Monday, July 09, 2007

FRED THOMPSON

Why Are Sections of that L.A Times Fred-Abortion Group Story Disappearing?

A couple of other thoughts on Fred and the abortion group:

Captain Ed notes that Fred Thompson registered as a lobbyist for a foreign agent in October 1991. Did he register as a lobbyist for domestic clients at an earlier date? If he did not, it would raise the question of how the minutes from the board's meeting of Sept. 14, 1991 could declare that "the association had hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration."

Also, a sharp mind in Washington tells me, "if the abortion group isn't willing to produce the invoices they paid the law firm (which will have every [bad word]ing lawyer's name on the bill), they should go to hell."

Finally, in the comments on Captain's site, a commenter notes this detail:

But Judith DeSarno, who was president of the family planning association in 1991, said Thompson lobbied for the group for several months.

At one of the meals, she recalled, Thompson re-enacted a cowboy death scene from one of his movies. She also remembered him telling her that Sununu had just given him tickets for a VIP tour.

The commenter points out that Thompson had not acted in a Western at that point, and had not until this year's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Here's where it gets really interesting: The "cowboy death scene" comments, once prominent in the story (DeSarno is referred to by full name and role within the organization, indicating this is the first reference to her), have now been removed from the Los Angeles Times article. The new version:

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.

Problem is, bloggers already quoted the old version.

Why did the L.A. Times take that comment out of the story? And why no mention of the edit/correction/retraction?

07/09 02:23 PMShare