Shite Said Fred, Part II

Remember the heady days of July 16, 2008, when wingnuts were hoping and praying Fred Thompson wasn't just a lobbyist whore, but was really and truly ONE OF THEM? Here's some particularly humorous prose from that bygone era from one wordy Pollyanna:

The National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association claimed that Thompson had lobbied the White House on its behalf in 1991. Thompson denied the charge, and John Sununu, who was White House chief of staff at the time, backed up Thompson.

Only time will tell which side eventually turns out to be perceived as being truthful by the electorate. But regardless of the truth of the allegation, its presence is remarkable at this stage of the race.

Memory does not produce a similar case where an interest group tied to one of the major political parties sought so overtly to influence the debate and outcome of the other parties' nomination fight, especially before a candidate even formally announced.

Think how unusual it would be if, for instance, a conservative group opposed to immigration reform that would allow any legalization of those here illegally claimed that Sen. Barack Obama, before he was in the Senate, had been active in anti-Hispanic activities.

Time's up!

Billing records show that former Senator Fred Thompson spent nearly 20 hours working as a lobbyist on behalf of a group seeking to ease restrictive federal rules on abortion counseling in the 1990s, even though he recently said he did not recall doing any work for the organization.

According to records from Arent Fox, the law firm based in Washington where Mr. Thompson worked part-time from 1991 to 1994, he charged the organization, the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, about $5,000 for work he did in 1991 and 1992. The records show that Mr. Thompson, a probable Republican candidate for president in 2008, spent much of that time in telephone conferences with the president of the group, and on three occasions he reported lobbying administration officials on its behalf.

Mr. Thompson's work for the family planning agency has become an issue because he is positioning himself as a faithful conservative who is opposed to abortion.

Earlier this month, Mr. Thompson disputed accounts by the group’s former president and others, saying through a spokesman that he had "no recollection" of doing anything to aid the group's efforts to overturn a rule banning federally financed clinics from dispensing information about abortion to pregnant women. At most, said Mr. Thompson's spokesman, Mark Corallo, he "may have been consulted by one of the firm's partners who represented this group."

In an order to restore his fictitious credibility, Thompson called the Kerning Keystone Kops at Powerline to prove the billing records were bogus.

Oh, wait. No he didn't. Fred appeared on Powerline to assert attorney-client privilege concerning conversations with the abortion rights client he couldn't recall representing. Memory does not produce a similar case where an undelcared presidential candidate was so dependent on shitty bloggers to explain away his rank dishonesty.

By the way, Fred's going rate to sell out his most cherished principles was $250.00 per hour (cheap!) in the early to mid 90s. Given inflation, Fred's current reputation for veracity and the sorts of bloggers he hangs out with, it's now selling at twenty.

Update: Geez, Captain Ed's been hung out to dry by his Powertool pals. He definitely didn't get the talking points from the 'Tools, was spun by his "source," and he's now got blastocyst all over his face. I almost feel sorry for him.

Update 2: Shorter Captain Ed's Update: "Lobbying for the baby-killers is okay if you do it for a friend and don't make a living off of it." ESCEU: "I'll swallow anything for a bit of access."