Team Thompson Clarifies on His Call To Sununu

Thursday, July 12, 2007

FRED THOMPSON

A friend of Fred Thompson tells me:

Regarding Jennifer Rubin’s accusation that the Thompson team had “contradicted” Fred Thompson, I’m afraid that was a misunderstanding. Rubin apparently thought she was asking whether Thompson had called Sununu at all. Corallo thought she was asking whether they’d spoken to coordinate their stories. Obviously, Thompson had called Sununu, and we’d already said that.
We weren’t denying something we’d already confirmed…it was just a case of distinctions being lost in the text translation.

Hmm. "Rubin apparently thought"? I haven't heard from her, but I don't think she's one to lack clarity in her questions. Still, I suppose it's possible she and Corallo got their wires crossed, and Corallo gave an accurate answer to the question he thought she asked, instead of the question she asked.

I can't help but wish Thompson had offered a clearer answer the first time this was asked. Something like, "Way back when I was just another Washington lawyer, I was asked by a partner to help out with a client that wanted to loosen the first Bush administration's stance on abortions overseas. I was pretty doubtful that the White House would change its policy on any abortion-related issue. Still, I was low man on the totem pole, and it wasn't my place to object. This group couldn't even get their phone calls returned from the administration, so as a favor to the partner I made some calls. As expected, they went nowhere. I had some pleasant enough meetings with the folks from that group, but if they're making me sound like some supremely effective ally in influencing polcy, they're either showing off the soft bigotry of the lowest expectations of all time, or mistaking me for some other guy who worked for them. My spokesman erred when he said I did nothing for the group; what he should have said was I did nothing productive."

07/12 04:05 PM Share