans.

Republicans are always down to earth, honest, authentic, Real Men. Just ask Dionne, Klein, Mallaby, Down, Matthews, Sullivan, and any of the many journalism members of the Cokie Roberts family.

Unless someone pays him to lobby in favor of it, that is:
Kevin, you've answered the question while you asked it. The key words are pays him. Lawyer (hard work,good pay,not free chicks), actor(easy work,very good pay,chicks for free), Senator (too hard, low pay,chicks for hire,but someone else pays), TV star (fairly easy work (all that memorization),excellent pay,chicks for free) and talking head (no work, good pay,chicks for free). The common thread (besides the chicks) is pay. Thompson is the perfect candidate because he earned his money as a Republican.
Edward's problem in the media is he earned all that money and yet he isn't a Republican. Ergo, he's a class traitor(see Gore, Albert, 1998-present) and must be slammed. Fred will not be slammed by the media because he might not talk to them at parties anymore.

I anticipate Fred Thompson will be pummeled--the white house press corps
smells blood and they did not let Tony "Always a Fox Dude" Snow get away with his disingenous statements most recently.

And speaking of the press, I am tired of my buddy Bill Clinton being smacked around for his pardons.
There was no pardon in the last century more egregious, more obscene than that by
President Gerald Ford for the corrupt, disgraced Richard Milhouse Nixon.

This fostered the executive authoritarian stance that we have been doomed to observe with the Bushies 41 and 43.

rnc: "I suspect opposition research on Hillary isn't going to be quite as difficult."

Is this what some Republicans mean when they claim to support recycling?

I mean, really, c'mon -- how much more rumor and innuendo about the Clintons can the GOP offer us that hasn't already been repeatedly debunked as either unsubstantiated, disingenuous, or false?

The nut of this story is that Arent Fox, which of course could access its 1991 billing records in seconds, has so far declined to comment. Which means: guilty, guilty, guilty.

One wingnut (Warner Todd Huston by name) is already mounting an ad hominem defense: Judith DeSarno is a Hillary supporter, people at Arent Fox have given money to Hillary, blah blah blah.

What's funny is, poor Warner Todd seems to have no idea where this story came from. From Hillary's people? Oh, please. Ol' Fred is the last thing on Hillary's mind. He's next year's problem -- maybe -- and not a very imposing one even then. But right now he's very much on the minds of . . .

Giuliani, whose poll numbers have been dropping for months, and . . .

McCain, whose campaign is in (probably temporary) crisis, and . . .

Romney, who’s getting no traction despite outspending all of his rivals, and . . .

Gingrich, who probably can’t run unless Thompson doesn’t.

Nobody can knife a Republican better than another Republican.

Social conservatives are so desperate for a savior this election cycle that they might be willing to believe just about anything at this point.

True, but sooner or later they have to pick someone. And it's not like they're going to say to themselves, "well, I don't like Fred, so I'm voting for Obama." That's not happening. So while it is fun watching the right squirm around coming to grips with a bunch of terrible candidates, the Democrats need to realize that sooner or later that they will have to face one of these clowns; and that the 'wingers will line up right behind him.

craigie and disputo....

thanks for the laughs...

(wiping tear from eye)...

man, this new-handle-every-day anti-obama concern trolling is really getting stale. a quarter of a million contributors say you're wrong.

Didn't Bismark invent instant biscuit batter? Oh, no wait, that was Otto von Bisquick. Nevermind.

I thought Bismarck was the guy who discovered North Dakota. Or was that Biz Markie?

Off topic: here is another nifty energy-related item, about a very large Sodium-Sulfur (NaS) battery.

http://www.epriweb.com/public/000000000001011966.pdf

The source is 14 months old. Notice the diversity of funding agents, including my favorite, San Diego Gas and Electric.

penalcolony "[P]oor Warner Todd seems to have no idea where this story came from. From Hillary's people? Oh, please."

"Never interrupt your enemy as he makes a mistake." -- Napoleon Bonaparte

Sorry to continue off topic, but Barack Obama will be in Birmingham on Monday for his Alabama kickoff, and the tickets are $25. I understand he's also going to attend some high dollar fundraisers while he's in the state. So what?

If you're going to criticize, try to get your facts straight first. And no, I'm not part of the Obama campaign.

Dick Cheney’s Ten Commandments of Secrecy.

daveinboca: "Fred Thompson reeks integrity."

"Kids Say the Darnedest Things" Dept: When my 16-year-old niece, who is just now starting to pay close attention to politics, first saw flashed on TV a recent file photo of Thompson with his current wife (who was wearing a low-cut black gown), she commented that "his daughter looks too sassy and trashy."

A significant number of right wingers will not vote rather than support someone who supported abortion rights. As close as these elections have been in recent years, that's important.

ah, steven,

Nothing to say really but someone had to do it.
Welcome back Kevin & WE WANT INKBLOT!!!. (No offense, Smithers.)

Anyone can look good before the national media starts rooting around and asking touchy questions, but those days are fading fast for Thompson. They always do.

Are you drunk?

Like how they asked the "touchy questions" to Bush, like his about drug use, military service, his dissembling during the debates with Gore (or his outright lies for that matter), etc etc etc.

Drum, as somerby says, is a solid analyst of policy. media critiques not so much.

" ... it better be a little dirtier than this to work."

Huh? Took MONEY to support killing babies? How can it get worse than that?

"There was no pardon in the last century more egregious, more obscene than that by
President Gerald Ford for the corrupt, disgraced Richard Milhouse Nixon."

I disagree. Although I would have liked to see Tricky Dick go to jail, at least Ford was not implicated in Watergate. I think the worst pardon was of Caspar Weinberger by Bush Pere. He was covering is OWN ass, just like the Little Emperor.

Thompson's quite a guy: he finked for Nixon who found him dumb as hell.

"Thompson has apparently decided to simply deny that this ever happened . . . But who knows? Maybe he'll get away with it. Social conservatives are so desperate for a savior this election cycle that they might be willing to believe just about anything at this point."